change file name or extension without modifying the date

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

i want to edit a bunch of .MOD videos to .mpg

however i want to keep the same date as the original files
and everytime i modify a file's name or extension, the date changed to the moment i made the modifications

so for example i have those files of 2008 in .MOD format, when i click and change them to .mp4 or .mpg , they become 2022 (today's date

is there a way to change that behavior ?

 

[bogdanw]

Discussion about time and date attributes https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nge-created-date-using-metadata-date.2344394/

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Discussion about time and date attributes https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nge-created-date-using-metadata-date.2344394/

Im trying to change the name of the file , and then import the videos to Google photos

However Google photos doesn’t read from the metadata ( at least it doesn’t read the date) but instead looks for « last modified » , which with finder is TODAY even for a file made in 2008


So I’m looking for a way to simply change the NAME of the file without touching the date

I’d try third party apps , I’m ok with that

 

[chown33]

What format is the disk these files are on? Is it APFS, HFS+, ExFAT, or something else?

As far as I know, changing the name of a file (including its extension) on HFS+ or ExFAT has no effect on the modification-date of the file itself. It does change the mod-date of the folder it's in.

I don't know if this holds true for APFS as I have nothing here using APFS, so can you please double-check by posting before and after screenshots of the Get Info box, changing just the file-name of a ".txt" file?

If APFS does have this behavior, you might be able to avoid it by copying files to a thumb drive (or external drive) formatted as HFS+ or ExFAT, changing the names there, then copying them back. Or edit them on the external drive.

Info:

What changes a file’s modification date, and what doesn’t?

Do changing permissions or an extended attribute also alter a file’s modification date?

eclecticlight.co

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

What format is the disk these files are on? Is it APFS, HFS+, ExFAT, or something else?

As far as I know, changing the name of a file (including its extension) on HFS+ or ExFAT has no effect on the modification-date of the file itself. It does change the mod-date of the folder it's in.

I don't know if this holds true for APFS as I have nothing here using APFS, so can you please double-check by posting before and after screenshots of the Get Info box, changing just the file-name of a ".txt" file?

If APFS does have this behavior, you might be able to avoid it by copying files to a thumb drive (or external drive) formatted as HFS+ or ExFAT, changing the names there, then copying them back. Or edit them on the external drive.

Info:

What changes a file’s modification date, and what doesn’t?

Do changing permissions or an extended attribute also alter a file’s modification date?

eclecticlight.co

good question . it is exfat , but i make the modification AFTER i transfer the file to my sd card...which is exfat as well

and unfortunately it does make a difference on the file itself ...unless im doing someething wrong

 

[bogdanw]

Try with a file from Terminal
-to visualize the time & date atributes

mdls /path/to/file.MOD

- to change the name and extension

mv /path/to/file.MOD /path/to/newfile.mpg

- to see if anything else changed

mdls /path/to/newfile.mpg

If it works as you want it, you can change the extension for all the files in the folder

for file in *.MOD; do mv $file "${file%.*}.mpg"; done

Edited to correct typing error.

 

[gilby101]

i want to edit a bunch of .MOD videos to .mpg

What do you mean by "edit"? Rename in Finder or reformatting with an app?

the date changed to the moment i made the modifications

Which date?

If I use Finder to change the file extension, there is no change to modified date (or other dates).

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

What do you mean by "edit"? Rename in Finder or reformatting with an app?


Which date?

If I use Finder to change the file extension, there is no change to modified date (or other dates).

renaming in finder,yes . the file's date changes , and is recognized as such by google photos

for example all of my 2008 videos are now in 2022 in google photos , which is a mess

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

a

Try with a file from Terminal
-to visualize the time & date atributes

mdls /path/to/file.MOD

- to change the name and extension

mv /path/to/file.MOD /path/to/newfile.mpg

- to see if anything else changed

mdls /path/to/newfile.mpg

If it works as you want it, you can change the extension for all the files in the folder

for file in *.mts; do mv $file "${file%.*}.mpg"; done

assumingi it works, i just need to enter that in terminal ? "for file in *.mts; do mv $file "${file%.*}.mpg"; done"

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

What format is the disk these files are on? Is it APFS, HFS+, ExFAT, or something else?

As far as I know, changing the name of a file (including its extension) on HFS+ or ExFAT has no effect on the modification-date of the file itself. It does change the mod-date of the folder it's in.

I don't know if this holds true for APFS as I have nothing here using APFS, so can you please double-check by posting before and after screenshots of the Get Info box, changing just the file-name of a ".txt" file?

If APFS does have this behavior, you might be able to avoid it by copying files to a thumb drive (or external drive) formatted as HFS+ or ExFAT, changing the names there, then copying them back. Or edit them on the external drive.

Info:

What changes a file’s modification date, and what doesn’t?

