How to keep the original date and time of a file when copying?

Avik Basu

Distinguished
May 31, 2014
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Recently I copied some pictures from a microSD card to my hard drive. But when I checked the date and time of the copied pictures they were all set to the date and time when I copied them instead of their original details. So I tried again and used Windows default importer that you can find in the Autoplay when you plug-and-play a flash drive. This time I got all the original date and time.

But my question is, if I have to move them again to a different drive, like a backup drive or a pen drive or something, how will I keep the original date and time? Do I need a special import/export software? Or is there a tuning option in Windows? I use Windows 8.1.

This is not only for pictures. I don't want other files to change their original details as well, like documents or videos.
 
Solution
Copy/Paste creates a new file. That new file will have the date of creation...the copy date/time.

Importing generally preserves the original date/time.

With some backup applications, you can specify which date to use/keep.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Copy/Paste creates a new file. That new file will have the date of creation...the copy date/time.

Importing generally preserves the original date/time.

With some backup applications, you can specify which date to use/keep.
 
Solution