date modified hour and zip files in DST timezone

[Hacker]

Horst.Epp,
The quesstion is not how to increase FAT timestamp resolution but how to keep seeing local timestamp for files instead of it jumping around based on summer time or time zone.

Roman

[anmac1789]

I prefer the FAT like behaviour of timestamps in the sense that it doesnt change when DST on or off but i want higher time resolution without the timezone information or UTC timestamps

Accept the facts.
FAT has no higher time resolution, TC or any other file manager can't change that.

What about file managers that can use Zip packaging as ExFAT ?

[anmac1789]

Horst.Epp,
The quesstion is not how to increase FAT timestamp resolution but how to keep seeing local timestamp for files instead of it jumping around based on summer time or time zone.

Roman

Thats right how to stop DST hour changes affecting either files within the zip or files when extracted from zip.

From my observation file with times ending in odd numbers -- 1,3,5,7,9 zip subtracts 1 second from files having these times.
for files with times ending in even numbers --0,2,4,6,8 zip doesn't change timestamps of these files

What about using something like this ? https://github.com/DinoChiesa/DotNetZip

so is there someway to add 1 second to those odd time files during the zip process so that the files are consistent ?

[Horst.Epp]

Horst.Epp,
The quesstion is not how to increase FAT timestamp resolution but how to keep seeing local timestamp for files instead of it jumping around based on summer time or time zone.

Roman

I know, but he said
"I prefer the FAT like behaviour of timestamps in the sense that it doesnt change when DST on or off but i want higher time resolution without the timezone information or UTC timestamps"

[anmac1789]

Horst.Epp,
The quesstion is not how to increase FAT timestamp resolution but how to keep seeing local timestamp for files instead of it jumping around based on summer time or time zone.

Roman

I know, but he said
"I prefer the FAT like behaviour of timestamps in the sense that it doesnt change when DST on or off but i want higher time resolution without the timezone information or UTC timestamps"

I've tested both even and odd second times and my conclusion is that zip does not preserve odd seconds. Zip only preserves even seconds. The question now becomes, is there ANY process by which to preserve odd second time files with total commander's version of zip?

[petermad]

FAT has no higher time resolution, TC or any other file manager can't change that.

Yes, and neither does ZIP, TC cannot change that either.

[anmac1789]

Yes, and neither does ZIP, TC cannot change that either.

What about any pre-processing scripts ?

[petermad]

Apparently it is possible to store NTFS timestamps in so called "Extra" fields - but doing that might make the file incompatible for extraction with for.example Windows Explorer - or you might just get the FAT timestamp in that case - I don't know.

[Hacker]

Horst.Epp,

I know, but he said
"I prefer the FAT like behaviour of timestamps in the sense that it doesnt change when DST on or off but i want higher time resolution without the timezone information or UTC timestamps"

I think that's exactly what I said, just in other words.

Roman

[Hacker]

anmac1789,

What about any pre-processing scripts ?

You could save the timestamps in some batch file in the zip archive and run it to restore the correct time stamps after unpacking.

Roman

[anmac1789]

Apparently it is possible to store NTFS timestamps in so called "Extra" fields - but doing that might make the file incompatible for extraction with for.example Windows Explorer - or you might just get the FAT timestamp in that case - I don't know.

Do you know how to test this ?

anmac1789,

What about any pre-processing scripts ?

You could save the timestamps in some batch file in the zip archive and run it to restore the correct time stamps after unpacking.

Roman

But, that's the same thing as using any file attribute changer software to change the source files before packing and the files are unpacking. Is there some process to do it during the zipping process as like some pre command ? Like if I was total commander and there is somekind of option to run a batch command during the zip process...okay check file1.jpg date modified has odd second, add +1 second, zip, subtract -1 second etc...

[Hacker]

anmac1789,

that's the same thing as using any file attribute changer software to change the source files before packing

No, it is not, because when you only have packed files, you don't know what the original time was anymore. When you have packed file

Code: Select all

file1.jpg 12:40:32

what do you set the time after unpacking? 12:40:32? 12:40:31? 12:40:33?
When you also pack "timestampinfo.txt" with contents

Code: Select all

file1.jpg=12:40:31
file2.jpg=12:45:27

then you can restore timestamps correctly.

Roman

[petermad]

Well, even if timestamps for the same files are stored with 1 second difference, TC considers them equal when comparing either with Shift+F2 or with the Sync tool.

Example with NFTS on on the left and exFAT on the right side: https://tcmd.madsenworld.dk/comparetimestamps1secdiff.png where 3 files have timestamps with a 1 second difference.

[anmac1789]

anmac1789,

that's the same thing as using any file attribute changer software to change the source files before packing

No, it is not, because when you only have packed files, you don't know what the original time was anymore. When you have packed file

Code: Select all

file1.jpg 12:40:32

what do you set the time after unpacking? 12:40:32? 12:40:31? 12:40:33?
When you also pack "timestampinfo.txt" with contents

Code: Select all

file1.jpg=12:40:31
file2.jpg=12:45:27

then you can restore timestamps correctly.

Roman

ok so how do i use this text file to restore odd second timestamps ?

[Hacker]

anmac1789,

how do i use this text file to restore odd second timestamps ?

You could e.g. include the NirCmd utility in the archive and then run a RestoreCorrectTimes.cmd, which would contain the commands to correct the timestamps, something like:

Code: Select all

nircmdc.exe setfiletime file1.jpg "" "28-08-2023 12:40:31"
nircmdc.exe setfiletime file2.jpg "" "28-08-2023 12:45:27"

HTH
Roman