Emptying Pupil User Areas

[markwilliamson2001]

Hi all,

My boss (network manager), has got the crazy idea of emptying student areas for years 7-9 at the end of the year, because the work is not needed for the following year, and should be handed in/in student card folders. This is also to get rid of games, and to save disk space on the servers (fair enough).

However I have 600+ students to do, and don't want to delete everything from their areas, just work, pictures, office documents etc. since they have favourites redirected to their home areas. I also don't want to have to setup the shares again, using a script or otherwise.

I had thought of using some sort of DEL script, with a list of possible file extensions to include:
*.doc
*.xls
*.fla
*.swf
*.jpg
*.bmp
*.gif
*.png
etc etc etc

Has anyone heard of or used a tool, which has extended delete properties over the built in delete command line function?

Regards
Mark

[sharkster]

cant you just log on to the server with the kids work. search for "files and folders" in the area that the kids save their work. and then just look for the extention you want.
it will load each file then just select all and delete.
i know its not a script and will take a bit of time for the machine to search over 600+ folders but its one way, shouldn't be that long also

[joe90bass]

Before deleting anything I would be inclined to check with staff that the work is definitely not needed! There are some cases where courses start in year 9, and portfolis are built up over years of work!!

If you have quotas set on their home directories then space shouldn't be an issue.

[DSapseid]

Im not sure if it scans for those docs but what about edusweep EduSweep

[j17sparky]

Ignore, wont work

[blacksheep]

id either do a search and get the relevant teacher to confirm all is ok to delete (but move them somewhere in case )
Get the teachers to announce to the class to delete any old work (although I know they just want it done without any work on their behalf lol).

Like said as long as you got quotas setup they cant exceed any space arrangment and as soon as pupils/staff complain tell them to delete work they dont use anymore.

I always go through a few checks with a pupil to make sure they have tryed to delete mp3,old work etc. before I give them a space increase. This also make them aware of how it works.

You could also sort any work lists out by last access/mod times etc. but above it safer IMO.

[zag]

Yeh I would go the manual way and get the ICT teacher at the last/first lesson to ask all kids to manually clean their user areas. This will show up any files that they need to keep and move the responsibility away from you

It should only take a class 5 minutes to clean their user areas themselves. I think its a good idea btw.

[srochford]

Assuming the top level folder for home drives is d:\home then you can do:

del d:\home\*.doc /s /q
del d:\home\*.xls /s /q

etc

I think I'd definitely want an archive of this before you start - just in case!

I've got an idea that this won't find hidden files so you might want to do:

attrib -r -h -s d:\*.doc /s
attrib -r -h -s d:\*.doc /s

etc first just to clear the hidden, system etc flags

[Sirbendy]

script to kill off media files, .tmps, URLs, SWFs etc etc, the rest off to a USB hard disk or DVD media for archive..my suggestion.

Its what we do. We get the LEA to dump the accounts off the server onto a seperate "archive" drive, and keep for 2-3 years. Winzip is your friend there as well.

Out and out removal has bitten us in the bum before..

[markwilliamson2001]

Forgot to mention that I will be backing them all up first onto DVD!

Yes, good point about other courses/subjects, needs to be checked first.

Regards
Mark

[j17sparky]

Forgot to mention the reason why my script wouldnt work, and one which people seem to be forgetting is that you need to differantiate between what is last years work and what is new.

Best way imo is to get the teachers to get the kids to delete everything they dont need

[mattx]

You could use Agent Ransack from the Admin Bar and do a search on the said file types, when it's finished searching, just highlight the files and delete them....

I do this a few times a term for .tmp files etc

Or - [ as posted yesterday ]
Use this AutoIT script - get the pupils to create a folder called 'keep me' or knock up a quick batch file which will do it automatically - get them to copy over any work they want to keep in that folder. Then at the end of term run this script - it will delete all files apart from any that are in the keep me folder.

$search = FileFindFirstFile("*.*")
; Check if the search was successful
If $search = -1 Then
    MsgBox(0, "Error", "No files/directories matched the search pattern")
    Exit
EndIf

While 1
    $file = FileFindNextFile($search)
    If @error <> 0 Then ExitLoop
    If $file = "keep me" Then ContinueLoop
    If $file = "." Or $file = ".." Then ContinueLoop
    If StringInStr(FileGetAttrib(@SCRIPTDIR & "\" & $file) , "D") Then
        DirRemove($file, 1)
    Else
        FileDelete(@SCRIPTDIR & "\" & $file)
    EndIf
WEnd
FileClose($search)

Let me know if you want it compiled into an .exe

[laserblazer]

I repeatedly ask staff to get their kids to delete their unwanted work and it just never happens. So I emailed the staff to say I was having a cleanout and to let me know what they wanted keeping. "Everything!" was the answer so for the last three years I have been copying "Everything" to dvd and then deleting it from the server. I told the staff that if they needed anything restoring just call me and I would do it straight away. In three years I haven't been asked once.

[andyrodger50]

This seems a little excessive to delete games and just save space.

We run a simple delete script on user logon which removes *.mp3, *.exe, *.tmp etc. And of course we have disk quotas in place also.

I feel sorry for you, as deleting everything is going to cost you no end of work. Just imagine having to restore all those files from however many DVDs you will end up with with them backed up on. Because you know theres going to be loads of people approaching you saying "oh but i need that file from last year and I can't find it".

[bizzel]

You can use Edusweep for this. It's not by design but it'd be safe to do. Version 2 will have custom lists but for now, you can try the following:

• Grab the software
• Update the definitions
• Browse to the 'definitions' folder
• Open scripts.def in notepad (ignore custom.def)
• Replace the filetypes there with the ones you want to scan for
• In Edusweep, run a scan with only the scripts definitions active and the scan type set to immediately delete.