So I need to move all the contents of a network drive onto an external drive so that when we go to move the network drive to a new server we are not bringing old, outdated files with it and we can put them to DVD for later if we FIND files are indeed missing.

I want a batch FILE I can run that WOULD move all files from before 2008 onto the drive keeping the file structure even if the directory is empty to this removable drive, it also needs to keep the directory structure on the network drive as well. I am not certain this can be done, I have seom batch file experience but not this much. Any help would be appreciated.Why not just "clone " the drive as is...then WEED out what you want ? ?patio's suggestion makes sense....
Copy over everything and then, on the new PC, do a search of all files older than 2008 and delete the LOT of them.

I would also recommend against storing the old files on a DVD. Get yourself a good external hard drive and copy everything to that. DVDs can be very cumbersome and require more organization, depending on how much data you have. DVDs are also less tolerant to temperature and light than hard drives.