I'm trying to set up a way to mirror a folder on my Windows 7 PC with a folder on the internal sdcard of my Android phone. Essentially, I want to take a core set of files that I'm constantly working on (constantly adding, deleting, and modifying files), with me at all times, and be able to synchronize the folder to always have the newest versions of each modified file, whether the newest version was from the PC or from the phone.
For what it's worth, I have an LG G2 (work, running Android 4.4.4), Nexus 5 D820 (personal, running Android 5), an HP laptop (work), and a Sony laptop (personal); both laptops running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
I see strange file creation date inconsistencies when I back up files from either PC to the internal sdcard on either phone, and also when I copy those files back to either PC. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar file date inconsistencies and if you know of any workarounds.
In almost every case, when I copy files from my PC to the phone, the files display from the PC's frame of reference (from the FTP client on the PC) as if they are all exactly 4 hours old for created, modified, and accessed. I happen to be in Eastern Time Zone, but my phone and computer have the date, time, and time zone set correctly, so I don't know why the files are showing as four hours behind for all three timestamp attributes, immediately after copying the files.
Furthermore, in almost every case, when I copy the files from the phone's internal sdcard back to the PC, the original (true) creation date reappears! Apparently, Android preserves the creation date inside the files somehow, but doesn't display the true created date as long as the file is in Android's realm. As soon as the file is out of Android's grasp and back on the PC, the true created date appears in the Properties dialog. However, the modified date still shows 4 hours ago, and the accessed date shows a few seconds or minutes ago.
I'm using Andreas Liebig's FTPServer on the phone (look on Google Play) to allow me to access the internal sdcard using FTP instead of MTP. NetDrive on the PC gives the internal sdcard a drive letter in Windows, so that I can use folder sync software. (After configuring and starting FTPServer on the phone, right-click on the NetDrive icon in Windows and choose Run as Administrator.) The shortcut on my PC is using a string in this format to access the internal sdcard on the phone in a normal Windows Explorer interface:
C:\Windows\explorer.exe "ftp://username: password@192.168.43.1:7777/storage/emulated/0"
(You would change the username, password, IP address, port, and internal sdcard path to match your particular phone's FTPServer setup.)
This is necessary because Windows is using NTFS or FAT32, whereas Android is using ext3 (Linux file system), so there is no way to access the internal sdcard directly, as you could with an external sdcard or USB stick that would typically be using FAT or FAT32 file system.
Once I had FTPServer and NetDrive up and running, I tried a PC-to-phone backup procedure on a folder of simple text files with:
SafeCopy,
Robocopy [source] [destination] /MIR /DCOPY:T
XXcopy [source] [destination] /TC
SyncToy,
Araxis Merge,
and FileSync Pro.
The results are nearly the same for the first 5 in the list. I set the dates and times using a file date changer called Febooti FileTweak Pro. (With FileTweak Pro, I go into the file Properties, click on the File Date tab, check the checkboxes for Created, Modified, and Accessed, and type 1 1 1 1 1 1, 2 2 2 2 2 2, and 3 3 3 3 3 3.) The results for the first 5 on the list are as shown here:
Original text file on my PC:
Created = 1 Jan 2001 01:01:01.
Modified = 2 Feb 2002 02:02:02.
Accessed = 3 Mar 2003 03:03:03.
After copying the text file to the phone's internal sdcard and looking at the sdcard from the PC:
CD = exactly 4 hours ago.
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = exactly 4 hours ago.
After copying the text file back to the PC:
CD = 1 Jan 2001 01:01:01.
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = nearly this instant.
The one exception was FileSync Pro. For FSP, the phone apparently loses the original file creation date, and doesn't acknowledge that the file has been accessed. When I copy the file back to the PC, the results are:
CD = exactly 4 hours ago (not 1 Jan 2001).
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = exactly 4 hours ago (not a few seconds or minutes ago as you'd expect).
After using FileSync Pro, when I try to access the file to see if that is sufficient to cause the date to change, the Properties window for the file looks different than usual, like halfway between an Explorer window and an FTP window, and any attempts to access the file result in the message, "The server does not allow changing of file permissions" or something to that effect. This only happens with FileSync Pro. I have to close FSP, close the Explorer window, and reopen the window with the FTP shortcut, to return to the normal Properties window - but the file still shows Accessed = 4 hours ago.
