Copying folders from SD cards to W7 laptop.
Thread Starter
Resident insomniac
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,878
Likes: 1
From: N54 58 34 W02 01 21
Copying folders from SD cards to W7 laptop.
My Pentax camera records images on SD cards into folders specific to the date of exposure, but the folder title is prefixed by a sequential number in the sequence 100, 101, 102 etc, thus a typical sequence is:-
100_3110
101_0111
102_0211
and
103_2111
Where the initial three-digit number is sequential and the second four digit number is the day and month of the date (though the year never features).
The initial problem is that, when copied to the laptop, Windows records that date of transfer rather than the original date of exposure.
It is possible to have folders with identical numbers taken a year apart.
New SD cards (or re-used ones( will start with a 100_DDMM folder).
I could copy the individual files (and they will retain their date of exposure), but there is yet another problem when the file number reaches 9999 it reverts to 0001 (and digital photographers take very many shots).
What I am seeking is a method to retain the date of exposure allocated to the folder when it is copied over from the SD Card - whatever the date of transfer.
Is there a way of ensuring this?
Presently I cannot sort my folders into sequence that represents date of image exposure.
I suppose I could manually rename the folders using a sequential numerical format, but this would be tedious as I would need to open each folder in turn to ascertain year that the images were exposed. In addition, when the image numbering changed over from 9999 to 0001, two folders with identical dates were created, so there are many folders with titles starting 100 (as well as 102, 103 etc.) So far the highest prefix number is 122.
Oh and each folder can only contain 500 images, so it's possible to get the second suffix DDMM to be the same (though with a difference prefix) :- 121_1109 and 122_1109 . . .
100_3110
101_0111
102_0211
and
103_2111
Where the initial three-digit number is sequential and the second four digit number is the day and month of the date (though the year never features).
The initial problem is that, when copied to the laptop, Windows records that date of transfer rather than the original date of exposure.
It is possible to have folders with identical numbers taken a year apart.
New SD cards (or re-used ones( will start with a 100_DDMM folder).
I could copy the individual files (and they will retain their date of exposure), but there is yet another problem when the file number reaches 9999 it reverts to 0001 (and digital photographers take very many shots).
What I am seeking is a method to retain the date of exposure allocated to the folder when it is copied over from the SD Card - whatever the date of transfer.
Is there a way of ensuring this?
Presently I cannot sort my folders into sequence that represents date of image exposure.
I suppose I could manually rename the folders using a sequential numerical format, but this would be tedious as I would need to open each folder in turn to ascertain year that the images were exposed. In addition, when the image numbering changed over from 9999 to 0001, two folders with identical dates were created, so there are many folders with titles starting 100 (as well as 102, 103 etc.) So far the highest prefix number is 122.
Oh and each folder can only contain 500 images, so it's possible to get the second suffix DDMM to be the same (though with a difference prefix) :- 121_1109 and 122_1109 . . .
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 430
Likes: 0
From: South East Cornwall
Two thoughts G-CPTN, is there a setting in your camera menu to have file numbering "continuous" or equivalent? I have both a Sony DSLR and a Canon pocket camera which have this setting to stop going back to the beginning in the file numbering game. Secondly how are you transferring the pictures from the camera? Both my Sony and Canon have software that creates folders named by date including the year. One is yyyy-mm-dd and the other is dd-mm-yyyy I think I could change them, but that way I know which camera was used.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipidelian title
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,825
Likes: 1
From: is everything
Move will retain the folder date. Copy will create a new folder date. Robocopy and similar tools can copy with the original date.
Since you suggest you may be taking large numbers of photos, I wonder why you don't use the date in the exif metadata? That and other metadata is easily added to the Explorer view.
As srobarts suggests, you may want to alter the way your camera names the folders and files anyway.
I don't rely on file or folder dates or timestamps for my own photos, I use the embedded metadata. It doesn't matter where the photo comes from or what happens to it as long as the metadata remains intact.
Since you suggest you may be taking large numbers of photos, I wonder why you don't use the date in the exif metadata? That and other metadata is easily added to the Explorer view.
As srobarts suggests, you may want to alter the way your camera names the folders and files anyway.
I don't rely on file or folder dates or timestamps for my own photos, I use the embedded metadata. It doesn't matter where the photo comes from or what happens to it as long as the metadata remains intact.
