Date created and date modified same 2019 yet video created 1994

Hi,
win 7 64 bit pro,
classic shell
win explorer as per xp.
column date modified shows 28aug2019, though video made 1994, right click and tick date created, that column appears but also shows same 2019 date.
These files were copied from one usb HDD to another yesterday (that date).
right click the video and choose properties, it also shows the 2019 date.


Just what do I need to show to see the date the video was created, Msoft please note (though they dont read this forum I would guess) I am not interested in the date I copy something from one drive to another but the date of the actual video, or photo etc., as would be most users.



Cheers



DBenz

The modified data has nothing to do with the actual modification or creation data of files. Copying files around, transfering them over various media or simply changing those manually will overwrite it, as it's controlled by the local file system and not an atributte of the file itself. You shouldn't rely at all on those dates, they were never meant to be so.

If you need a true creation date, try looking at the video metadata, if it happens to contain it (unlikely if it's from 1994), otherwise you'll have to use other means to get the full date.

Funny enough, I just posted another thing about this very same topic 2 minutes ago

If you use built inrobocopy there is a setting to preserve dates when it copies

Hi,
no use using metadata, I need to click on the column and put all the files in the order they were created on the camera or camcorder. metadata would mean opening each file and browisng for its creation data and writing it down, doing so for thousands of images.

It is too late now to use robocopy as I have thousands of images rescued from a dead usb HDD and they are all displaying as if they were taken yesterday !
Surely Msoft could have given us modified and created columns for when file was modified (edited and saved again) and created (photo taken) or file first saved from a prog. Who wants to have both columns giving the same data, that of when it was copied, no one wants to know when something was copied to a stick or drive etc.


I use Teracopy to verify and copy lots of files.


DBenz

DBenz said:

no use using metadata, I need to click on the column and put all the files in the order they were created on the camera or camcorder. metadata would mean opening each file and browisng for its creation data and writing it down, doing so for thousands of images.

Metadata is not only the correct way to do so, but also the only reliable means of getting such a date (if it exists within each file). It seems that you only have a tooling problem.
Windows Explorer is totally limited in this way (and wasn't even designed to read metadata from image files), I would suggest that you find a good tool that can sort images by metadata (reading it from each and every file), don't know anything myself but I'm pretty sure something like that must exist.

DBenz said:

Surely Msoft could have given us modified and created columns for when file was modified (edited and saved again) and created (photo taken) or file first saved from a prog.

Here is your misunderstanding. The created date from the filesystem does NOT means "photo taken", it just merely means when it was created in that particular file system, which often equals when it was copied or transfered in some way. It never was meant to convey information about the file itself, which in the case of image files lies in the metadata, if present.

Tools can sometimes respect and copy this date along, but many others ignore it (which can be a flaw) or simply don't know about it (for example, downloading though a browser). It can even be that filesystems don't have such field at all. For all those reasons, "photo taken" metadata was created, and is what you can rely on.

Hi,
If I create a file in e.g. Photoshop or a CAD prog or Msoft word etc and save it, I have always used the created column to find the file if I know the date I created it. If I then open that file and change it, work on it, and save it by the same name, I then use the file modified column to find it.



Is this ok as I have always done that, else how do I find a file I have yet to modify, and ditto for one I have 'modified ' ?


DBenz

DBenz said:

If I create a file in e.g. Photoshop or a CAD prog or Msoft word etc and save it, I have always used the created column to find the file if I know the date I created it. If I then open that file and change it, work on it, and save it by the same name, I then use the file modified column to find it.



Is this ok as I have always done that, else how do I find a file I have yet to modify, and ditto for one I have 'modified ' ?

That works only because you do it locally, on your own system, without copying files around to other places. Using a simple folder on your computer it works without problem, because the document creation/modification is the same as the file date. As long as you keep it local, you can use the filesystem dates as an indicator.

Problems begin when you move files around, publish to websites, download them again, copy between computers or operating systems and the like, then the filesystem dates become overwrite by file manipulation actions rather than the document modification.
On those cases, the metadata found within the files themselves (if any) is the only reliable way. And as you've noted earlier, Windows Explorer is no longer sufficient to sort on those.

There is some possibility that the filesystem dates got screwed during many file operations, but not for certain (as stated previously, some software actively preserves those). Some other operations override them. In any case, I didn't say that "file creation will be replaced", but something more like "it's likely that the file creation may be replaced". With some care, it's possible, but generally speaking, those dates aren't reliable at all.

About metadata, it depends on what program are you using. Windows Explorer displays some of it in the properties of the file, on the details tab. Other software may use its own way to see, use and modify it, it's software-specific actually.

Download the free MediaInfo. Open a file. The Creation date will be shown.