All of this is maddening for someone trying to create mirrored folders on a PC and an Android device, without resorting to some kind of "walled garden"-type software that tries to insulate you from your own files. I would prefer not to have to use an iTunes-like solution to keep my files' created and modified timestamps intact, but if there is such a solution, please let me know.
For what it's worth, I have an LG G2 (work, running Android 4.4.4), Nexus 5 D820 (personal, running Android 5), an HP laptop (work), and a Sony laptop (personal); both laptops running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
I see strange file creation date inconsistencies when I back up files from either PC to the internal sdcard on either phone, and also when I copy those files back to either PC. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar file date inconsistencies and if you know of any workarounds.
In almost every case, when I copy files from my PC to the phone, the files display from the PC's frame of reference (from the FTP client on the PC) as if they are all exactly 4 hours old for created, modified, and accessed. I happen to be in Eastern Time Zone, but my phone and computer have the date, time, and time zone set correctly, so I don't know why the files are showing as four hours behind for all three timestamp attributes, immediately after copying the files.
Furthermore, in almost every case, when I copy the files from the phone's internal sdcard back to the PC, the original (true) creation date reappears! Apparently, Android preserves the creation date inside the files somehow, but doesn't display the true created date as long as the file is in Android's realm. As soon as the file is out of Android's grasp and back on the PC, the true created date appears in the Properties dialog. However, the modified date still shows 4 hours ago, and the accessed date shows a few seconds or minutes ago.
I'm using Andreas Liebig's FTPServer on the phone (look on Google Play) to allow me to access the internal sdcard using FTP instead of MTP. NetDrive on the PC gives the internal sdcard a drive letter in Windows, so that I can use folder sync software. (After configuring and starting FTPServer on the phone, right-click on the NetDrive icon in Windows and choose Run as Administrator.) The shortcut on my PC is using a string in this format to access the internal sdcard on the phone in a normal Windows Explorer interface:
C:\Windows\explorer.exe "ftp://username: password@192.168.43.1:7777/storage/emulated/0"
(You would change the username, password, IP address, port, and internal sdcard path to match your particular phone's FTPServer setup.)
This is necessary because Windows is using NTFS or FAT32, whereas Android is using ext3 (Linux file system), so there is no way to access the internal sdcard directly, as you could with an external sdcard or USB stick that would typically be using FAT or FAT32 file system.
Once I had FTPServer and NetDrive up and running, I tried a PC-to-phone backup procedure on a folder of simple text files with:
SafeCopy,
Robocopy [source] [destination] /MIR /DCOPY:T
XXcopy [source] [destination] /TC
SyncToy,
Araxis Merge,
and FileSync Pro.
The results are nearly the same for the first 5 in the list. I set the dates and times using a file date changer called Febooti FileTweak Pro. (With FileTweak Pro, I go into the file Properties, click on the File Date tab, check the checkboxes for Created, Modified, and Accessed, and type 1 1 1 1 1 1, 2 2 2 2 2 2, and 3 3 3 3 3 3.) The results for the first 5 on the list are as shown here:
Original text file on my PC:
Created = 1 Jan 2001 01:01:01.
Modified = 2 Feb 2002 02:02:02.
Accessed = 3 Mar 2003 03:03:03.
After copying the text file to the phone's internal sdcard and looking at the sdcard from the PC:
CD = exactly 4 hours ago.
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = exactly 4 hours ago.
After copying the text file back to the PC:
CD = 1 Jan 2001 01:01:01.
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = nearly this instant.
The one exception was FileSync Pro. For FSP, the phone apparently loses the original file creation date, and doesn't acknowledge that the file has been accessed. When I copy the file back to the PC, the results are:
CD = exactly 4 hours ago (not 1 Jan 2001).
MD = exactly 4 hours ago.
AD = exactly 4 hours ago (not a few seconds or minutes ago as you'd expect).
After using FileSync Pro, when I try to access the file to see if that is sufficient to cause the date to change, the Properties window for the file looks different than usual, like halfway between an Explorer window and an FTP window, and any attempts to access the file result in the message, "The server does not allow changing of file permissions" or something to that effect. This only happens with FileSync Pro. I have to close FSP, close the Explorer window, and reopen the window with the FTP shortcut, to return to the normal Properties window - but the file still shows Accessed = 4 hours ago.
All of this is maddening for someone trying to create mirrored folders on a PC and an Android device, without resorting to some kind of "walled garden"-type software that tries to insulate you from your own files. I would prefer not to have to use an iTunes-like solution to keep my files' created and modified timestamps intact, but if there is such a solution, please let me know.
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