File attributes change on copy to another drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Brims
  • Start date Start date
G

George Brims

I have been copying files to another drive, and find that
the file attributes change. Specifically, the "modified"
date is changed to today. As I'm trying to keep files on my
laptop synced with the files on a remote file server, this
screws things up royally. How do I get the attributes to
stick? I remember setting this on my last computer, now
long departed, which was a Windows 2000 system, but I don't
remember how.
 
I have been copying files to another drive, and find that
the file attributes change. Specifically, the "modified"
date is changed to today. As I'm trying to keep files on my
laptop synced with the files on a remote file server, this
screws things up royally. How do I get the attributes to
stick? I remember setting this on my last computer, now
long departed, which was a Windows 2000 system, but I don't
remember how.
Click to expand...

Instead of relying on the date in file properties, copy the files to a
folder named with the day or date.
 
That is not an appropriate solution to the problem that a file NOT
modified is given an erroneous "modified" date whenever it is copied.
Our volume server contains a large collection of drawings for an
instrument that has to be FAA certified for use on an airborne NASA
observatory, and it's essential they are maintained accurately.
Propagating a whole bunch of extra directories will just get people
confused.
 
That is not an appropriate solution to the problem that a file NOT
modified is given an erroneous "modified" date whenever it is copied.
Our volume server contains a large collection of drawings for an
instrument that has to be FAA certified for use on an airborne NASA
observatory, and it's essential they are maintained accurately.
Propagating a whole bunch of extra directories will just get people
confused.
Click to expand...

You have to work with what the operating system provides or work around it.
There are software tools that can help to date/time stamp a project. For
example, Office documents contain an editable summary within the file's
properties.
 
Sharon said:
You have to work with what the operating system provides or work
Click to expand...
around it.

I am such an old-fashioned guy. I had the archaic concept in my mind of
an operating system that was capable of doing what I tell it, with some
way to tell it how to do a task should there be more than one variant
poissible. In my delusional state, I had assumed a boring continuity of
behavior, so that the way things work in one version of Windows would be
the way they would work in a later one. The stated problem didn't occur
in Windows 3.1 or Windows 2000 for example.

I don't use Office software unless I'm forced to, as it too has an
unfortunate tendency to do what it thinks I want, instead of what I
really do want.
 
around it.

I am such an old-fashioned guy. I had the archaic concept in my mind of
an operating system that was capable of doing what I tell it, with some
way to tell it how to do a task should there be more than one variant
poissible. In my delusional state, I had assumed a boring continuity of
behavior, so that the way things work in one version of Windows would be
the way they would work in a later one. The stated problem didn't occur
in Windows 3.1 or Windows 2000 for example.

I don't use Office software unless I'm forced to, as it too has an
unfortunate tendency to do what it thinks I want, instead of what I
really do want.
Click to expand...

George, I wish I had better answers for you. I think I've seen David Candy
(a regular participant in many of the Windows newsgroups) recommend using
xxcopy for this type of file management (preserving dates with file
transfers). Similar to xcopy but more features: http://www.xxcopy.com
 
George said:
That is not an appropriate solution to the problem that a file NOT
modified is given an erroneous "modified" date whenever it is copied.
Our volume server contains a large collection of drawings for an
instrument that has to be FAA certified for use on an airborne NASA
observatory, and it's essential they are maintained accurately.
Propagating a whole bunch of extra directories will just get people
confused.
Click to expand...

George,

I think you are mis-using the "modified" date property of the file.
When the file is copied across it is by definition "modified" by virtue
of the fact that it was created and thus modified. The OS would by
lying to you (and the FAA) if it did otherwise.

It would be be more appropriate for you to use some sort of file or
document management system which manages the contents of these files --
check-in, check-out, change registration, etc. as your control not only
for yourself but also for your customers (FAA and NASA). There are some
freely available tools available to do this, and you can buy
commercial programs/systems for this.

Given all that, and if you insist on copying files around ... you may
wish to use "robocopy" which is more robust file copying method provided
by Microsoft in their Windows resource kits (downloadable from
Microsoft). I scanned the documentation for this program and far as I
can tell it does not allow you to modify the "modified" date (probably
for reasons explained above that it just doesn't make sense), but you
may well be more satisfied with the robustness and control this fine
program gives you.
 
Rob, your dictionary must be defective. Mine says that "modified" means
"changed". Every other prior version of Windows agrees with me that
"copy" means "make another file in another place JUST LIKE THIS ONE".
Previously, "JUST LIKE THIS ONE" included the modified date, but in XP
it doesn't.

Now I can see that there is a point to setting the modified date on
copy, otherwise one would find files with modified date earlier than
creation date, which in someone else's (equally simplistic) backup
management scheme might well create a different kind of confusion. BUT,
if they were going to change this behavior, it would have been nice of
them to provide a switch. XCOPY has lots of switches but that isn't one
of them.

The really annoying thing here is that the architectural core of Windows
NT/XP came from VMS (many of the same people worked on both), where such
things were incredibly easy to control. Even the cp command in Unix
has a switch that allows you to preserve or change attributes.

I have found that zipping the files from one directory, copying the zip
archive, then unzipping, preserves the modified date.

Rob your point about using a commercial (or freeware) file management
system is well taken. We use CVS for code change management in our
software, but I'm not sure if that's something we could use with binary
files like AutoCAD drawings. The CVS guru is in a meeting all day but I
will ask him later. Anyway, I have to provide a solution here that is
easily used by people who haven't (like me) been using computers since
the early 70s. (No I'm not the bearded Unix guru guy in the Dilbert
cartoon. Honest. I don't even like Unix.)
 
OK I have a solution, which is not entirely satisfactory (for reasons
I'll explain below) but also has some enhancements compared to what I
was doing before. I downloaded the Windows Resource Kit Tools from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en
and installed them. One of the tools is called robocopy. It's like an
enhanced xcopy. *By default* it leaves timestamp information untouched
on files it copies, which is just the behavior I want, although you can
change it. It's a command line program, so you run it in the command
line shell, and the user manual runs to 35 pages, so there are lots of
options to explore.

The neat thing is I now have a simple way to do what I want in one step
with one command - copy all files modified or created since some
selected date (the last day I did this simple backup task). I used to
use search in Explorer to find the relevant files, then drag them to the
appropriate directories on the destination drive. Now the /S switch
makes robocopy go through and do the find and copy on every subdirectory.

BIG IMPORTANT WARNING!!! Here's the bit that worries me. This command
has two very dangerous options, /MIRROR and /PURGE, both of which will
*delete files and directories on the destination drive if they don't
exist in the specified source directories*. Fortunately neither is the
default, but I have a bad feeling about telling everyone who works for
me about robocopy in case someone decides to "suck it and see".

Anyone know how to make a single-line shell command into a desktop shortcut?
 
Back
Top