remove windows file history timestamps in file name

Question

I copied a folder created using windows 8 file history from a drive to a computer running windows 7. Since I couldn't use a restore function all the files have time stamps like 01 Disappearing World (2015_01_09 04_57_38 UTC).mp3. Is there an easy way to remove these time stamps?

Answer 1

Here's RainingChain's script tweaked a little and converted to a full C# console app. Just compile and enjoy, tested in my own system.

Added functions:

• Subdirectory scan and exception swallow when access is denied.

• Operates only on timestamped files, this avoids affecting other data.

• If timestamped file has another copy without the timestamp in the same folder, it deletes the timestamped one. This is for example when a program has been reinstalled and created the file again without the timestamp.

-

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleApp1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("FileHistory timestamp remover V1.0 - HamCode 2018");
            Console.WriteLine("Based on a simple C# script by user RainingChain @ Superuser.com");
            Console.WriteLine("--------------------------------------------------------------------");
            Console.WriteLine();
        ReRun:;
            Console.WriteLine("Please enter files path, subdirectories will be scanned: ");
            string input = Console.ReadLine();
            try
            {   

               foreach (string SubDir in Directory.GetDirectories(input))
               {
                    try
                    {
                        string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(@SubDir, "*(????_??_?? ??_??_?? UTC).*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
                        Console.WriteLine();
                        Console.Write("Current directory: ");
                        Console.Write(@SubDir);
                        Console.WriteLine(" The following files have been identified as containing a FileHistory timestamp:");
                        foreach (var value in files)
                        {
                            Console.Write(value);
                        }
                        Console.WriteLine();
                        Console.WriteLine();
                        for (int i = 0; i < files.Length; i++)
                        {
                            string newName = Regex.Replace(files[i], @" ?\(\d\d\d\d_\d\d_\d\d \d\d_\d\d_\d\d UTC\)", "");
                            //System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(files[i], newName);
                            File.SetAttributes(files[i], File.GetAttributes(files[i]) & ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly);
                            if (File.Exists(newName))
                            {
                                File.Delete(files[i]);
                                Console.Write("File deleted: ");
                                Console.Write(files[i]);
                                Console.WriteLine();
                                goto DoNothing;
                            }
                            System.IO.File.Move(files[i], newName);
                            Console.Write("Backup file renamed: ");
                            Console.Write(newName);
                            Console.WriteLine();
                        DoNothing:;
                        }
                    }
                    catch (Exception ds)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine(ds);
                    }                    
               }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                    Console.WriteLine(ex);
                    goto ReRun;
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Completed, press any key to exit.");
            Console.Read();
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Here is a C# script. It fetches the list of all files. Then for each of them, remove substring matching something similar to " (2016_04_19 21_26_33 UTC)".

string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(@"C:\Users\Sam\NODEJS\node_modules", "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
for (int i = 0; i < files.Length; i++) {
    string newName = Regex.Replace(files[i], @" ?\(\d\d\d\d_\d\d_\d\d \d\d_\d\d_\d\d UTC\)", "");
    //System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(files[i], newName);
    //File.SetAttributes(files[i], File.GetAttributes(files[i]) & ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly);
    System.IO.File.Move(files[i], newName);
}
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Completed");

Answer 3

Here's a Powershell version

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.Name -match " ?\(\d\d\d\d_\d\d_\d\d \d\d_\d\d_\d\d UTC\)" } | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace " ?\(\d\d\d\d_\d\d_\d\d \d\d_\d\d_\d\d UTC\)", ""}