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preserving timestamps? (12 posts)

  • Started 4 years ago by Danl
  • Latest reply 2 years ago from KY
  • Danl Member

    I'm using Fetch 5.7.7.

    When I download/upload files, how can I preserve their timestamp? As far as I can tell, when I download files, the timestamp is always reset to the current time. Don't want that.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    Hi,

    Could you check whether "Do not preserve modification dates" is checked in the Obscure section of Preferences?

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Danl Member

    That box is NOT checked. I am beginning to understand that this may be up to my server, whether modification dates can be preserved. My server is Hostgator. That so?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    Hi,

    Yes, preserving dates on files uploaded to the server depends on server support. I don't know offhand whether HostGator has the necessary FTP support, but I could look at a transcript collected after an upload to check.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Danl Member

    I was not able to connect to Hostgater with the terminal line using sftp/ftp, but I may just be doing it wrong. Need to check with them. If I could, using an mget/mput -p would work great. Now Hostgator works fine with Fetch. Doesn't that mean that it ought to work with terminal line ftp? I thought Fetch was just a front-end for ftp.

    I managed to do what I wanted to do just with a terminal line ssh connection, so I'm a little less desperate for this now. Thanks.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    Hi,

    Have you tried connecting with Fetch using SFTP? If you can do that your dates should be preserved.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Danl Member

    On my Mac, when I do "Connect to Server" it starts up Fetch 5.7.7 as noted above, and launches it with an sftp command. In Fetch, when I do "Get Info" on a remote file, it reports an sftp location. When I connect directly with Fetch, the "Connect using" is sftp. So I am using sftp.

    When I download an old folder through Fetch, curiously the folder gets stamped with the current date/time, but the files within it retain the original dates/times. That's pretty weird, and not at all handy.

    Let me be more specific. When I download nested folders, the topmost folder *and* folders contained within it get a current timestamp. Files within those folders do not. So folders are all restamped. Files are not. Very weird.

    Edited 4 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    Thanks, Danl, for that clarification. Fetch does not attempt to preserve folder dates, only file dates. I'm sorry that this behavior doesn't meet your needs. I'll take it as a request to add the ability to preserve folder dates.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Danl Member

    I appreciate your concern and interest, Jim. I guess I don't understand why Fetch was originally designed to preserve dates in files but not in folders. That doesn't seem sensible. Is that decision somehow set by the server? That is, it may be that it isn't something that Fetch could necessarily offer.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    Hi Danl,

    The decision is not set by the server. My thinking at the time was that file modification dates are more useful than folder modification dates. A folder modification date tells you the last time that an item was created or deleted at the top level of that folder, but doesn't tell you anything about whether any of contents of the folder have been modified. Also, as a practical matter it's somewhat easier to preserve file modification dates.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • Danl Member

    Interesting. But I guess the best option would be the ability to preserve or not to preserve both file and folder timestamps. That is, two separate boxes to check. It makes sense to change the folder modification date if something was created or deleted within that folder, but if nothing in it has changed, I see no reason to change the timestamp of the folder.

    To the extent folders are easier to re-timestamp, it would be nice to have a utility that looks at the contents of the folder, and changes the timestamp of the folder to reflect the newest item in that folder.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  • KY Member

    I find it odd that the directory timestamps are not preserved. It is really important that they are because it is critical to finding things. I hope this will be addressed, but for now, I have to look for another solution.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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