After using robocopy to copy files to a new drive I realized that all the file and directory creation times and been reset to the time of copying.
Are there some switches to make robocopy keep the original files times?
2 Answers
Take a look at the options for the /COPY:[copyflags] and /DCOPY switches.
As per the ROBOCOPY /? usage info:
/COPY:copyflag[s] :: what to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT).
(copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps).
(S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info).
/DCOPY:T :: COPY Directory Timestamps.
For example:
ROBOCOPY c:\src d:\dest /MIR /COPY:DT /DCOPY:T
Will copy all files and folders and preserve the date and time stamps.
ROBOCOPY c:\src d:\dest /MIR /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T
Will copy all files and folders and preserve the date & time stamps and file attributes.
There is also another (and I believe deprecated?) switch /TIMFIX which does much the same as /COPY:DT but it doesn't fix the time stamps on folders.
These were tested with ROBOCOPY 5.1.10.1027 on Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.
Be aware that the /MIR switch mirrors the directory that you are copying from; that is, /MIR will also delete files in the destination folder not found in the source folder. The /MIR switch is the equivalent of /E and the /PURGE switches used together (but with a minor exception).
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@Pacerier
Right-click -> Properties -> Details tabon the executable which is normally located atC:\Windows\System32\Robocopy.exe– KevApr 25, 2015 at 13:15 -
Not possible I'm on UEFI cmd
X:\Windows\System32\Robocopy.exe. Is there a cmd way to do it?– PacerierApr 25, 2015 at 15:12 -
@Pacerier - I don't know what you mean by "Not possible I'm on UEFI", can you explain?– KevApr 25, 2015 at 15:25
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1@Pacerier one of these methods might help: stackoverflow.com/questions/602802/…– KevApr 25, 2015 at 15:30
I use this at work. Safer than using the /MIR switch which can overwrite or delete data. This will copy timestamps for folders and files.
robocopy G:\users\username F:\Users\username /COPYALL /E /dcopy:T /SECFIX
/E copies empty folders (remove if not needed)
/SECFIX copies the NTFS permissions (remove if not needed)
/XO can be added to exclude older (ie if doing a true-up for a folder migration)
