Question & Answer
Question
Is the NTFS file's last access date maintained on Windows 2008/2008R2 and Windows 2012/2012R2 and later Windows servers?
Cause
On Windows 2008 server the default behavior of the NTFS file last access date has changed. Per default the file last access date is not updated by the file system.
If the Windows servers managed by HSM for Windows are upgraded from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008/2008R2 or Windows 2012/2012R2 servers, this changes the default behavior. It can lead to unexpected results in the HSM for Windows migration jobs or threshold migration.
HSM for Windows supports the filter criteria 'file last access date' to select file candidates for migration to TSM server.
For example, if an HSM for Windows migration job is defined to migrate all files in a folder that have file last access date greater than 2 months, but a file's last access date was not updated by the file system on the last access a week ago, then this file is migrated unexpectedly.
This effect can lead to overload on the TSM server and to increased number of recalls.
Many comments and questions concerning the change in the NTFS file system behavior for file last access date can be found in internet forums (keywords: NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate, disablelastaccess).
Answer
How to query and enable/disable the file last access date and time update using the Windows Fsutil command can be read here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc785435.aspx
How to enable/disable the file last access date and time using NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate key can be read here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff794679%28v=winembedded.60%29.aspx
If the enablement of file last access date is not desired, the HSM for Windows filter criteria 'access date' should not be used, instead other filter criteria should be defined to select the desired files for migration.
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Document Information
Modified date:
03 August 2018
UID
swg21972755