A. Dennis Peterson posted
the following (19 Nov 1999):
A file with a reported unknown
creation date in the properties screen is always backed up even if the
last modification date/time was before the last full backup. The archive
flag also has no effect on the backup status.
I have only been able to
see the creation date on files or folders using the properties selection
on a individual file or folder so it is difficult to check many files but
this problem seems to be consistent with the several systems I have checked.
I tested this by using some
freeware (Properties Plus) that allows me to set the creation date without
changing the file modification date/time. After setting any creation date
the files were handled correctly. I was not able to find any software to
set the folder/directory creation date but it was backup as an empty folder.
I have no idea how these
files are created with a valid modification date but unknown creation date.
I have found them on many different systems at my site when I started looking
for them. The files are everything from autoexec.bat to application files.
Legato is pointing fingers
at Microsoft but if the last modification dates (the only thing you see
in explorer or directory listings) were used the creation date should not
be an issue.
I have used the freeware
to reset the creation dates on all files on all my systems to a known early
date (1/1/1986) and everything seems to work properly. What I don't know
is if any unknown date files will be created in the future or if is an
artifact of the software installation process.
In an email 4 days after
this issue, Tim Evans quotes Linda L. Cygan as stating that there is an
inexpensive upgrade to Win 98 that fixes this problem.