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Old 02-13-2020, 06:32 PM   #1
bezee
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Default REAPER does not preserve modification dates when copying files (FIXED)

A while back I had to bring my project with me to a friend's house. I put the whole project on an external SSD and we did a week's worth of edits off of it using his computer. When I came home I plugged in my SSD and saved as the project file to an internal hard drive. REAPER copied all of the new files/recordings to the internal drive, but the dates were the current copy time, not when these files were first recorded.

Why is this a big deal? Well there are times when I have items no longer in the project, but they are in the project folder. I may want to know why they are no longer being used and if they have anything of value, so I sort by date. When REAPER copies to the files to a new drive, I lose all these dates.

Is it possible to get a preserve modification date feature in a future update?
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Old 02-15-2020, 02:47 AM   #2
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I don't know why you'd need to use Reaper to do the copy.
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Old 02-15-2020, 02:55 AM   #3
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That will happen when you modify a file with any program. You can sort by date created, date modified, date accessed, etc. If you're on Windows, r-click any column and click "more..."
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Old 02-15-2020, 04:37 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by bezee View Post
....
Is it possible to get a preserve modification date feature in a future update?
+1000000

If Reaper only copies/compiles them into project directory (I mean without any modification like trim etc.) then it should preserve the original date of such files.

Last edited by akademie; 02-15-2020 at 04:39 AM. Reason: typos
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Old 02-15-2020, 07:35 AM   #5
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Files have to have their creation date. In this case the date of creating a copy of the original file. If there is no need for a copy but rather just have the original, move is the answer. So when saving the project, tick Move all media into project directory.
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Old 02-15-2020, 09:02 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by xpander View Post
Files have to have their creation date. In this case the date of creating a copy of the original file. If there is no need for a copy but rather just have the original, move is the answer. So when saving the project, tick Move all media into project directory.
But original topic title is:
"REAPER does not preserve modification dates when copying files"

This is fine that Creation date is set to actual date when copying and thus creating a new file, but as the file is just a copy, its modification date should stay as was original. Windows itself does it right (with files, although not with folders, but that is another story :/ ).
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Old 02-15-2020, 09:26 PM   #7
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I don't know why you'd need to use Reaper to do the copy.
REAPER has a handy feature that copies any files not in the project directory, to the project directory. This is a very useful feature. I can simply drag and drop a recording into my project and I know it will make a copy in the project folder. I don't have to worry about the file going missing or getting the message 'this file is offline' if it is moved.

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Originally Posted by foxAsteria View Post
That will happen when you modify a file with any program. You can sort by date created, date modified, date accessed, etc. If you're on Windows, r-click any column and click "more..."
99% of the time, copying a file does not alter the modified date. It will however change the created date to the current time.
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Old 02-15-2020, 11:36 PM   #8
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Windows has operated in that manner almost forever, it is not reaper doing what your issue is. You can work with it or be fussing about that forever.
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Old 02-16-2020, 06:21 AM   #9
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Windows has operated in that manner almost forever, it is not reaper doing what your issue is. You can work with it or be fussing about that forever.
That is not true, Randolph.

In Windows, the "Modified Date" is never changed when simple copy operation is performed (even between different physical disks).
Moreover, there are more date information in Win that can be displayed in Windows Explorer and can sometime confuse non-experienced user and that is mainly "Date" which is not, of course, Modified date. There is also Last accessed date and Created date...
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Old 02-16-2020, 06:22 AM   #10
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This is fine that Creation date is set to actual date when copying and thus creating a new file, but as the file is just a copy, its modification date should stay as was original.
When you create a new file, both the date created and date modified will be the same.
When you create a new file, both the date created and date modified can be the same, depending. In Reaper, when e.g recording a new item, Created will be the start of the recording and Modified when the recording was stopped.

Those dates are the original parameters for this new file. After that point in time, if you modify this file, the date created will stay the same and date modified updates.*) You can preserve the original modification date only by not modifying the file, or changing the file attributes after the fact.


