Restored files have wrong dates!

Why on earth can't Norton 360 keep the original dates of files on the restored files?

 

It does me NO good to have the hundreds of files with the same date (date of restore). 

 

I've seen this in the forum before but no one from Norton offers any assistance--just their customers whining about the same exact thing.

 

C'mon Norton, I'm paying money for this? Jezzzzzzzzzzzz 

I suspect that it is not Norton that is the problem, but Windows itself.  Everytime a file is opened it shows the last date.  Norton is not able to change Windows behaviour.

I think maybe she is asking about the creation date.

But delphinium is correct that it's a windows behavior.  It's also absolutely correct if you realize whats happening.

 

If you take any file and make a copy of it, the copy shows the "creation date" as the time the file was copied, and thats correct because that is when the file was "created".  The original file shows the creation date of the original file and the copy shows it as when the copy was created.  You will also notice that the "modified" date can actually predate the creation date of a copied file, that is also correct.

 

The same behavior happens when you extract a file from an archive or backup, the file is really not the original file it's a copy of the original file and when it is restored is when the file is "created" by being written to the hard drive.

 

So when you backup a file, the original file is left behind and the backup is a copy of the original file.

When you replace a file from a backup, the original file is deleted and the copy of the file in the backup is written to the drive with a current creation date.

 

So that really is correct in all aspects and Norton is doing it correctly.

That said, I know some backup programs may change the creation date to match the original but what they are doing is not the right way to do it and is incorrect if you realize how it works.

 

What is it that makes these dates so important to you?

Are you trying to synchronize files or track documents by creation or access dates?

 

Dave

 

Very nice explanation Dave.  I know it can be a problem where I work when I am trying to find the correct company backup in Simply Accounting.  By the time I check two three to get the newest file, a mouse-over shows all the same date after that, so I'm back to opening each one all over again later. In this case it is the modified date which changes even if it isn't modified.  I can see where an entire backup would be a pain.

Yes, it sure can be a problem.

 

I haven't spent much time thing about it but off the top of my head I might say that there really isn't a good solution.

 

Going by a modification date your really just going on a "assumption".  Especially for backup purposes.

Your assuming that the most recently modified file is the most current on and the one that needs to be kept.

Most of the time that may be true, but what happens if the "modification" was a corruption?  or if someone who last used the file made a mistake or purposely deleted important info?

Then if you started replacing older files with the most modified your spreading the corruption or data loss.

Or like you said, just "looking" at the file can change it and all of a sudden an older file can look newer than the more complete version.

 

Thats why I asked if the dates were being used for synchronization or backups, I have no idea how that could be done with an assumption that would be correct in all cases.

 

I think thats one of the reasons why documents use "metadata" so the documents themselves can record the actual creation and modification dates rather then the files.  In that case the files can be thought of more as containers and the documents within them can retain the correct dates regardless of being copied, backed up, archived or whatever.

 

Dave

 

I don't know that accounting program but in Quicken I used to include the date code as part of the filename by using Save As.

I use Accounting Edge formerly MYOB and just back it up all the time and keep several backup sets.