Missing creation dates on files
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There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Please stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions prefer the other forums within the support section.
Before you post please read how to get help
Missing creation dates on files
Sometime between February 19 and today, "something" has wiped the creation file stamps on all my document files. Modified dates are still there. And directories still have creation dates. When I open a markdown file in a text editor, for example, it will show the correct modification date, and the creation date as: 1969-12-31 19:00. I've searched enough to understand that this is Unix Epoch time. I am unsure what my next step should be.
- Kadaitcha Man
- Level 11
- Posts: 3976
- Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:17 pm
Re: Missing creation dates on files
Make a backup, immediately.
All kadaitcha men are liars (It's pronounced kad-eye-cha, not kada-itcha)
Re: Missing creation dates on files
I have backups of all my data. I notice they too do not have file creation dates. I also have a Timeshift from 10 days ago. Each new file I create now also does not have a creation date. Should I restore from Timeshift, or is my hard drive failing? Can I troubleshoot? How? Would greatly appreciate some guidance what my next step should be.
Re: Missing creation dates on files
The file creation time in Ext4 is not directly accessible.
It's called 'Birth time' by stat command.
If you use stat command on ext4 the Birth field is
If you really need it you can get the creation time via debugfs:
for eg
output:
It's called 'Birth time' by stat command.
If you use stat command on ext4 the Birth field is
-
:
Code: Select all
stat 1.deb
File: 1.deb
Size: 264188 Blocks: 520 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 34h/52d Inode: 2 Links: 1
Access: (0664/-rw-rw-r--) Uid: ( 1000/ v) Gid: ( 1000/ v)
Access: 2021-02-23 13:03:50.546404805 +0200
Modify: 2021-02-23 13:03:50.566405061 +0200
Change: 2021-02-23 14:39:23.989398374 +0200
Birth: -
Code: Select all
debugfs -R 'stat <inode_number>' DEVICE
Code: Select all
stat -c %i 1.deb
1440491
sudo debugfs -R 'stat <1440491>' /dev/sda3
Code: Select all
Inode: 1440491 Type: regular Mode: 0664 Flags: 0x80000
Generation: 1845404516 Version: 0x00000000:00000001
User: 1000 Group: 1000 Project: 0 Size: 264188
File ACL: 0
Links: 1 Blockcount: 520
Fragment: Address: 0 Number: 0 Size: 0
ctime: 0x6034fb75:e918548c -- Tue Feb 23 14:56:21 2021
atime: 0x6034e116:00000000 -- Tue Feb 23 13:03:50 2021
mtime: 0x6034e116:00000000 -- Tue Feb 23 13:03:50 2021
crtime: 0x6034fb75:e918548c -- Tue Feb 23 14:56:21 2021
Size of extra inode fields: 32
Inode checksum: 0x921784b6
EXTENTS:
(0-64):5997855-5997919
Last edited by t42 on Tue Feb 23, 2021 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
-=t42=-
Re: Missing creation dates on files
You may be surprised to find out that Linux doesn't store file creation times. I certainly was. It's supported in the ext4 file system but not in the kernel APIs. So it doesn't get stored.
Re: Missing creation dates on files
That's true only till the dot. So I expanded my answer above a minute later after your comment.
-=t42=-
Re: Missing creation dates on files
Wow. Really. Then how is the column "Date Created" in Nemo displayed?
Re: Missing creation dates on files
- deleted - please see better response below.
Last edited by ZoW7iV8 on Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Missing creation dates on files
Nemo shows in the field Date Created the ctime - the last time when the attributes of a file were changed. Maybe it would be relevant for you to concentrate on the Date Modified filed of Nemo - just guessing. If I remember correctly there was a post this month similar to yours where the problem was comprehensively discussed, including terminology. You can try to search for that post.
-=t42=-