I just group-copied (then pasted) a group of 50 files from one folder to another; unfortunately the date and time of each file doesn't make it to the target folder, which are now all stamped with date-time of the group copy. Is there a way to avoid this in MacOS? (I hope it wouldn't require any arcane Windows terminal stuff; I'm low-tech and find that scary.)
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Copying files and preserving time-date
- Thread starter abr88
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Are you talking about items in the Finder? Are these files on your Mac's hard drive (or SSD)? Are both folders on the same hard drive (or SSD)? Are any of the folders involved in some sort of cloud syncing service?
Because something doesn't sound right.
Because something doesn't sound right.
Thanks for replying. The files (source and target) are all on my Synology NAS, an external drive which I control trouble-free from my Imac (read, write, and all the rest; it is listed in Finder as a "Location"). I want to move all the files in one of the NAS's folders to another. This happened fine without any issues, except for the date-time problem. I did use Finder for the whole procedure: Cntrl-A to highlight all 50 in source folder, cntrl-C to copy, then cntrl-V to paste them into the target folder. The fact that you asked about Finder makes me wonder if you're thinking that could be involved in the problem. It can all be undone and redone easily so any help appreciated. Thanks again!
If you try the same process using two folders on your Mac's SSD you'll see that the creation and modification dates are preserved on the copies. I suppose the reason does lie in how Finder deals with files on your NAS.
You might be able to use an app, such as RsyncOSX, that is just a GUI for performing rsync Terminal functions. I don't have anything to test it on here.
If rsync works it might be just as easy to learn the actual Terminal commands. IMO one should understand rsync before using something like RsyncOSX anyway.
You might be able to use an app, such as RsyncOSX, that is just a GUI for performing rsync Terminal functions. I don't have anything to test it on here.
If rsync works it might be just as easy to learn the actual Terminal commands. IMO one should understand rsync before using something like RsyncOSX anyway.