• 0

Win 10 - Preserve "Date modified" data when copying?


Question

Whilst copying my music folder to another drive, I noticed the "Date Modified" field is updated in all the files & folders. I thought Windows preserved this data when copying?

 

Is this normal behaviour? Is there an option I can change or something?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
6 minutes ago, xendrome said:

Maybe try moving it to the new location, see if it preserves the date, then copy it back to the old location.

Interesting idea. I did a cut & paste which seems to still override the "date modified" field, but it does preserve the "date created" field.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Set the date of your computer to the date the file was modified before copying :rofl:

 

Humor aside, you can always edit those attributes afterwards, here's a handy utility: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html

 

You can also use xcopy with the /e parameter in cmd.

 

Also the date only changes when files are copied to another drive, it does not occur when files are copied to the same drive.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
Just now, jjkusaf said:

robocopy

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee851678.aspx?

like ... robocopy SOURCE TARGET /mir /copyall

 

I believe SyncToy does it as well

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

Ah after looking at robocopy it seems it's the new default copy tool to replace xcopy in the latest few windows releases.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
19 minutes ago, jjkusaf said:

robocopy

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee851678.aspx?

like ... robocopy SOURCE TARGET /mir /copyall

 

I believe SyncToy does it as well

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

ah, thanks. Did a few test goes & Robocopy works nicely, I've got it copying the full folder now. I used robocopy SOURCE TARGET /copyall /dcopy:t /e

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 10/10/2016 at 1:00 AM, Jim K said:

robocopy

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee851678.aspx?

like ... robocopy SOURCE TARGET /mir /copyall

 

I believe SyncToy does it as well

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

you beat me to it, Robocopy FTW! 

 

Such a superb command line tool, i use it extensively when moving files from one SAN to another and wishing to retain NTFS perms and modify dates. Ive done this to Petabytes of data over the years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
58 minutes ago, Nefarious Trigger said:

Enough about your "collection" ;)

lol sadly its work data :)

On 10/10/2016 at 1:35 AM, Lamp0 said:

Also, just found this little tool: RichCopy

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx

Richcopy is a gui front end for Robocopy, bettter for non tech users as you dont have to know the / switches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
On 10/10/2016 at 12:29 AM, Lamp0 said:

Whilst copying my music folder to another drive, I noticed the "Date Modified" field is updated in all the files & folders. I thought Windows preserved this data when copying?

 

Is this normal behaviour? Is there an option I can change or something?

 

 

it is normal behavior mate, your creating a new copy hence "modify date" changing to current date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0
8 minutes ago, Jim K said:

One post wonder bumped this thread.

doh, right enough :) still on first coffee of the day in the office :) didnt notice original post date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.