transferring photos to external drive - "date taken" incorrect

[trumblysb]

Hello,
I'm a newbie to this site but am in desperate need of help. We have a
desktop (WinXP with SP3) with an 80GB hard drive, 16 GB of which are photos.
I use the Microsoft Digital Image Library 2006 to catalog the photos. We
bought a Western Digital 500 GB My Book Essential external drive (NTSF) with
the idea of moving the photos there to free up space on the desktop. So,
I've started copying the photos to the new external drive. Here's my
problem: Sometimes the photos copy with the correct "date taken"
information, and sometimes they transfer with new random, incorrect "date
taken" dates. I've contacted Western Digital; they say that it is an
operating system problem. I need the date taken information to be correct,
or I need an entirely different solution to my space problems. Any ideas?
Thank you so much!

 

[trumblysb]

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I saw that info on the Microsoft site as
well, but (aside from being extremely nervous to attempt to do what it
suggests -- not that computer savvy) I'm not sure it's on point with my
problem. Rather than importing from CD or DVD, I'm trying to move the JPEGs
(already correctly imported from my camera) from my hard drive to an external
drive. I just need the date taken info to move accurately. Also, I haven't
used Windows Live Photo Gallery; I'm using the MS Digital Image software that
came installed on the computer. (I know it may not be the best, but I like
it better than the Kodak Easy Share that came with the camera.) Thanks again
for trying to help me. If you think up more ideas I could explore, please
let me know.

 

[trumblysb]

Well, I've done a drag and drop when in My Computer, and I've done a drag and
drop when in the MS Digital Image software...neither works consistently.
I've been trying to pick up on some patterns. It does seem that when all
photos in a given folder were taken in quick succession (i.e., can't be
divied up into different occasions, months taken, years taken, etc. -- like
all photos of my kids at the train museum in one afternoon), the photos copy
with accurate date taken info. Alternately, if I try to copy a folder of
Thanksgiving photos, for example, with photos of multiple years in
subfolders, I have bad luck and random photos are given random date taken
dates.
I so appreciate your help with this! Thanks for your diligence and time!

 

[trumblysb]

Thanks for all your help. I may end up having to do that...what a summer
project! Thanks again.