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For example, let's say I keep a bunch of documents, images, videos, and ZIP archives on a remote computer/storage facility (say S3), which I download in a way that strips the files of their creation dates, et al. (say FTP) after a number of years (say in 2050).

What would be the best way to store file metadata to survive such a horrifying process?

digitxp
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  • You mean, "which I upload in a way..."? – A Dwarf Jul 19 '11 at 17:21
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    Start -> Run -> cmd. Open your directory, enter dir /T:C. Right click, "Select All". Open Notepad, paste. Voila! Amazing, I know. If you're on Linux, use ls with the appropriate switches (man ls should have more then enough information). – Breakthrough Jul 19 '11 at 18:25
  • @Breakthrough: You should post that as an answer. – afrazier Jul 19 '11 at 19:19
  • @Breakthrough Well creation dates and FTP are just an example. I would have titles, comments and ratings too. Tons. I have almost every file I ever created in my whole life. – digitxp Jul 19 '11 at 22:58

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You can use the dir command under Windows, or the ls command under Linux to obtain a directory listing in a command console, with the file creation dates.

If you are running Windows, go to Start -> Run -> cmd (or, hit WinKey+R). Move to the directory where your files are, and enter dir /T:C to obtain a directory listing with the file creation date. Right click, select all, and paste into notepad. Just save the directory listing output with your files.

If you're running Linux, you can get a similar output using ls -lc (the c flag uses the inode creation date instead of last modified date).

Breakthrough
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