Sumation Operations, particularly those related to creating new directory structures from dates, allow users to specify which file date they would like to use in determining structure dates. Users can select to use either the create, modify or last accessed date for file year and file month structures.
A file's create date is supposed to be the date and time on which a file was created. Under Windows« this file date integrity is not reliable when using Windows« Explorer. If you copy a file, for example, the create date is that date that the file was copied, not create. This is therefore not accurate and makes managing old files on systems very difficult.
In SumationÖ Explorer, however, we preserve file dates when performing copy and move operations on files. This maintains the integrity of the file date and timestamp. As long as you are using SumationÖ Explorer to move and copy files around, you will be able to age your files effectively in your storage.
When creating a new structure using date fields, users have the option to select from the file's create date, modified date, or last accessed date. This is important when trying to identify aged files on a system.
- Create dates, taking note of the above discussion on Windows' handling of dates, normally indicate the date and time that a file was created.
- Modified dates indicate the last time someone changed the contents of a file.
- Last Accessed indicate the last time someone accessed a file, but did not change the contents if this differs from the modified date.
Another advantage of using SumationÖ Explorer is that the accessed dates do not change when SumationÖ Explorer 'accesses' the file to obtain information about it. If you use Windows« Explorer's file properties dialog to view the file information, it will change the accessed date and time stamp. Unfortunately this is not true for folders, as you have to access a folder to see what it contains. That said however, folders are just containers for files which contain the object of computing.
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