*) not the whole story, as discussed later...

Last edited by xpander; 02-19-2020 at 01:40 PM. Reason: edited for accuracy
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Old 02-16-2020, 07:41 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by xpander View Post
When you create a new file, both the date created and date modified will be the same. Those dates are the original parameters for this new file. After that point in time, when you modify this file, the date created will stay the same and date modified updates. You can preserve the original modification date only by not modifying the file, or changing the file attributes after the fact.

I think there is some big misunderstanding or what.

There is no reason to modify "Modified date" information in a file that is exact raw copy of its original. On the other hand "Creation date" is set to the date-time of actual physical creation of this copied file on storage, which is correct, because the file is created, but it has its property of original one, which Modified date record is.

I think you, who do not think so, should definitely try it in Windows Explorer. Choose some older file, right-click to inspect its properties, keep the Properties window open and make copy of the file by drag'n'drop with right mouse button (Copy option). Then open Properties window for this new copied file and compare all three dates (Created, Modified, Opened).
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Old 02-16-2020, 09:13 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by akademie View Post
I think there is some big misunderstanding or what.
There is no reason to modify "Modified date" information in a file that is exact raw copy of its original..
I definitely agree on misunderstanding on my part, sorry about possible confusion. I approached the question only from the way Reaper handles files. Create copies or move files in Reaper (with Save as) handles files like I described earlier about the date attributes*). edit: Apparently I mixed approaches, sorry about that.


If we are talking about the copied file handling of file managers like Explorer, date modified is indeed carried over from the original file (as a file creation date), while the date created will be the actual modification date. You can find plenty of complains about that seemingly illogical order, but maybe that is besides the point? If you are already using file managers where these attributes carry over like you want, they can be used to make copies then?

Last edited by xpander; 02-19-2020 at 01:58 PM.
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Old 02-16-2020, 10:43 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by bezee View Post
REAPER has a handy feature that copies any files not in the project directory, to the project directory. This is a very useful feature. I can simply drag and drop a recording into my project and I know it will make a copy in the project folder. I don't have to worry about the file going missing or getting the message 'this file is offline' if it is moved..
OK, but what you seem to be needing to do is handle "items no longer in the project, but they are in the project folder" in which case you're talking about project Cleanup (->File->Clean current project directory)

OR, if you've go a project and all its associated files on your external disk, open that project in reaper and "consolidate" it to a new folder / RPP on your main drive / normal location for projects.
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Old 02-16-2020, 11:59 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by xpander View Post
I definitely agree on misunderstanding on my part, sorry about possible confusion. I approached the question only from the way Reaper handles files. Create copies or move files in Reaper (with Save as) handles files like I described earlier about the date attributes*). That is also the logical way I see files should be handled.

If we are talking about the copied file handling of file managers like Explorer, date modified is indeed carried over from the original file (as a file creation date), while the date created will be the actual modification date. You can find plenty of complains about that seemingly illogical order, but maybe that is besides the point? If you are already using file managers where these attributes carry over like you want, they can be used to make copies then?


*)Exception to this is that if the Save as path is in another volume (drive), the date attributes behave like in Explorer even with Move all media option. If that is wanted, Move all items could be the solution, although not quite for the reasoning I originally presented?
Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree here.

Did you pass the test I wrote about in Windows Explorer? If not, please, try it.

Modification date is a date when any modification was made to the content of file (lets say you corrected mistyped "X" character to correct "Y" char. Yes, you then changed the content of file. SO Modification date will show you even after year or two, that it is still the same file (its content) as was at those times even it is copied already to new disks etc. How else you would then be able to judge if it is the correct file.
Creation date is set when making a record in FAT table (or kind of), so there was blank space on storage and now we are building there a new file, but the file is only exact copy of already existing one with no edits made to its content, that is why modify date should not (and in Windows itself) change by just copying.

