How to find files that have not been updated for some time?

The PowerShell Data Provider in exMon can be used for various things. In this post you will create a test in exMon, using PowerShell, to watch a directory and find all files that have not been modified for the past 31 days.

1. Create a new Query in exMon Data Governance by right-clicking the Tests folder
2. In the query window add the following PowerShell script

   # Check for files older than $Days in the folder $TargetFolder
   $Days = "31" 
   $TargetFolder = "C:\temp"
   
   # Create the result DataTable
   $exMonResult= New-Object system.Data.DataTable
   
   # Create column definition
   $fileName = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn fileName,([string])
   $exMonResult.columns.add($fileName)
   $modifiedDate = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn modifiedDate,([datetime])
   $exMonResult.columns.add($modifiedDate)
   
   $Now = Get-Date
   $LastWrite = $Now.AddDays(-$days)
   
   # Find the files
   $Files = Get-ChildItem $TargetFolder | Where { $_.LastWriteTime -le $LastWrite } | sort-object LastWriteTime
   foreach ($File in $Files)
   {
       # Add Row
       $row = $exMonResult.NewRow();
       $row.fileName = $file.name;
       $row.modifiedDate = $file.LastWriteTime;
       $exMonResult.Rows.Add($row);
   }

3. Change the $TargetFolder variable to your directory
4. Configure email settings and schedule as normal.

That’s it. Now you have a test that notifies you of all files that have not been modified for the past 31 days.