Filesystem Analysis Example

What is hiding in your fileshares?

Our Approach

Our approach, developed over a number of years, allows us to scan filesystems, retrieve the relevant information and generate reports and recommendations based on our findings. The process is made up of a number of discrete steps, each configurable to your requirements.


Data Collection

Our spider process crawls the target filesystems and gather information about each file it finds. Typically this includes:

  • Location – the location of the file (file server, folder path(s) and drive mapping).
  • Type – the type of file, file format, file size, creation and modification dates.
  • Additional meta-data - e.g. Title, Author, Subject where available.
  • Security – the owner of the file, access permissions, last accessed date etc.
  • Hashes – a unique hash based on the content of the file.

Report Generation

The reporting engine takes the output from data generation process, analyses the findings and generates a number of reports. These include:

  • Files by formats
  • Files by type classification
  • Files that are duplicated within the file system
  • Files that are in "backup folders"
  • Files that have very long names
  • Folder structures that are too deep for Windows
  • Files not accessed for the last 6,12,18+ months
  • Other reports are available

Analysis and Findings

Once the reports have been generated, the analysis begins. During this phase input is taken from various sources, including corporate standards and guidelines, industry best practices and specific domain knowledge. The output from this phase is typically

  • A report detailing the findings and recommendations
  • Supporting information used in preparation of the report

In addition, other deliverables can be produced depending on requirements. These may include:
  • Scripts to delete temporary files
  • Removal or archival of "backup folders"
  • Input into a de-duplication process
  • Scripts for archiving old files
  • Recommendations for restructing folder hierarchy
  • Scripts for content migration
  • Other outputs are available

Filesystem Analysis services are configurable and we can define and configure the process to meet your requirements, please contact us to discuss your requirements.

"Spire helped us restructure our fileshares, giving us solid cost savings."