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Disk space cleanup candidate report

A read-only disk pressure report that finds likely cleanup candidates without deleting logs, caches, dumps, or user data.

Good For

  • low disk incidents
  • server health checks
  • IIS log growth
  • patch cache review
  • support handoff

How to Use It

  1. Record which volume is under pressure and the expected owner of the largest workload before reviewing cleanup candidates.
  2. Capture fixed-disk size and free-space data so the ticket has a before-state.
  3. Review IIS logs, Windows temp files, crash dumps, installer caches, application logs, and known export folders as separate candidate groups.
  4. If a candidate path belongs to a database, backup product, monitoring agent, or line-of-business app, stop and confirm retention requirements.
  5. Export the largest-file findings to CSV when multiple servers or folders need owner review.
  6. Only move to deletion or archival after the report identifies owner, age, retention expectation, and rollback or restore path.

Execution Modes

  • local
  • remote-single-host
  • remote-host-list

Inputs and Outputs

Inputs

  • computer name
  • CSV or TXT server list
  • known log paths
  • retention policy notes

Outputs

  • verbose-console
  • csv
  • future-html-report

Command Starter

Safe to run: read-only

$ComputerName = "server01"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $ComputerName -ScriptBlock { Get-CimInstance Win32_LogicalDisk -Filter "DriveType=3" | Select-Object DeviceID, Size, FreeSpace; Get-ChildItem C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles -Recurse -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Sort-Object Length -Descending | Select-Object -First 20 FullName, Length, LastWriteTime; Get-ChildItem C:\Windows\Temp -Recurse -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Sort-Object Length -Descending | Select-Object -First 20 FullName, Length, LastWriteTime }

Validation

  • The report identifies which volume is low and which candidate folders contribute the most space.
  • Every cleanup candidate has an owner or service context before any file operation is proposed.
  • Post-cleanup validation, if later approved, compares free space against the captured before-state.

Reporting

  • export large-file candidates to CSV for owner review
  • attach before-state disk usage and candidate paths to the ticket
  • promote repeated use into an HTML disk-pressure report with owner and retention columns

Safety Notes

  • This report is read-only and should not delete, compress, or move files.
  • Do not clean Windows, database, backup, or application paths without owner approval and restore expectations.