How does it Reaper do is different part, of course. But if best, it should comply to that standard and do not change content of files which are copied to project folder only,, and I hope it does not do actually modify content but because of changed modify date user would expect that it was changed somehow

I hope I will not have to make a video capture of that behavior in Windows.
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Old 02-18-2020, 01:58 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by Randolph View Post
Windows has operated in that manner almost forever, it is not reaper doing what your issue is. You can work with it or be fussing about that forever.
No it hasn't. You are completely wrong and not understanding my post. Modified dates do not change when copying across disks or even file systems. I regularly transfer date from NTFS to ext4.



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OK, but what you seem to be needing to do is handle "items no longer in the project, but they are in the project folder" in which case you're talking about project Cleanup (->File->Clean current project directory)

OR, if you've go a project and all its associated files on your external disk, open that project in reaper and "consolidate" it to a new folder / RPP on your main drive / normal location for projects.
No that's not what I meant. I was just trying to give an example of why I want the dates preserved.

REAPER has a setting in preferences that says copy imported media to project media directory. Being a copy, this should preserve dates by default.
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Old 02-18-2020, 04:18 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by bezee View Post
...
REAPER has a setting in preferences that says copy imported media to project media directory. Being a copy, this should preserve dates by default.
+1000 yes

Developers, fix this, please. (copy operation must not change "Modified date" of the file being copied).

Thanks


EDIT:
To make it obvious, I hope that by saying "...this should preserve dates..." bezee had in mind the Modify date, because Create date cannot be copied for obvious reasons, of course.

Last edited by akademie; 02-18-2020 at 09:02 AM. Reason: EDIT
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Old 02-18-2020, 07:50 AM   #17
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Modification date is a date when any modification was made to the content of file (lets say you corrected mistyped "X" character to correct "Y" char.
I made a test file for the pictures. Windows 10, file handling with Explorer, file properties:



For the original file, Created is the time the file was created, Modified is the time when the edits were done. This order stays the same.

For the copied file before any edits *), Modified is the time the original source file was created. Created tells when this specific copy was made. When this copy is edited the first time, Created stays the same, Modified tells the time the edits were done to this copy. The original source times are lost at this point.

*) Copy of edited original file is a bit different. There Modified tells when the original file was last edited, Created tells when this specific copy was made. After that it behaves like straight copies of original when edited.

Tied back to this topic;
Created tells when this specific file was created.
Depending on conditions, Modified attribute can tell you
a) the time when this file was created
b) the time when this file was last edited
c) the time when the source file was created
d) the time when the source file was last edited

Last edited by xpander; 02-18-2020 at 08:26 AM.
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Old 02-18-2020, 08:43 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by xpander View Post
I made a test file for the pictures. Windows 10, file handling with Explorer, file properties:



For the original file, Created is the time the file was created, Modified is the time when the edits were done. This order stays the same.

For the copied file before any edits *), Modified is the time the original source file was created. Created tells when this specific copy was made. When this copy is edited the first time, Created stays the same, Modified tells the time the edits were done to this copy. The original source times are lost at this point.

*) Copy of edited original file is a bit different. There Modified tells when the original file was last edited, Created tells when this specific copy was made. After that it behaves like straight copies of original when edited.

Tied back to this topic;
Created tells when this specific file was created.
Depending on conditions, Modified attribute can tell you
a) the time when this file was created
b) the time when this file was last edited
c) the time when the source file was created
d) the time when the source file was last edited
Sorry xpander, I do not read whole message in precise, because I am too tired.

BUT - check again your statement (I highlighted it in bold in quote of your post). Original file and copy of original file, both have the same Modified date !!! That's OK, but you are stating otherwise in your comment. Created date of a copy is 15:51:16 which is pretty correct and corelates with Accessed of original file (which dumbly says only 1 minute ago, which sure is something like that 15:51:16).

