why does robocopy say this file is older?

Robocopy shows (I think I used /MIR and /L)

   2    M:\bk\laptopcopy\pics\
        Older              79248    regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png

None of the time stamps seem to reflect that though.

---- dir showing the modified time stamp
M:\>dir m:\bk\laptopcopy\pics
Tue 22 Jul 2008  05:01            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png

F:\formozy\smalltxtdoc\bk\laptopcopy\pics
>dir regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
22/07/2008  05:01            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
------


---dir showing the creation time stamp----
M:\bk\laptopcopy\pics
>dir /t:c regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
24/08/2008  16:04            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-s

F:\formozy\smalltxtdoc\bk\laptopcopy\pics
>dir /t:c regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
24/08/2008  16:04            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-s
----------------------


--- dir showing the access time stamp    
M:\bk\laptopcopy\pics
>dir /t:a regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
20/04/2013  11:23            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-sh

F:\formozy\smalltxtdoc\bk\laptopcopy\pics
>dir /t:a regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v2.png
29/12/2010  14:31            79,248 regular-expressions-cheat-sh
----------

Documentation says [1]

File        Exists In   Exists In        Source/Dest     Source/Dest   Source/Dest
Class       Source      Destination      File Times      File Sizes    Attributes
=========== =========== ================ =============== ============= ============
Lonely      Yes         No               n/a             n/a           n/a
Tweaked     Yes         Yes              Equal           Equal         Different
Same        Yes         Yes              Equal           Equal         Equal
Changed     Yes         Yes              Equal           Different     n/a
Newer       Yes         Yes              Source > Dest   n/a           n/a
Older       Yes         Yes              Source < Dest   n/a           n/a
Extra       No          Yes              n/a             n/a           n/a
Mismatched  Yes (file)  Yes (directory)  n/a             n/a           n/a

[1] What does robocopy mean by tweaked, lonely and extra?

Which mentions documentation and http://theether.net/download/Microsoft/Utilities/robocopy.pdf and http://www.lordgoogle.com/downloads/robocopy/robocopy.doc

robocopy

barlop

Posted 2013-04-27T23:18:06.233

Reputation: 18 677

on a related note- i've heard synchronize it, beyond compare, as well as synctoy, are worth a look.. and these sync tools may be useful also when the directory structure changes.. so you don't get duplication .. these may help in letting you double check before copying. – barlop – 2016-12-20T00:57:39.303

The last set of time stamps seems to reflect older doesn't it? If M: is the Source and F: Destination. – N4TKD – 2013-04-28T00:46:07.170

@AlwaysLearning I don't think so. older is when source is older than dest. newer is when source is newer than dest. also I don't think it looks at access time(which that is), and, I think those access times are a case of Newer rather than Older. source>dest. See that table – barlop – 2013-04-28T07:15:08.403

Good point I move to SnycToy long ago, because of issues like these you may want to think about switching if you can. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

– N4TKD – 2013-04-28T12:27:12.993

@AlwaysLearning thanks i'll consider that. Currently I use beyond compare to check my copies sometimes. but I think 'beyond compare' might also do a copy, or syncing or sync related operations. I actually haven't ever used robocopy for my backups and have only just tried it now. Normally I use fastcopy but that is behaving in a similarly odd manner all of a sudden, which has never happened before. Though now I think about it, I did copy files to new hard drives 'cos I changed 2 hard drives in that computer. In which case I could delete the backup recreate it, and the problem won't recur. – barlop – 2013-04-28T13:52:48.650

@AlwaysLearning but I might dig a bit (or a lot if i'm nuts) just to figure out what is going on in more detail 'cos that often helps for the future. – barlop – 2013-04-28T13:55:56.490

i'll give that a try soon if I still have those paths/files, though in my case C:\ and F:\ are NTFS. Though the files were copied via (poss FAT) usb stick. anyhow, i'll try that soon. – barlop – 2014-10-17T21:41:57.477

The /FFT works - doesn't say one file is older/newer. Though both M:\ and F:\ are NTFS.. also I have the file elsewhere on F with all times other than access time the same, and with the other one robocopy doesn't require the /FFT for some reason. So, not only is it not the file system but it's not that one file comes from a usb and one doesn't. I don't at this stage know why it works or what's going on which is a bit disconcerting for if I was to use robocopy or another program with this issue. – barlop – 2014-10-18T00:33:48.227

this(showing seconds with a timestamp), may be relevant http://superuser.com/questions/591438/how-can-i-display-the-time-stamp-of-a-file-with-seconds-from-the-command-line?noredirect=1#

– barlop – 2016-06-27T09:17:34.753

I'm going to unaccept this answer because I can't verify that this would've worked for me. I no longer have the files where that issue was, and I don't really use robocopy or anything for backup at the moment. And anyhow given that both were NTFS so I think this couldn't possibly be it. – barlop – 2018-03-14T18:59:30.670

why does robocopy say this file is older?

Answers