Script to move files and compress

Question

Hi Guys,
I am in need of a script that moves log files that are older than 14 days to a compressed folder. I would like to run this as a scheduled task that would run at the end of each week, and for the logs to go into the same compressed folder each week. Is this possible? And if so could anybody please help me? I have spent hours on this and I am really struggling as I dont have much knowlegde of scripting at all.
Many thanks,
Jack  

Answer 1

Ah my Friend we're in Powershell land for that, and very easy it is.
The compressing part is easy and does not require Powershell as long as the destination File system is NTFS
Make a folder called Archive (or whatever name suits you) and in Windows Explorer, go into the Properties of that folder, Choose the "Advanced Button" and select "Compress Contents to Save Disk Space" and hit apply.
Now you should see that folder change color.  Anything going into there is a compressed file.  The great part is you can view it like normal, it just uses far less disk space.   A Zip file might take even less but this is very easy to work with.
As far as accessing the log files older than 14 days, presuming the Folder is called C:\Logfiles and the filenames end with the extension .LOG
---------- Archive old Logfiles - Powershell Script -------------------
$TODAY=GET-DATE
GET-CHILDITEM C:\LOGFILES\*.LOG | Where { $_.LastWriteTime.AddDays(14) -lt $TODAY } | MOVE-ITEM C:\LOGFILES\Archive
---------- Archive old Logfiles - Powershell Script -------------------
All this does is look at the directory of files with the extension .LOG and check the last time the file was modified.  Anything older than 14 days is Moved to the Archive folder.   If the "Compression" attribute is enabled, there's your archive process :)
And of course if you don't have Powershell on the machine in question, it's a quick update from Windows to bring it in :)
Download Windows Management Framework - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/968929
Cheers
Sean
The Energized Tech
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