EDIT2:
And also (highlighted in bold-italic)
Only two statements of 4 given are true: b) and d)
(options a) and c) are more of coincidence than something to rely on!)

I think that your pictures confirm our findings for the request to fix.


EDIT1:
Fuck it up, too tired to complain. You showcase some case qwhich aI cannot correctly understand now.
Simply, take a longer time before creation of file and later its modification. Sure if you create brand new file, its creation and modification date will be the same. later when you decide to edit its content, then Created date will stay, but Modify date will change accordingly depending on the date/time of edit. Access date will change if you will access the file, so open it. (e.g. with day/days between oparations Created 2020/02/10, Modified 2020/02/11, Accessed: 2020/02/17).

I think that developers who know what's going on should jump in just to say, yes we will fix it or no we won't.
No other proofs needed, I believe. Only clear mind what is obvious.


I also added info to my previous post (reaction to bezee's post) to avoid confusion (it's under EDIT

Last edited by akademie; 02-18-2020 at 09:04 AM. Reason: EDITS
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Old 02-18-2020, 08:54 AM   #19
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Original file and copy of original file, both have the same Modified date !!! That's OK, but you are stating otherwise in your comment.
Nope. The important point to notice is that there are no edits to the original file. That's why both Created and Modified are the same for that file. For the copy of that original file, Modified states the time of the creation of original file. And only before the copy itself has been edited the first time.

Copy of edited original would state the last edit time of original as Modified, not the time the original file was created.

Quote:
Originally Posted by akademie View Post
EDIT2: And also (highlighted in bold-italic)
Only two statements of 4 given are true: b) and d)
Nope again, look at the picture. A is true when the original file was not edited, both attributes are the same. C is true for the unedited copy of unedited original. For the completeness sake I should perhaps say C applies for both attributes if they are the same in the source. But the point here is, you'll have to know at what state your files are before you can say what Modified tells you.

Last edited by xpander; 02-18-2020 at 09:21 AM.
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Old 02-18-2020, 09:22 AM   #20
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Nope. The important point to notice is that there are no edits to the original file. That's why both Created and Modified are the same for that file. For the copy of that original file, Modified states the time of the creation of original file. And only before the copy itself has been edited the first time.

Copy of edited original would state the last edit time of original as Modified, not the time the original file was created.



Nope again, look at the picture. A is true when the original file was not edited, both attributes are the same. C is true for the unedited copy of unedited original. For the completeness sake I should perhaps say C applies for both attributes, because they are the same in source. But the point here is, you'll have to know at what state your files are before you can say what Modified tells you.
I only can repeat myself again:
(options a) and c) are more of coincidence than something to rely on!)

I do not know what hard is to understand what Modify date means?? Is it really so hard?
It means just the fact why it is named that way. So, if you copy a file, then newly created copy has to preserve original file Modify date (of course if the original file was not edited meanwhile!). That is why this date is specified.
I also wrote it already, but Modify date is the only date one should care, because it does say you something useful about that file. Created date is useful in case you need to find e.g. virus, then you can search your harddrive for files "created" on specific day or so, because that would mean that those files were injected to your filesystem right at the occasion when you triggered a malicious web or file, even the files itself can have its Modified status two years old... if you get what I mean.

The point of this topic is: Please, keep "Modify date attribute" of copied files only intact. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Old 02-18-2020, 09:29 AM   #21
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Just to chime in.

The desire for modified time to display the last time the file contents changed is the right expectation - However, I've found various cases where this may not always be trustable as consistent completely outside of reaper. Though I don't have notes of the exact conditions.

Secondly, it is unlikely reaper code is performing the actual copy or setting the time/date and just calling the underlying OS API - the way to know which is to run something like procmon to see exactly which filesystem API call is being used and which flags are being passed.
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Old 02-18-2020, 09:41 AM   #22
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To xpander,
your screenshot of "Copy of original, modified contents" with time 15:58:29 in Modified and Accessed is very strange if it is a copy of "Original file, modified contents" where Modified/Accessed set to 15:53:02.
Did you open it meanwhile in some application??

