[ale] What happend to?

[Dow Hurst]

You need to read up on the ls command and the ctime, mtime, and atime of a 
file.  Your listing may show the last accessed time instead of the last 
modification time.  One problem is if a file is transferred to a new 
filesystem then when written the modification time is the current time.  A tar 
archive can hold modification times but new directories added to a file system 
will not have the original creation time but the new current time.  I've found 
the simplest way to preserve a whole directory structures original 
modification time is to use cp or scp with the preserve, or -p, option.  This 
way the files and directories are transferred but the program touches the 
files and directories with the original modification, or what I would prefer 
to call the "creation time".  I'd read up on

touch
ls
ctime, mtime, atime
cp
tar
stat

and focus on time and date displays or modifications.  It'll help with this. 
Right now you might be able to get to what you want by a different ls flag.
Dow


Sean Kilpatrick wrote:
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> I have suddenly discovered that data that _used_ to
> be available with the old DOS file formats seems no
> longer available.
> Specifically, a detailed listing of a file in the 
> dim, dark historical past used to provide both the
> original write/create date _and_ the most recent write
> (or access -- I don't remember which) date.
> 
> Now all I seem to have is the most recent "modification"
> which isn't much help as, in fact, that is the last "read"
> date.
> Is there _any_ way to recover the original write date of 
> a file, or is that data no longer part of the file format?
> 
> The files in question are MS Word files that were originally
> created on Win box and then sent to me.
> 
> Sean
> 
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> 

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Dow Hurst                  Office: 770-499-3428            *
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