How to backup and restore only the file stamps (date & time) of many files within a folder at once?

Question

I want to retag all my music collection (MP3, OGG, etc) with replaygain info, but I don't want them to lose their original file timestamp as sometimes I want to know when I added a file to my collection as it helps me find them by sorting them in my favorite file manager by date.

So here is my question: Is there a tool (or a commmand that I can use in a batch file) that I can use to batch-backup only the timestamps of all the files, before I do the retagging and then to be able later to restore their file timestamps back? If it can be done recursively to all folders beneath, it will be extra nice!

Thank you.

Answer 1

Assuming you use Windows, you could do it with TakeCommand Console LE.

To backup the timestamps, use the following command:

pdir /(fpn"|"dy/m/d"|"th:m:s) /s /a:-d * >c:\flist.txt

This will create a file (here c:\flist.txt) containing the file names (including paths) and their date (in y/m/d format) and time (in h:m:s format). The /s makes it recursive, so it will pick up files in sub-directories.

To avoid problems with space in directories and names, this version of the command uses the "|" sign as delimiter for the fields.

Sample file produced by the command above:

[C:\Test]type c:\flist.txt
C:\Downloaded Files\JPSoft\TCCLE10\English.dll|2009/08/29|13:11:36
C:\Downloaded Files\JPSoft\TCCLE10\French.dll|2009/08/29|13:11:38
C:\Downloaded Files\JPSoft\TCCLE10\German.dll|2009/08/29|13:11:38
C:\Downloaded Files\JPSoft\TCCLE10\license.txt|2009/01/25|20:09:04
...

To restore, use the command:

for /f "tokens=1,2,3 delims=|" %a in (@c:\flist.txt) do touch /d%b /t%c "%a"

This command will parse the file stored above and run several touch commands, setting back the saved dates and times to the files. The "|" sign is indicated as being the delimiter for the fields.