date of file creation in Mac OS X?

[feuerschlange]

How do I check the real date of file creation in Mac OS X.

All files, I receive (mail, ...) have the created date, when I copied them in their respective folder.

The inspector does not help with the real date of creation either.

 

[sidewinder]

Can you you rephrase that question? It's not clear, to me anyway, what you are asking.

S-

 

[gibbz]

Can you you rephrase that question? It's not clear, to me anyway, what you are asking.

S-

The OP wants to know when the file was originally created. Leopard shows when the file was added to his system as the date created.

 

[miles01110]

In Finder:

Menu bar
View
Show view Options (Command + J)
Check "Date Created"

 

[sidewinder]

The OP wants to know when the file was originally created. Leopard shows when the file was added to his system as the date created.

Got it....

Generally, OS's don't keep track of the date the file was originally created if it was created on a different system. In other words, the OS only notes when the file was created on its file system. That makes perfect sense since that is what the created and modified dates are tracking.

If the actual creation of the file is to be tracked, that is done by data stored in the file itself. Of course that only happens in certain applications. For example, the Microsoft Word file format keeps track of the files original creation date. Get "Properties" on a Word document and you will see the original creation date for the file.

S-

 

[motulist]

When you receive a file through email, you aren't receiving the actual file, you're receiving a copy of the file. So the copy of the file that you just received was just created when you received it. The bottom line is, unless you're talking about a type of file that has revision date info embedded in that type of format file, then you aren't going to be able to find out when the file was created on someone else's computer.

 

[Chase R]

Got it....

Generally, OS's don't keep track of the date the file was originally created if it was created on a different system. In other words, the OS only notes when the file was created on its file system. That makes perfect sense since that is what the created and modified dates are tracking.

Ya that makes sense.

I wonder why my Aluminum MB shows files that were created in May of 2008... The darn thing wasn't even manufactured until October of 2008 lol???

Hell I just found a file that was created December of 2007 on it.

 

[sidewinder]

Ya that makes sense.

I wonder why my Aluminum MB shows files that were created in May of 2008... The darn thing wasn't even manufactured until October of 2008 lol???

Hell I just found a file that was created December of 2007 on it.

Please note that I wrote "Generally". Installers do pretty much what they want. So any file installed by an installer is likely to not be the date the file was created on the system. Files extracted from compressed packages (zip, gzip, sit, etc.) usually keep the original file creation date as well.

S-

 

[Chase R]

Please note that I wrote "Generally". Installers do pretty much what they want. So any file installed by an installer is likely to not be the date the file was created on the system. Files extracted from compressed packages (zip, gzip, sit, etc.) usually keep the original file creation date as well.

S-

Oh ok. The place where I found the files though was in the "System" folder on my HDD (the majority of the ones created before the date I turned it on were created in May 2008). Maybe that was the date that my Leopard disk was made?

 

[feuerschlange]

Thanks for this information.

 

[lordthistle]

The OP wants to know when the file was originally created. Leopard shows when the file was added to his system as the date created.

In my case, Leopard does not show the date I added that file to my system - not for every file: it shows another date, may be the date the file was created on.

I sent a bug report/feature request to ADC concerning this same issue. Basically, I cannot order files in my Downloads folder according to the date I downloaded them.

See the attached screenshot. It's a fragment of my downloads folder. I have a Unibody MBP (since dec 08) and I downloaded those files few weeks ago.

thistle

 

[admwright]

In my case, Leopard does not show the date I added that file to my system - not for every file: it shows another date, may be the date the file was created on.

I sent a bug report/feature request to ADC concerning this same issue. Basically, I cannot order files in my Downloads folder according to the date I downloaded them.

When you download a file the downloader software can check the date on the remote server and set the same date on the downloaded version. So you see the date it had on the server not when you downloaded it.

 

[lordthistle]

When you download a file the downloader software can check the date on the remote server and set the same date on the downloaded version. So you see the date it had on the server not when you downloaded it.

Thanks. That's what I thought. Do you also know a solution to this? Is there any way to have the default behaviour?

thistle