"easy transfer" resets folder modified date

[huge]

I just installed Windows 7 (Pro 64bit) on my desktop and ran W.E.T. to transfer my files from my Vista installation. The files have maintained their modified date/timestamp, but the folders' modified-date have all been reset to the current date (actually not quite all of them - empty folders have retained their original date - ?!?)

This would be a serious problem for me as I almost always sort folders by modified date to determine which ones are newest and most relevant. Is there a way to make Easy Transfer keep the original date on folders as well as files?

thanks for any help you can offer...

 

[richc46]

Welcome
Have not heard that one before.

Just guessing,now.
Go to a folder
Right click
Restore previous version

Make sure the original is backed up, just in case
Dont know of a way to make Easy Transfer change behaviour. Be careful with easy transfer, it has been known not to be reliable. Be sure you back up before transfers.
Good Luck

 

[huge]

Thanks for the reply, but ...

"restore previous version" didn't help. In fact it gave some weird behavior itself - when I right-click a folder and choose r.p.v. it claims there is one previous version, with a modified date about two hours ago (!?) even though the existing folder had a modified date of several hours ago from when I did the easy transfer. When I click "restore", the folder and it's modified date do not seem to change in any way (either backwards or forwards).

No need to reply about that behavior, as solving that mystery won't help me.

I'm guessing I will need to use robocopy or some other copy method that will maintain modified dates. But now I've copied all 200GB of files ... can anyone think of a way to copy only the folders without re-copying the files? At this point it's OK if it doesn't do absolutely everything that W.E.T. transferred - as long as I can get most of the folders with their original dates, that will be OK.

 

[huge]

found a way to fix my problem, with only a mild amount of pain.

robocopy D:\source C:\destination /S /DCOPY:T

copies all non-empty subfolders of "destination" into "source" and maintains the timestamps. As far as I can tell it is only messing with the folders themselves and not copying files, so it works pretty fast even though it's copying hundreds of thousands of folders.

It's a bit of a pain because I need to figure out by hand what I need to fix, but if I get 95% of it that will be good enough for me.

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps, so it's a shame it doesn't do that to begin with. Next time I'll just use robocopy for all the heavy lifting.

 

[richc46]

Sorry that the solution turned out to be the most tedious, but glad that you found a solution.

 

[logicearth]

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps...

You are the very first person I have ever seen that is concerned about such a thing in all my years. Just putting it out there.

 

[Imperfect1]

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps...

You are the very first person I have ever seen that is concerned about such a thing in all my years. Just putting it out there.

Just because a problem is relatively rare, doesn't make it any the less important (and distressing). I too have been concerned about this problem, as a large percent of my files are work related, and the correct time and/or date can be very important.

I have had problems with all of Windows' transfer "wizards" because they just cannot be relied on to work accurately. I have learned the hard way, to transfer all of my folders/files/apps/programs manually. Yes, it takes much longer and is a total pain, but at least it's done perfectly that way.

 

[logicearth]

I didn't say anything about it not being important. I'm sure it is important to some people. But obviously it is not important enough to the majority of people that use Windows. Otherwise it would have been implemented in Windows Easy Transfer. Just to clear it up, Windows is programmed for the majority that is average people (non-tech savvy), edge cases like this one, are left to specialty systems (like robocopy.)

 

[crashnbuen]

This problem is not rare. Its just that there are very few people who POST about it.

When you have a lot of data on multiple HDDs etc etc, the Modified & Creation dates need to STAY with the FILES unless an Application Changes the FILE CONTENT/ MODIFIES it per se.

Its an organizing nightmare.

This is a problem that specially occurs when files are copied from ONE DRIVE to ANOTHER.

Even I would like a SIMPLER SOLUTION where the COPIED or MOVED Files & Folders RETAIN their DATE/ TIME STAMPS:
- Creation Date
- Last Modified Date
- Last Accessed Date (Not critical but nice to have)

Its simple but the only way for me to do this is a set of complex steps using RichCopy/ RoboCopy.

found a way to fix my problem, with only a mild amount of pain.

robocopy D:\source C:\destination /S /DCOPY:T

copies all non-empty subfolders of "destination" into "source" and maintains the timestamps. As far as I can tell it is only messing with the folders themselves and not copying files, so it works pretty fast even though it's copying hundreds of thousands of folders.

It's a bit of a pain because I need to figure out by hand what I need to fix, but if I get 95% of it that will be good enough for me.

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps, so it's a shame it doesn't do that to begin with. Next time I'll just use robocopy for all the heavy lifting.

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps...

You are the very first person I have ever seen that is concerned about such a thing in all my years. Just putting it out there.

It seems like the vast majority of people would want W.E.T. to maintain folder timestamps...

You are the very first person I have ever seen that is concerned about such a thing in all my years. Just putting it out there.

Just because a problem is relatively rare, doesn't make it any the less important (and distressing). I too have been concerned about this problem, as a large percent of my files are work related, and the correct time and/or date can be very important.

I have had problems with all of Windows' transfer "wizards" because they just cannot be relied on to work accurately. I have learned the hard way, to transfer all of my folders/files/apps/programs manually. Yes, it takes much longer and is a total pain, but at least it's done perfectly that way.

 

[FliGi7]

I have learned the hard way, to transfer all of my folders/files/apps/programs manually. Yes, it takes much longer and is a total pain, but at least it's done perfectly that way.

This is how to do things. No need to rely on a tool that does the same thing, but in a worse fashion (like modifying timestamps). Pretty much every major piece of software has some tutorial on how to save/transfer its files/settings. The hardest part is collecting all of that, but the time spent up front will save you so much in the future.

 

[crashnbuen]

I have learned the hard way, to transfer all of my folders/files/apps/programs manually. Yes, it takes much longer and is a total pain, but at least it's done perfectly that way.

This is how to do things. No need to rely on a tool that does the same thing, but in a worse fashion (like modifying timestamps). Pretty much every major piece of software has some tutorial on how to save/transfer its files/settings. The hardest part is collecting all of that, but the time spent up front will save you so much in the future.

Even I am doing transfers manually, but even then rarely any copy tools maintain the TIMESTAMPS of Files and Folders.

 

[FliGi7]

That's why I use robocopy or xcopy for it all. Very simple and easy to use once you do it a couple times. Once you know all the directories you need to copy, just create a batch file that backs them all up or transfers them. Once and done.