There is a possibility that application will open a file and even if you close it without saving, it will be "saved" nevertheless - e.g. Microsoft crap like Word, Excell etc :-( Then it gets also new timestamp for Modified/Accessed attribute.

That could also describe something karbo talks about - some strange situations.

But Windows explorer type copy operation hopefully keeps consistent (and right).

Note: If I want to preserve also folder dates, which is impossible in Windows natively (shame), then Total Commander does the same as Explorer (=folder has actual date/time) but at the end of operation Total Commander changes date/time attribute of new folder to injects date from original one. But that is a different story.
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Old 02-18-2020, 09:45 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by akademie View Post
Note: If I want to preserve also folder dates, which is impossible in Windows natively (shame),
Robocopy which is native to windows (unless legacy versions) has a flag to retain folder and file timestamps.

/dcopy:t
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Old 02-18-2020, 09:54 AM   #24
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Robocopy which is native to windows (unless legacy versions) has a flag to retain folder and file timestamps.

/dcopy:t
Oh thanks, good to know
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:06 AM   #25
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I do not know what hard is to understand what Modify date means?? Is it really so hard?
Clear as fog. No, honestly, the original concern was preserving in the copies the time when the files were first recorded. What I've tried to show above is how Modified doesn't carry that information in every case. I have absolutely nothing against the quest itself.

---

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To xpander,
your screenshot of "Copy of original, modified contents" with time 15:58:29 in Modified and Accessed is very strange if it is a copy of "Original file, modified contents" where Modified/Accessed set to 15:53:02.
Did you open it meanwhile in some application??
Yes I did. I hope Accessed doesn't become the next quest.

Last edited by xpander; 02-18-2020 at 10:12 AM.
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:09 AM   #26
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Clear as fog. No, honestly, the original concern was preserving the time when the files were first recorded. What I've tried to show above is how Modified doesn't carry that information in every case. I have absolutely nothing against the quest itself.
My permanent fix was timestamp as part of the filename, that's been the fix since windows has existed lol because you can never trust file attribs 100% based on who or what touches them.
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:16 AM   #27
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Clear as fog. No, honestly, the original concern was preserving the time when the files were first recorded. What I've tried to show above is how Modified doesn't carry that information in every case. I have absolutely nothing against the quest itself.

---



Yes I did. I hope Accessed doens't become the next quest.
Sorry for forgetting about original info about recording - yes, it does not carry much info in those dates we are talking about, but even then, one can get lots of info when those attributes are right. So, e.g. if I know that files were recorded and never edited (yet), then after years I know what I need to know and what I have under my hand (well mouse). If Modified date would change everytime while copying then it would not be useful at all generally.

Accessed will not be next quest , I only pointed it out, because that could be reason that Modified date also got screwed - so it is not good proof then, you know.

Last edited by akademie; 02-18-2020 at 10:23 AM. Reason: typos
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:19 AM   #28
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My permanent fix was timestamp as part of the filename, that's been the fix since windows has existed lol because you can never trust file attribs 100% based on who or what touches them.
Yep, timestamps here too. For an added measure and depending on case, I use also project/track/item notes with dates.
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:21 AM   #29
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My permanent fix was timestamp as part of the filename, that's been the fix since windows has existed lol because you can never trust file attribs 100% based on who or what touches them.
Yes, totally agree.

But not always the filename can be modified that way (or it is not desirable), (samples coming from sample libraries etc).
But it definitely can be done (and is preferred) for recordings made in Reaper, yes - Gold tip'n'trick!
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Old 02-18-2020, 10:37 AM   #30
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Yes, totally agree.

