Windows 10: Moving a windows folder (A) to another folder (B) does not change folder's (A) date modified or date created

Question

I have a Windows Folder A (containing some files/folders) with Date Created and Date Modified as 11/23/2023 05:26 p.m.

I have another Windows Folder B (containing some files/folders) with Date Created and Modified as 11/27/2023 06:35 p.m.

I moved Folder A to Folder B on 12/20/2023 03:55 p.m. But it did not change Date Created or Date Modified of Folder A.

When I checked, I could see Date Modified of Folder B as 12/20/2023 03:55 p.m. but Date Created and Date Modified of Folder A did not change.

How do I know that Windows Folder A was moved to Folder B and that it was moved on 12/20/2023 03:55 P.M.

Thanks

Answer 1

Moving a folder within the same filesystem doesn't actually change anything considering the folder or its contents.
It is just attached to a different parent folder and only the parent folders (old location and new location) get modified.
One loses a sub-folder, and the other gains one.

Effectively, you can't tell (from the folder itself) whether or not it was moved at some point in its life-time.

As far as I know, there is no way to reliably track this at the filesystem level.

Answer 2

Solution 1

• In Folder B create a new Folder C with the same name as Folder A
• Move the contents of Folder A into Folcer C
• Delete Folder A

Folder C will have the date in which it was created, while the contents will retain their original date. You will lose the 'Date created' of Folder A

Solution 2

• Move Folder A into Folder B
• Rename Folder A into Folder A1
• Rename Folder A1 into Folder A

Like this you'll keep the original 'Date created' of Folder A, and you'll have the 'Date modified'at the moment of the second rename.

There's however no functionality in Windows which can tell you "this stuff was moved on date x from K to B"

Answer 3

While the above answers give adequate solutions to the underlying issue, the unspoken question is why this happens at all. This is not just a thing that happens in Windows but also in Linux and has to do with file pointers in the file table.

When you create a file in the file system, the data is stored in the file system somewhere in a string of bits. However, the disk needs to be able to find this block of data to retrieve the file. This information is stored in the file table as a file pointer that points to the start of the file. The file table is a special file found at the beginning of the disk that contains information on where every file on the disk can be found, as well as information about it such as creation time, and where in the file structure it is placed.

When you move a file from one directory to another, the interesting thing is that the data of the file remains where it is. Instead what happens is that the file table is updated with a new location in the file structure for it's placement. As such, the creation time is not updated because a new file is not created, it's still the same file it always was. It's just considered semantically to be in a different folder for your purposes.

The same thing happens when you move a folder. Why is this? Because folders are a special kind of file as well, that the file table points to when determining where in the file system something is semantically placed.

When copying a file, the file system has to make a second copy of the file, and now you have a new file with a new creation time in the file table. If you were to then delete the original file, you are left only with the copy. This is how Tonny and 1NN's solutions work. They are not teaching you how to move a file, but how to create a copy, and delete the original.

Also, know that all of this information is about moving a file to a new location on the same disk. If you move it to a different disk, it results in a copy and then a delete as you would expect, and depending on the implementation, could update the file creation time.

Answer 4

So then, to clarify:

1. Make a copy on another disk. A new creation date for each file.
2. Delete the original folder
3. Move the new folder back to original disk.

Here's another tool: BulkFileChanger v1.51 Copyright (c) 2010 - 2017 Nir Sofer Web site: http://www.nirsoft.net

Description

BulkFileChanger is a small utility that allows you to create files list from multiple folders, and then make some action on them - Modify their created/modified/accessed time, change their file attribute (Read Only, Hidden, System), run an executable with these files as parameter, and copy/cut paste into Explorer.

BulkFileChanger is a replacement for the old FileDate Changer utility.