preserve date and time for file copy

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kneilson
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Joined: 22 Mar 2011, 15:47

preserve date and time for file copy

Post by kneilson »

Perhaps I've missed something, but I've not found a way of consistently preserving the file date and time when copying files. Is this correct?

Kevin
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Re: preserve date and time for file copy

Post by Ether »

Could you perhaps explain your issue on an example? From what I've tried a little while ago, the modified (most important) timestamp is preserved correctly with files(*), the created timestamp is set to the new file's creation time and the accessed timestamp's value is so volatile there's no use in manually changing it.

*] There's an option labeled Preserve dates and times of directories - which should enable this behavior even for directories - in the Copy/Move dialog options.
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kneilson
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Joined: 22 Mar 2011, 15:47

Re: preserve date and time for file copy

Post by kneilson »

I believe it is the modified time and date stamp that is shown in the detailed view. It is this time adn date that, in a simple file copy operation to another drive that should automatically be preserved. I have found that sometimes the time and date stamp is preserved in a simple file copy operation, and sometimes not. For example, I wanted to create archival copies of a group of files from a local drive to 2 other separate drives - one local drive and one network drive. Initially, copying to the network drive preserved the modified date stamp as shown in the detailed view. A few days later copying to the local drive consistantly resulted in a change of the time & date stamp in the detailed view to that of the initiation of the copy operation. Now, all file copy operations using Salamander change the modified time/date stamp to that of the copy operation. Other programs used for the same copy opration results in appropriate preservation of the time/date stamp. I'm not sure what might have changed in the machine's configuration in the interim.

Kevin
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Re: preserve date and time for file copy

Post by Jan Patera »

kneilson wrote:Now, all file copy operations using Salamander change the modified time/date stamp to that of the copy operation.
Can you please provide us a screenshot of Salamander having the source folder in one panel and the target folder in the other panel?
kneilson
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Joined: 22 Mar 2011, 15:47

Re: preserve date and time for file copy

Post by kneilson »

I'm glad you asked for a screenshot, because while getting it I think I've solved the problem (or as it turns out, the non-problem. The files I was copying when I noted the problem were large .bkf files that would take some time for the file copy operation to complete (120+gb). To get the screenshot, I did a file copy with some smaller files, and quickly saw what was really happening. It appears that when the copy begins for each individual file the date/time stamp in the copy to frame is listed as the current date/time. That is what I was seeing, and thought that it was this date/time stamp that would stick with the copied file. Not wanting to have this, I cancelled the operation before it finished. If I'd been patient, however, I would have seen that once each file copy is completed, the time/date stamp applied to the copy is indeed the original time/date. As you can see from the screenshot, all the already copied files have the correct original time/date stamp, and the currently being copied file has the current time in the copy to frame, rather than the original date/time. As soon as the copy of this file is completed, the date/time stamp changes to the original and the operation moves along to the next file. So my perception of a problem was only that - a perception.
SP32-20110323-111549.jpg
SP32-20110323-111549.jpg (209.17 KiB) Viewed 9454 times
Thanks

Kevin
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Re: preserve date and time for file copy

Post by Ether »

kneilson wrote:once each file copy is completed, the time/date stamp applied to the copy is indeed the original time/date
Yes, during the copying, Salamander is actually modifying the file, so it has to wait with the timestamp change until it's finished.

Thanks for reporting on how you resolved your issue.
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