But not always the filename can be modified that way (or it is not desirable), (samples coming from sample libraries etc).
But it definitely can be done (and is preferred) for recordings made in Reaper, yes - Gold tip'n'trick!
Yea, when possible - I have reaper set to include the full timestamp appended to the track name for any media files recorded etc. - I also use that convention outside of reaper when it matters as well because we can never know what might touch the file and cause a change.
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Old 02-18-2020, 11:51 AM   #31
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No that's not what I meant. I was just trying to give an example of why I want the dates preserved.

REAPER has a setting in preferences that says copy imported media to project media directory. Being a copy, this should preserve dates by default.
I get that, but you're (kinda) wrong. There's better ways to accomplish what your example is about.

Also, Reaper (or any application) depends on the filesystem to manage these timestamps. Which is not to say that the application couldn't use utimes() or the equivalent or whatever to fake the times to your liking - but there's no advantage to it that I can see.

If you can come up with a use case that isn't provided for in some other way, then you've got a legitimate gripe. Not just "I wanna achieve this (fair enough) but in some way that doesn't, in fact, work (questionable)".

Perhaps I've misunderstood.
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Old 02-18-2020, 12:17 PM   #32
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I get that, but you're (kinda) wrong. There's better ways to accomplish what your example is about.

Also, Reaper (or any application) depends on the filesystem to manage these timestamps. Which is not to say that the application couldn't use utimes() or the equivalent or whatever to fake the times to your liking - but there's no advantage to it that I can see.

If you can come up with a use case that isn't provided for in some other way, then you've got a legitimate gripe. Not just "I wanna achieve this (fair enough) but in some way that doesn't, in fact, work (questionable)".

Perhaps I've misunderstood.
Hi jrk, please, do read all the posts to understand the issue.
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Old 02-18-2020, 01:01 PM   #33
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Hi jrk, please, do read all the posts to understand the issue.
I read the OP (indeed, I was the "first responder"), I'm afraid I skipped a lot of the thread-jacking waffle along the way
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Old 02-18-2020, 01:18 PM   #34
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Old 02-18-2020, 03:18 PM   #35
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In case I wasn't clear, karbomusic suggests using a proper file utility to obtain specific copy behaviours, and xpander demonstrates the vagaries of modification time (LastWriteTime, strictly, I believe). I didn't mean that these contributions were waffle. Indeed they point to the usefulness of a proper file utility if you want some nonstandard behaviour from your copies. Reapers great but it doesn't claim to be a file utility.
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Old 02-18-2020, 03:42 PM   #36
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In case I wasn't clear, karbomusic suggests using a proper file utility to obtain specific copy behaviours, and xpander demonstrates the vagaries of modification time (LastWriteTime, strictly, I believe). I didn't mean that these contributions were waffle. Indeed they point to the usefulness of a proper file utility if you want some nonstandard behaviour from your copies. Reapers great but it doesn't claim to be a file utility.
Again sorry, jrk, but you are totally wrong and out of picture for some (to me unknown) reason.

Modified date is solid attribute when not fucked up by app or user (I mean opening and saving even not-modified file - which is of course kind of user error or wrong user behavior).
(xpander did not make any proof, he opened the copied file afterwards and that way "edited" the copied file and then argues that modified date is not the same as original file that was copied

Reaper features "copy" feature to allow compile media that were originally spread all over the place.

There were bugs many years ago in the same functionality, that led to overwriting files that were in different folders but had the same filename and so on. It was corrected and also refined by user testing and requesting solid and reliable operation of given function.

Please, if you do not have proper use for your workflow, then better do not reply, because that does not help anything (you personally are allowed to do it your way, for sure). The feature is simply contained in application, so it is intended to be used, well? And then that's why it needs to work as expected (karbo already confirmed what is expected by user in case of plain copying of a file).

As I am writing this, I realize, that we are in General discussion, so maybe that's the problem, but anyway. I am gonna file a Bug and/or Feature Request which would be proper way to continue (or rather not continue) this discussion.

Note: BTW, you can use any application to add ID3 tags etc, can you? So why the hell developers are incorporating it in Reaper??? And wouldn't it be fine if then when ID3 tags are already in Reaper so they would work correctly? Sure it would.

