getting the real date created

[nik]

Hi,

Is there anyway to get the real date a file was created. It appears
that whenever a file is copied the date created is modified. I have
been given several files and asked what the date that they were
originally created is, despite them being copied many times. Can it be
done? How?

Thank you,
Nik

 

[Richard G. Harper]

No, this cannot be done. The date the file was "created" when it's copied
is the date it was copied to the destination computer. Creating the copy is
creating the file for the first time so that's the date assigned. That's
how it's been since I can remember. There are tools that can preserve
(i.e., artificially set) the created date when a file is copied but these
tools can't go backwards and recover it.