Powershell CreateFromDirectory Process cannot access file because it is being used by another process

Question

I have massive 500GB index files on a Windows Server 2012R2 which are being constantly updated by an application.

I have to zip the file using PowerShell, but when I try to zip it using the following snippet of code I get this exception:

Exception calling "CreateFromDirectory" with "4" argument(s): "The process cannot access the file 'E:\\Program Files (x86)\\Application Folder\\File\\Status.FCS' because it is being used by another process."

$zip = "E:\Folder\File.zip"
$can = "E:\Program Files (x86)\Application Folder\File

Import-Module AWSPowerShell

# functions
function ZipFiles( $zipfilename, $sourcedir )
{
    Add-Type -Assembly System.IO.Compression.FileSystem
    $compressionLevel = [System.IO.Compression.CompressionLevel]::Optimal
    [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory($sourcedir,
    $zipfilename, $compressionLevel, $false)
}

ZipFiles $zip $can

I don't have any issues if I am compressing the files using the Windows GUI, but problem seems to happen only when I am using a PowerShell script. Also if I stop application services, the PowerShell script works fine (which I can't do in prod environment).

One of the solution is to copy folder with 500Gb of index and compress it (which should work) but I don't have enough disk space on my Windows server to do so.

So is there any solution to compress the file while it is write locked using PowerShell script?

Answer 1

you need to set a different directory for the zip file : [System.IO.Directory]::SetCurrentDirectory($inPath) so

Function ZipFiles( $zipFileName, $pathTarget )
{
   Add-Type -Assembly System.IO.Compression.FileSystem
   # Emplacement de sortie
   [System.IO.Directory]::SetCurrentDirectory($inPath)
   $compressionLevel = [System.IO.Compression.CompressionLevel]::Optimal
   [System.IO.Compression.ZipFile]::CreateFromDirectory($pathTarget, $zipFileName, $compressionLevel, $false)

}