Cut/Copy/Paste folders by date while retaining the folder structure?

[thecomputerguy]

Client has 2TB of data in a Team. This client was moved from an on prem server DATA drive to Teams/SP. The Teams were not adequately configured on the initial transfer so everything from the on prem server DATA drive went into a single Team General folder.

We should have setup seperate Teams for Accounting, HR, Sales, Marketing etc... but I was new to Teams at the time and I did not.

The result of that is their primary folder is GIGANORMOUS and is slow as hell and takes forever to sync because it's too damn big. Not to mention they are paying a lot of money to store 20 years of now irrelevant data. So I tasked the client with telling me what data I can move into a BackBlaze bucket for cold storage so we can figure out what we ACTUALLY need and how to separate it into proper teams.

They asked me if there was a way to just remove anything from 1/1/2022 to cold storage. I responded saying that ripping the files out of their folder structure is not an option.

So... is there a tool that allows you to CUT all files beyond a certain date to a new location while maintain their folder structure?


(I'd do a COPY first to make sure and be safe if the CUT failed).

 

[britechguy]

You might consider duplicating the folder structure, empty, as many times as you might like to separate by date, and then populate those respective structure(s) with files based on date criteria after the fact.

windows duplicate folder structure at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[Computer Bloke]

The answer to anything involving copying or moving lots of files usually turns out to be "Robocopy can do that for you, but make sure you have a backup first", and I see no reason why this should be any different.

It'll be something like (but probably not exactly like) robocopy <source> <destination> /move /e /maxage:20220101, but trust me on the backup.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yep, robocopy, and you can use it to make a backup if you want.

 

[callthatgirl]

If you setup desktop sync and download sections at at time, then copy and paste, that's what I have done. I've also bought 2nd domains for clients so they can have more data for overflow and use on their computers. Kinda of like how I buy 2nd mailboxes for fans of email.

 

[SAFCasper]

TreeSize Pro (the paid version) does this well. We use it fairly regular for archiving dormant files.

Using the file search tool create a filter that suits you (eg. files not modified within 3 years).
Select-all on the results
Click Move/Copy from the ribbon menu

You will then see all the options in the screenshot. Preserve directory structure, permissions, timestamps and even clean-up any empty folders it leaves behind.

Once again - make a solid backup first.