Documentation:TreeSize Workflows

TreeSize Workflows

TreeSize manual: https://www.jam-software.com/TreeSize/resources.shtml

This guide is part of the RBSC Archives Toolkit.

Created by Grace Phippard, UA Student Archivist.

Opening TreeSize

If you are working on files stored on the Archives drive (rather than an external hard drive), it’s easiest to open TreeSize using the following method:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the base folder you want to scan
2. Without opening it, right click on the folder icon and select “Open TreeSize” from the menu that pops up.

Alternatively, you can open TreeSize as you would any other application, but it will usually begin by scanning all of “DA” by default and the application will freeze. Another option is to copy the path of the folder you want to scan and paste it into the box, but the first method is most reliable because it avoids the possibility of TreeSize attempting to scan the entire Archives drive.

TreeSize vs TreeSize File Search

TreeSize has two user interfaces—one called “TreeSize” and the other “TreeSize File Search”. The first interface allows you to analyze disc space and files lists within a directory using different views and tools. The second interface allows you to search files in a directory for duplicates or following some other search criteria.

De-duplication

1. Open TreeSize File Search.  
2. Edit the search path and navigate to the folder you want to scan.
   1. This is often the last scanned folder by default rather than the folder you were viewing in TreeSize before opening File Search, so it’s good to always double check this.
3. Select “Duplicate Search” from the left side panel.
4. Search by “Content Type”.
   1. By default, the application will calculate an MD5 checksum for each file and then group those with identical checksums.
   2. In the right panel, the system will display a list of all duplicates grouped together. The list will include the file names, their paths, size, and last modified dates.  
5. Determine your appraisal methodology.  
   1. All of these files are exact copies of one another because we searched by checksums. They may be scattered across many different folders, or maybe there are two directories with repeated instances of identical files. There isn’t a right or wrong appraisal methodology, but it is important to take a consistent approach and to document your approach.  
6. Check the box next to all files you want to delete/discard. OR
   1. Navigate to the dropdown menus under the check and uncheck marks under “operations”
   2. Use the check/uncheck functions to select the files you want to delete/discard using one of the preset patterns of “all but newest”, “all but oldest”, “all but first”, and “all but last”.
7. Click “Delete”.  
   1. On the pop-up window make sure “Move to Recycle Bin” is selected.  
   2. It also may be useful to select “Delete empty directories after the operation”. This will delete folders that no longer have any files.  
   3. Click “Log performed operations to” and select the location using the folder icon (wherever you keep the metadata). You can also name the file and choose whether to create a CSV or TXT file.

Tip: Delete files in batches of no more than 100 at a time in case the system crashes, or there are errors.

Searching by Extension  

It may also be useful to search for specific file extensions during appraisal. For example, some system generated files can be deleted if they do not hold archival value and other files do not depend on them to run (ex. .db and .DS_Store).

1. Open TreeSize File Search.
2. Edit the search path and navigate to the folder you want to scan.  
3. This is often the last scanned folder by default rather than the folder you were viewing in TreeSize before opening File Search, so it’s good to always double check this.
4. Select “Advanced Search” from the left side panel.
5. Set the search configuration to “And” “File Extension” “equals” “[extension you’re searching for]”.  In the last box type the extension you are searching for including the period.  
6. Add additional extensions or search criteria if desired.
   1. For example, you may want to search for all images and then go to View>View>Extra Large Icons so you can appraise all images for their archival value rather than just originality within the fonds.
7. Hit Start.
8. Select and discard files using the same tools as described for de-duplication.

It’s important to note that this search methodology uses file extensions, which will not necessarily correspond to a file’s format. What the program is essentially doing is a pattern recognition where they search for the “.” character and consider everything afterwards the extension. Whenever someone names a file using a period, this confuses the computer and leads to an extension mismatch. This is to say, be cautious about conflating extensions and file formats when using TreeSize. For the most accurate file format information, consult a tool like DROID, which also looks at file signatures.  

Viewing Extensions

When you finish processing a fonds and are writing physical description notes, it can be helpful to reference TreeSize for a quick list of all the extensions in the fonds (assuming that DROID did not show a bunch of extension mismatches).  

1. Open TreeSize
2. In the lower right panel, select “Extensions” rather than “Details” (the default).

Export File List

1. Open TreeSize
   1. Make sure you are viewing the correct folder and are in “Details”.
2. Go to “View” and select “Sort by name” rather than “Sort by size”. You should see the panels below reorder accordingly.
3. Go to Home>Export>HTML file
4. In the bottom middle of the pop-up window, select “Customize Export”
5. Under “Charts and lists to include” select “Directory Tree”
6. Under “Export Depth” select “Full directory tree”
7. Under “Exported elements” select “Single Files”
8. Under “Exported Columns” select the columns you would like to include. I recommend: Name, Allocated, Files, Folders, Last Modified, Type and File Extension
9. Select the desired output location and export the file.