Timestamp/Robocopy help

[book1245]

Hi
I've just recently realized that copying folders to a backup hard drive resets their "created" date. Should my computer ever crash, all my backup files will state to have just been created on that certain date.

Me, being the organize-freak I am, have been looking for a solution so my backed up files can have the same time stamps as on my computer right now.

I've done a little searching, and have found that people always recommend Robocopy. Problem is, I can't understand a word of the tutorials. Is there anyone with a layman's explanation for how to run Robocopy to carry out what I want?

And also just for the heck of it, is Robocopy the only solution? Is there some sort of back up program on Windows 7 that can do that?

Thanks!

 

[Imperfect1]

Some of the other posters have had similar problems, book1245, so here are a couple of references to other posts that might offer a little bit of guidance:

There’s some help for you in this thread: "Date Modified" changes when copying... Take a look at the post from Bill2 which has, among other things, this site: How to copy or move files and folders whilst maintaining their original time date stamp. | TechHead.co.uk, (and offers advice about your Robocopy problem as well), and the post from Casca which offers this advice: In a command window, run [xcopy] with the following switches: /s/e/c/a/k/h.

See also the post from huge in this thread: "easy transfer" resets folder modified date who apparently found a way to fix his problem, with only a mild amount of pain.

 

[book1245]

Turns out the solution to my own problem was the solution those people didn't like, and is why they turned to Robocopy.

I didn't even know "Windows Easy Transfer" existed, I thought it was a general term people were using for dragging files from one drive to another.

But that does exactly what I want, transferring the files from one drive to another without resetting the created date. Perfect! (Folders I'm not too worried about)

 

[Kari]

To copy all files from a folder to another folder with RoboCopy keeping the original timestamp:

robocopy Source_Path_Here\*.* Destination_Path_Here\ /B /COPY:DATOU