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Author Topic: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)  (Read 1449 times)

rlh1138

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File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« on: March 19, 2014, 11:32:38 pm »

Not sure where to post this.  Did a search, found one or two related discussions, but.. 

I use Bridge CC, all photos (files) in one big pile, using keywords when I need to organize/search.  I keep the main view sorted by 'Date Created', so my most recent on top.  Yesterday I open Bridge and see some photos from years ago on top.  They all have 3/1/2014 as the Date Created.  About 15 or 20 or so.  Photos I haven't looked at, edited, etc. in years.  In looking at the metadata I can see that the 'Date Created' and the 'Date File Created' are both now 3/1/2014, while the 'Date Modifed' is several years back, probably the date the photo was actually taken.  Is this a known thing that Bridge does?  That I did by changing some setting somewhere?  Or that can be fixed?  Besides the annoyance of my photos being organized 'wrong', I'm worried about it continuing, etc. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

Thx,

Ray H.
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Steve House

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Re: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2014, 10:14:34 am »

Are those files restored from backup or copied from one disk to another?  I find when I import raw files (nef's) from my camera's memory card to the PC the resulting file has a creation date and modification date of the date the photo was shot but a file creation date of the date it was copied to the computer.
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rlh1138

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Re: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2014, 01:18:29 pm »

Hmm.  No, tho I find that interesting as well.  These are just the photos (files) that have been on my computer for years, all of a sudden showing up with a date of March 1, 2014.  It seems to be getting worse, and I'm having real problems finding my most current stuff, which would normally be at the top of the thumbnails.  I guess I'm going to try the dreaded Adobe help folks, maybe this time it will go well, I haven't had to contact them in many years.  Didn't get any feedback from here, other than yours (thanks), I guess this is not a common problem.

Thanks again,

Ray H.
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Steve House

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Re: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2014, 07:04:46 am »

I suspect you're experiencing an operating system phenomenon, not anything specific to Adobe.  Just remember there are TWO creation dates, the date the image itself was created and the date the file-on-disk was created.  In my case, I use Lightroom to move my images off of the camera card and organize them.  I copy from the card to my working drive, converting to DNG in the process.   At the same time I make a backup copy of the original NEF to a second drive.  If I look at the DNG, the image creation date is the date/time it was exposed in the camera while the file creation date in Windows Explorer is the date/time it was imported off the card.  You'd expect that since the conversion to DNG is creating a new file in a different format.  But surprisingly the NEF backup shows the same thing - file creation date in both Bridge and Explorer is the date/time it was copied from the card to the disk, not the date/time of exposure, even though THAT operation is a plain copy without any file modifications.  The modification date, OTOH, is the date/time the exposure was made in the camera.  But you'll also find that ANY copy operation, whether inside an Adobe application or directly in the operating system, produces the same result - file creation date is updated but the modification date is not.  Why?  Because the copy is a new file, created at the time the file is copied, while the modification date is the date of the last change to the internal content of the file.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2014, 11:00:14 am by Steve House »
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rlh1138

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Re: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2014, 12:37:11 am »

Thanks Steve, also interesting.  You might be right about this not being an Adobe thing, as the files in question, the ones showing up with the new dates, are ones that I haven't touched, even looked at, in years.  Tho, on the other hand, I'm not sure what exactly the OS would be doing with those files either.  I can see, by using a Windows file manager/explorer, that Windows has several 'dates' attached to each file.  Using one of the problematic files, I can see something called 'Date' with 9/19/2009 showing - probably the date taken.  Then, 'Date modified' showing, also with 9/19/2009.  And finally, 'Date Created', this one with the 3/1/2014 showing.  This is using the OS, outside any Adobe product.  I'm not clear if PS CC is just using these OS dates and not assigning any of it's own? That would make sense, and would fit your suggestion that somehow the OS is responsible.

In any case, it seems to have stopped.  No more files are showing up as misdated.  For the dozen or so that have been 'changed', I might just try to figure out how to change the OS 'created' date manually and change them back.  It's been years since I've wasted days trying to fool with Windows, maybe I should give it a try just for old times sake. 

Thanks for the help

Ray H.
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Steve House

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Re: File (photos) dates changed? (Bridge CC)
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2014, 08:31:46 am »

As far as not touching the files, if on March 1st you merely copied them from one folder to another or from one disk to another, doing nothing else, you created a new file as far as the OS is concerned.
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