How to Delete Files Older Than 90 Days and Save A Copy

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Dany· Answered on Feb 22, 2023

I believe file screens included with Windows Server may accomplish this without a script. However, I've never done it before, but if you want a "cleaner" approach to handling the work, it might be worth looking into PowerShell.

PowerShell is a Microsoft application for job automation and Windows configuration management. It is a more advanced version of Command Prompt. PowerShell is also used to perform file-related tasks, such as creation and modification. Specifically, files on the PC can be erased using specific cmdlets.

When you need to use PowerShell to delete a file, you'll almost certainly come across the Remove-Item cmdlet. This cmdlet is the standard for PowerShell file removal. Using Remove-Item with the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to read files and directories and the sophisticated PowerShell pipeline may significantly simplify things.

You can also use PowerShell to delete log files older than X days, like those generated by IIS web servers, to free up disk space, as you said in the problematic case. Here is an example of PowerShell to delete specific files after X days:

Get-ChildItem c:\temp | Select-Object Name,CreationTime,@{n='AgeInDays';e={(New-TimeSpan -Start $PSItem.CreationTime).Days}}

In this example, there are files located in c:\temp that are older than 14 days. The script above shows the Name, CreationTIme, and AgeInDays of each file in c:\temp.

Delete all files, regardless of name, type, or extension. Specific files must sometimes be expressly excluded or included in the deletion procedure. To be safe, use Get-ChildItem first to obtain the list of files to be destroyed. You can finally pipe the collection to the Remove-Item cmdlet once you're satisfied with the list of files to delete.

However, files and folders deleted in this manner will bypass the Recycle Bin and vanish entirely. They are not on your machine. So, suppose you accidentally destroyed some of your important files and folders. In that case, you can use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, a professional data recovery software, to recover deleted files or repair corrupted data and files.