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Rsdir Overview

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Rsdir.exe: Remote Storage File Analysis Utility

This command-line tool displays the Remote Storage status of files on local NTFS file system volumes of servers running Windows Server 2003. It is designed to be used on volumes managed by the Remote Storage service. RSDir supplements the enumeration feature of Dir.exe with information about the Remote Storage properties of the objects, such as whether the files reside in local or remote storage, and details of their migration and location.

RSDir displays the following information about files on volumes formatted with NTFS:

  • File name and path

  • Remote Storage status (Non-Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM), Premigrated, or Truncated)

  • File attributes

  • Size of files on local and remote media, including the size of the unnamed data stream (file content) and the size of file metadata, such as Reparse Points

  • Time stamps: Create, Access, Modify, Migrate, Recall

  • IDs: File ID, HSM ID, BAG ID

  • Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data: Algorithm type and value for each file and for each migrated data set (Microsoft Tape Format (MTF) or .BKF files)

  • Offset of files in remote media

RSDir compiles its display from information stored in Reparse Points on the local volume. You can use this information to monitor the use of Remote Storage and to detect problems with Remote Storage management on the system.

You can use RSDir with the Rsdiag Overview to identify problems in the Remote Storage databases and recover lost data. RSDir and Rsdiag complement Rss.exe, the command-line version of the Remote Storage snap-in.

Corresponding UI

There is no corresponding user interface for this tool.

Concepts

Remote Storage extends the disk space on the computer by copying files to remote storage based on criteria that you establish, including the location and size of the files and the amount of free space on the volume. Files are recalled from remote storage automatically when they are accessed.

Files stored remotely appear unchanged in Windows Explorer and users use the same methods to open them, but they do not consume any local disk space. Instead, Remote Storage uses NTFS Reparse Points as placeholders for the files on the local volumes. The Reparse Points store information about the file, including its actual location in remote storage.

RSDir displays information stored in the Reparse Points in a formatted display at the command line.

System Requirements

The following are the system requirements for RSDir:

  • This version of RSDir runs only on Windows Server 2003 operating systems. A version of RSDir for Windows 2000 is included in the Support Tools directory of Windows 2000 Server.

  • The user must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer.

  • RSDir is a local computer tool. You cannot use it to display information about volumes on a remote computer.

File Required

  • RSDir.exe

See Also

Concepts

Rsdir Remarks
Rsdir Syntax
Rsdir Examples
Alphabetical List of Tools
Topchk.cmd
Rsdir Overview
Rsdiag Overview
Iologsum Overview
Health_chk Overview
Ftonline Overview
Filever Overview
Efsinfo Overview
Dmdiag Overview
Dskprobe Overview
Diruse Overview
Dfsutil Overview
Connstat Overview
Cabarc Overview
Bitsadmin Overview