Do changing permissions or an extended attribute also alter a file’s modification date?

eclecticlight.co

i've just tried on exfat and it still shows the modified date as today , which is what google photos uses to pull metadat and put it in the appropriate year

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Try with a file from Terminal
-to visualize the time & date atributes

mdls /path/to/file.MOD

- to change the name and extension

mv /path/to/file.MOD /path/to/newfile.mpg

- to see if anything else changed

mdls /path/to/newfile.mpg

If it works as you want it, you can change the extension for all the files in the folder

for file in *.mts; do mv $file "${file%.*}.mpg"; done

thanks .

so it looks like doing so there is no change to the date indeed, however when i copy it to my external device (be it my android phone, for which i use google photos, or my SD card, it changes the date TO THE MOMENT of the copy )

for example i tried you cmd you told me to use and both files weren't different , both being 2011.

but when i added them to either the sd card or android internal memory, the file date changed to 2023 ! (happy new year btw )

so i gotta find a way to transfer the files without changing the date ...i'm lost tbh

 

[Grumpus]

If you're ok with using the terminal, you could use "cp -p" to copy (and rename) a file, preserving the modify time. The following command would copy somefile.MOD from the current directory to an external drive, renaming it (by changing the extension) and preserving the modify time:

$ cp -p somefile.MOD /Volumes/Untitled/somefile.mpg

You can use the stat command with the -x flag to check the time-related metadata:

$ stat -x somefile.MOD /Volumes/Untitled/somefile.mpg

will show the time metadata for both the input and output files. The modify times should be identical.

 

[gilby101]

so it looks like doing so there is no change to the date indeed, however when i copy it to my external device (be it my android phone, for which i use google photos, or my SD card, it changes the date TO THE MOMENT of the copy )
for example i tried you cmd you told me to use and both files weren't different , both being 2011.
but when i added them to either the sd card or android internal memory, the file date changed to 2023 ! (happy new year btw )

Progress! So not a rename causing the problem. Rather a copy to another file system.

My understanding is that FAT does support both create and modify dates though not with the same granularity as APFS or HFS+ (as used by macOS). The precise format (and how/where formatted) may be important.

I don't know about android phones.

Edit: Your trouble is with FAT format. I have a FAT formatted flash drive.

Do two tests with source file on APFS volume (default for macOS).

Test 1:
Rename source file: Create and modify dates unchanged.
Copy renamed file to FAT disk: Create and modify dates unchanged.

Test 2:
Copy source file to FAT disk: Create and modify dates unchanged.
Rename file on FAT disk: Create date unchanged. Modify date becomes now.

My solution: Do your renaming first on the macOS disk (APFS or HFS+) and then copy to FAT.

I have to ask: why all the copying to FAT disk rather than sending directly to Google Photos?

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

If you're ok with using the terminal, you could use "cp -p" to copy (and rename) a file, preserving the modify time. The following command would copy somefile.MOD from the current directory to an external drive, renaming it (by changing the extension) and preserving the modify time:

$ cp -p somefile.MOD /Volumes/Untitled/somefile.mpg

You can use the stat command with the -x flag to check the time-related metadata:

$ stat -x somefile.MOD /Volumes/Untitled/somefile.mpg

will show the time metadata for both the input and output files. The modify times should be identical.

thanks unfortunately i can't do this since android isnt' supported natively

 

[Grumpus]

thanks unfortunately i can't do this since android isnt' supported natively

I thought you said you're copying to an exfat-formatted SD card.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I thought you said you're copying to an exfat-formatted SD card.

yeah i thought about that after i wrote my comment

i mean i've tried both methods : using the phone storage directly, or by plugging a sd card in

you're right i could try what you advised later

im very tired right now

thanks for your help

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Progress! So not a rename causing the problem. Rather a copy to another file system.

My understanding is that FAT does support both create and modify dates though not with the same granularity as APFS or HFS+ (as used by macOS). The precise format (and how/where formatted) may be important.

I don't know about android phones.

Edit: Your trouble is with FAT format. I have a FAT formatted flash drive.

Do two tests with source file on APFS volume (default for macOS).

Test 1:
Rename source file: Create and modify dates unchanged.
Copy renamed file to FAT disk: Create and modify dates unchanged.

Test 2:
Copy source file to FAT disk: Create and modify dates unchanged.
Rename file on FAT disk: Create date unchanged. Modify date becomes now.

My solution: Do your renaming first on the macOS disk (APFS or HFS+) and then copy to FAT.

I have to ask: why all the copying to FAT disk rather than sending directly to Google Photos?

ill try that later

because i have a device that has unlimited backup (all pixels before the 5a ) so sending the pictures from my iphone/mac/drive to the android device allows me to enjoy unlimited free backup which is kinda tricky but handy lol

 

[gilby101]

because i have a device that has unlimited backup (all pixels before the 5a ) so sending the pictures from my iphone/mac/drive to the android device allows me to enjoy unlimited free backup which is kinda tricky but handy lol

Fair enough. There had to be a good reason!