Robocopy command in CMD isn't working

Question

Hi there,

I'm very conscious and careful about reserving the original date stamps of my files when moving or copying them in order to organize my data. I've researched and found the Robocopy command. But my problem is that my PC can't access the source directory. Below is a screenshot just to let you know better. I'm not a computer nerd. But I can understand basics. I've tried Safecopy, Attribute magic and similar other applications. But either they're confusing, they don't copy everything or they change the datestamp even after selecting the options to not change the datestamps. The robocopy command seems to me the only hope. I'm moving files from my phone to my PC. I've tried to access 'C:\Windows\System32\PC\A51\Phone\Download' manually but I find a shortcut of PC in system32 folder. I think Command prompt can't access the exact folder from this point. I'm really not sure what's the problem. Please help me in this regard.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi and thanks for reaching out! I'm an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft user like you. Please allow me to assist with your issue.

I assumed you are trying to backup your Samsung A51 phone to the computer. Robocopy will not work in this case because the connection between your phone and computer is MTP based, and a drive letter will not be presented in Windows. You can read more about this in this reply - https://superuser.com/a/377008.

An alternative I could think of is to compress the files you wish to preseve the timestamps into a single file (zip, rar, 7z, etc), then copy the zip file into Windows and extract it. There are a few such apps available from app store. Using a MicoSD card to transfer the compressed file will be more performant.

Please let me know if I can help you further!

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Answer 2

Hi there,

Thank you so much for responding healthily. I've tried to understand the content in the link you shared but it's beyond me. Yesterday, I copied a file by compressing it and to my surprise, the creation date was preserved. I happily closed my computer with the intention to copy all the files from my Samsung A51 to my computer on the next day. I used winRAR mobile app. But sadly, the next day(today), I don't know what happened. Any file I tried to compress and copy was not preserving the date stamp anymore. I've been trying for hours now. I don't understand where am I making a mistake. It's my humble request that can you please give me a step by step guide? I'm not that good in using the computer efficiently.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards.

Answer 3

Hello, thank you for your reply.

I tested it too and I'm sorry, you will need to perform an additional step.

In Windows, there are few dates for each file - Date Created, Date Modified and Date Accessed. When you extract a file, you are essentially creating a file, thus Date Created and Date Accessed will be set to current timestamp. Date Modified will have the timestamp you find in your mobile device.

Now knowing about this behavior, I recommend an utility to copy Date Modified to Date Created. https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer...

The author of the program has a guide on how to use " 'Copy From Time' check box". https://www.nirsoft.net/articles/change-media-c...

Please let me know if this would work for you.

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.