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Creation Dates   [Discuss]

By: John Gruener     Orlando, Florida  
Date: Jun 05,2011 at 00:50
In Response to: [Discuss] Directory mode: Directory date in flat lists (Juergen Hestermann)

> > Better yet would be to have the often-requested Creation Date. In the
> > case of directories, to me this would be closer to the meaning of a
> > file's last Write date. IOW, the date the directory itself was last
> > written. This request is even more important now with Dir Mode.

> I still don't see the merit of the creation date.

Well, if you actually read the posts you should see that it would be helpful to many people. I've certainly explained why it would be useful to me: http://www.ztw3.com/forum/forum_entry.php?id=67114

And it's not just malware that may cause me to want to see what was created since a certain date. Anytime a user explains that "recently" a certain unusual thing has been occurring, I may want to see everything that was created "recently", or on or after a certain date on that computer.

Looking at file creation dates is very helpful in this. But what can be many times more helpful is directory creation dates. This can quickly show applications recently installed, or installed on a particular date. Seeing all directories on the drive in creation date sequence would be extremely helpful in this. There simply is no other tool I know of that could do this in one flat list.

I can't over-emphasize the importance of this. IMHO, this ability alone would make ZTree a tool that many technicians would want to have, even if they otherwise prefer other file managers.

And I'd like to add one more thing. Whenever I see a ZEP, wish or suggestion, I try to evaluate it from the perspective of how it might be useful to others, regardless of how useless it might be to me. All I would ask is that you do the same.

> This was discussed here already multiple times.

So what are you implying by that? Does that mean it's a "dead horse", as Michael once called it? I submit to you that the very fact that it's been discussed many times illustrates the interest of many folks in having this in ZTree.

> The only date that is well defined is the last write date of files.
> Everything else is so weak in its meaning that
> it only makes sense under very well defined conditions.

On the contrary, Creation Date, if not manipulated by the application, is quite well defined, and is relatively consistent between FAT32 and NTFS. Certainly in the case of moved or copied directories it may be less well defined, depending on the application that does the copying or moving. But for the scenarios in which I would use it it is quite well defined.

And even if it "only makes sense under very well defined conditions", that still justifies having it in those conditions.

- John

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