preserving dates when backing up files

newbiesforever · 07-26-2007, 12:42 PM

Can Linux back up files without obliterating the dates they were actually created on, as Windows always does for me?

pwc101 · 07-26-2007, 12:42 PM

What file system are you trying to backup from and to?

newbiesforever · 07-27-2007, 03:21 AM

At the moment, my data in question is on the Windows partition, and it's formatted to FAT32 (expressly so my Linux partition could access it). And the file system of the CD-RW I want to back up to is CDFS.

hairysocks · 07-27-2007, 03:25 AM

If you use cp -p the date will be preserved on the copy of the file.

nightstar · 07-27-2007, 04:06 AM

I prefer rsync -avz
This way only the files that have been changed are copied - saves time if you are backing up lots of files.

newbiesforever · 07-28-2007, 08:25 PM

Great! Thank you very much, people. I guess I will henceforth do all my backing up from within Linux.

newbiesforever · 08-16-2007, 09:36 PM

Well, I found a limitation to cp -p. It evidently can't be used for moving files between partitions on the HD; I tried it and failed.

gilead · 08-16-2007, 10:03 PM

Can you post the command that you ran and the error that you got back (and the file-system types as well) please?

livetoday · 08-17-2007, 12:17 AM

if we use -u option with cp command, it does the same thing. It will only update the files that have been changed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightstar

I prefer rsync -avz
This way only the files that have been changed are copied - saves time if you are backing up lots of files.