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Old 02-18-2020, 04:22 PM   #37
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Again sorry, jrk, but you are totally wrong and out of picture
No, I am completely and incontrovertibly correct. Also devastatingly good-looking.
My point - honest, I had one - is that using Reaper to copy files in the hope that the last written time of the new file will be the same as the original - because that's what you want to be true - is pointless. (a) it won't be (and why, really, should it be?) also (b) there are better solutions to the original problem (which wasn't about timestamps, but rather project management).

I mean, I'd like it if Reaper could go and get me a drink, but I'm not whining when it doesn't. The obvious solution to my problem is not to add features to Reaper, but to for me to stand up and go and get one.

And I shall.

All the best.
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Old 02-18-2020, 04:58 PM   #38
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In case I wasn't clear, karbomusic suggests using a proper file utility to obtain specific copy behaviours, and xpander demonstrates the vagaries of modification time (LastWriteTime, strictly, I believe). I didn't mean that these contributions were waffle. Indeed they point to the usefulness of a proper file utility if you want some nonstandard behaviour from your copies. Reapers great but it doesn't claim to be a file utility.
I expect reaper should copy files correctly (when using Save As/Copy) and maintain the "Modified time" just like pretty much every copy operation in Windows.

I expect Reaper is wrong here, if the file contents did not change, the lastwritetime (internal name) and modified time (friendly name) should not change, period.

My utility suggestion was for folder names only FYI - my suggestion for using timestamps in filenames that are date sensitive, is a safety feature because someone's code always fks this up, in this case reaper.

I also think getting in the weeds about creation time is counterproductive - meaning, modified is the thing that should be retained even if the OP didn't understand this at first, reaper does not do that, that is incorrect behavior - albeit, it comes down to how the are calling CreateFile() etc. and which flags they are passing, which OS API they are using, this could be a side-effect related to maintaining cross platform but the behavior is still demonstrably wrong. If it has a feature to copy, it should copy properly.

I still have seen some instances where this doesn't work properly elsewhere and that scenario could be this one, I just don't have to to reverse engineer to find out. Also... With reaper being non-destructive the modified time should = original creation time if recorded audio files.
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Old 02-18-2020, 05:33 PM   #39
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I expect reaper should copy files correctly (when using Save As/Copy) and maintain the "Modified time" just like pretty much every copy operation in Windows.

I expect Reaper is wrong here, if the file contents did not change, the lastwritetime (internal name) and modified time (friendly name) should not change, period.

My utility suggestion was for folder names only FYI - my suggestion for using timestamps in filenames that are date sensitive, is a safety feature because someone's code always fks this up, in this case reaper.

I also think getting in the weeds about creation time is counterproductive - meaning, modified is the thing that should be retained even if the OP didn't understand this at first, reaper does not do that, that is incorrect behavior - albeit, it comes down to how the are calling CreateFile() etc. and which flags they are passing, which OS API they are using, this could be a side-effect related to maintaining cross platform but the behavior is still demonstrably wrong. If it has a feature to copy, it should copy properly.

I still have seen some instances where this doesn't work properly elsewhere and that scenario could be this one, I just don't have to to reverse engineer to find out. Also... With reaper being non-destructive the modified time should = original creation time if recorded audio files.
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Old 02-18-2020, 05:55 PM   #40
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I hope it gets addressed or at least answered. It's possible this problem is why I added timestamp to reaper track files way back when.

The more I think about it, I deal with lots of different types of files in general and outside of Reaper, and modified time has been consistent enough that it's my rough versioning system for decades - especially when I revisit something months or years later and modified is often the tiebreaker when I can't remember or the file labeling doesn't give me the answer.

If it is truly critical then there's extra protection such as file naming or github but most of the time modified is accurate as I expect so it would be good to understand why Reaper doesn't maintain it.
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