With FolderSize, we can get the file report and export the result to a csv file according to our need, such as files modified earlier than 4 years. Then we can move the files to our backup disk for archive.

Open FolderSize,

1. Choose the folder you want to analyse, click the File Reports > Oldest Files

2. The scan will start automatically, we click cancel and modify the scan option:

3. Set the number of entries to a super big one, making sure it will contain all the old files, I set to 2 years and the File age comparison attribute to “Date accessed” or ” Date Modified”, “Date created”.

4. Then click “Export Report” > As CSV…, the file will look like:

 

 

 

Use powershell to move the file

 

We can use import-csv to deal with the data in a csv file.

Anyway, there are points to consider:

• display the file name correctly, if you have some file named other than English, you may need to specify the Encoding method, UTF8 is one of the best option.
• Convert the path you get from the file into string
• It’s better the build the same file structure in the destination folder for convenience of future restore.

 

 

Import-Csv  "N:\Frank\Time_Report.csv" -Encoding UTF8| ForEach-Object {                  # To prevent some file name displayed as unknown characters
    foreach ($property in $_.PSObject.properties |Where {$_.Name -eq "Folder"})          
    {  
    $s_path=$_.Folder + $_.Name # assign the source path to s_path
    
    $dir=convert-path -path $_.Folder  #convert the path to string
    $dirlen=$dir.Length-2 #Because the first and second letter are the drive letter and :, so we calculate the length from the third letter to the end. 
    
    $dirpath=$dir.Substring(2,$dirlen) # First parameter of the substring means the starting point, 
    #second parameter means the length of the substring
    
    $d_path_str= ("Z:\2007-2013"+$dirpath) # note that the d_path is string, we want the destination folder keep the same folder structure, so It will be easy for
#Future reference
    mkdir $d_path_str -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue  # Some files has same location, or some use same parent or grandparent folders, 
# so error message would pop up such as the folder already exist
    $d_path=convert-path $d_path_str  # convert the string back to path

    echo ("moving..  "+$s_path+"  to  "+$d_path_str)
    move $s_path $d_path

    }
}

If you want to move the files, simply replace the copy with move.