Date created and date modified same 2019 yet video created 1994

[DBenz]

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

 

[Alejandro85]

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

 

[samuria]

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

 

[DBenz]

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

 

[Alejandro85]

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.

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.

 

[DBenz]

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

 

[Alejandro85]

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.

 

[RoWin7]

Yet some of my graphics are correctly dated as far back as 2001, which would been 2 previous computers back.

This is interesting. How would I find the metadata of an image file?

 

[Alejandro85]

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.

 

[wither 2]

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

 

[DBenz]

Hi,
I see no use whatsoever on knowing when a file was moved from one location to another and this date is the modified date displayed in windows explorer. I do see a need though if a modified date is the date the file was modified, i.e when I last worked on it, that is of great use to me and all other users. Mr Microsoft please note. We want to find files we have modified and saved. Give us this then go back to the stuff you are working on we are not crying out for.

I want to place such files in order of being modified so as to look through my CAD files and see what was last worked on, what was worked on a week prior, generally see what I was up to on a certain subject I was CADDing up, or vector drawing up, or altering in photoshop. I also need to search on files I recall working on in e.g. October.


MediaInfo is that going to tell me the date my CAD file or word file or excel file was last saved and modified ?



How does one do so if the modified date is got zero to do with when I was modifying the files, and us purely to do with some movement to a folder ?


How do I place my CAD files in date saved order ?


I offload photos from camera to PC, they were taken on the 18th october. I modify them in Photoshop. How do I find them later on when searching my hard drive ?


Does windows explorer allow me to click on D drive then the folder and place them in the order I modified them in photoshop ?


I have MediaInfo but that has to be opened for each file and studied visually, so I work my way by doing so through the 900 photos taken that day one by one looking for which one was modified the next day ?


I am perplexed. Been around since win9.5 and yet I am asking how to find a file I saved in word or excel or CAD or photoshop going by its date.


How totally stupid can windows be to not show files by the date they were saved ?



Windows surely knows when a file was last saved, how do I use windows explorer to place in order files by their saved date ?
How do I do a search using windows explorer to find a file saved on a particular day.


DBenz

 

[RoWin7]

>Mr Microsoft please note

There is no Mr. Microsoft, and it's a huge corporation. MS wouldn't be reading this, nor do they care what their users need.

>When I offload photos from camera to PC, they were taken on the 18th october. I modify them in Photoshop. How do I find them later on when searching my hard drive ?

You create a folder somewhere on the HD when you upload them. If you have data in a separate partition, you drop the folder there. If they're already lost, use a search program such as SuperFinder, then put the folder in a meaningful place.

>I want to place such files in order of being modified so as to look through my CAD files and see what was last worked on, what was worked on a week prior, generally see what I was up to on a certain subject I was CADDing up, or vector drawing up, or altering in photoshop

When you open the folder in Windows Explorer, click on the header atop the "Date Modified" column, and they'll arrange in order.

>How do I place my CAD files in date saved order ?
They'll be automatically in date-saved order in Windows Explorer.

 

[DBenz]

Hi,
I upload my photos to a folder named with the date I upload them and the venue or subject matter. Later on I work on some of them and maybe copy those to a folder that relates to the project I am using them in, maybe photogrammetry or CAD. Files in such progs are linked not embedded so the CAD file or vector file lives in the same folder as the images the project uses, if that folder gets moved they all still work together. However now the images are a different date, the date I moved them to the folder.


I see absolutely no reason for knowing a folder move date and not the date they were last worked on.


I need to place in date modified order the files in that folder, how do I do that ?


If I move my CAD files or Photoshop psd files to another folder, the modified column shows me when I moved them, they lose the date they were modified i.e edited and saved, I need to still see when they were 'save-modified' as opposed to moved to another folder. In that folder how do I display for all of them that save-modified date so as to see when I edited them and do so in date and time order ? We all need that date and to be able to do that, not when they were moved.


I realise Microsoft doesnt read this, I wish they did, such basic fundamental requirements of viewing file mod dates being denied us is just nuts after decades of pc use. Have an option to show folder movement dates by all means to keep the few that need such happy, but have an option to show the edit dates, for the many.


Is there a different prog to run that is better than windows explorer that looks like win explorer but has that vital option ?


DBenz

 

[LMiller7]

I think it likely that Microsoft employees do indeed read this forum. Some prominent member of this forum may be a Microsoft developer, designer, or executive. Don't expect they would acknowledge this, even if directly questioned. But they are not here looking for bug reports or feature requests. Microsoft has long established procedures for submitting and handling these. Posting on a forum is not one of them.

Regarding the date and time stamps of files: There are 3 file system time stamps - Creation, Modified, and Accessed. These have been documented but necessarily well known for decades. As they are documented developers have a reasonable expectation that the current behavior will continue. Major corporations in many countries have business critical software that rely on this. Changing this long established behavior would cause them many problems. This is not an option. The current behavior of Windows Explorer could not be changed without major risks of compatibility issues.