According to Windows Explorer, how can a file be "created" at a later date and yet "modified" at a prior date?

Asked by ScottyMcGeester (1902

) September 26th, 2013

Windows Explorer confuses me. When I look up the properties of a file to see when I created that file (whether it be a Word doc, audio, video, whatever) the dates don’t make sense. For example, in this one video I made for youtube, it says it was created on 2010. This is impossible being that this was the first youtube video I made once I started college, which was the fall of 2008. YET it also says that the file was Last Modified in June of 2008, which is ALSO impossible because I didn’t even go to college yet. I FILMED the video in the library of my college.

The only thing I can think of is how I transferred these files from my old laptop to my new one, or maybe how my old laptop needed to be fixed from time to time in school from viruses? I don’t know. There are other examples I could go on, but the gist of it is that the dates are all screwed up.

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2 Answers

If you make a copy of a file, the “created” date is the date you created that copy of the file. The “modified” date will remain unchanged. So, in your case, you have a video you created on 2008. That file had created and modified dates of 2008. At some point during 2010, however, you copied that file to another folder or something (copied to new laptop). And that changed the “created” date – because that is the file creation date.

tom_g (16638

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That clears that up. And I actually looked at the video and confused it with another video I made. This wasn’t in college. So whoops. But yes, that clears up the creation dates. Which, I’ve got to say, is highly misleading.

ScottyMcGeester (1902

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