How to copy a directory on Windows, preserving timestamps of all directories being copied

Solution 1:

Make a compressed archive of the data, such as a .zip file. You should then be able to copy that .zip file to any drive and decompress it. All the folders and files should then appear with all their original attributes.

Another option is to make a disk image of the disc and copy that to any drive you want. Whenever you need to view the data just open the disc image up. All your file attributes should be preserved.

Solution 2:

Total Commander preserves directory timestamps, at least for me, but you need to tell it to do that in options dialog first.

Click Configuration → Options, select Copy/Delete (under Operation in listbox on the left), tick Copy date/time of directories (in General Copy+Delete options group on the bottom), click OK.

There might be loads of corner cases where it does not preserve timestamps.  For example, it is said to not preserve timestamps when copying between FAT32 and NTFS.  However, simple ISO9660->NTFS works just fine – just as extracting zip/7z archives.

Also please note that creation timestamp is not preserved.

According to How can I preserve my files' create dates, after copying and pasting to another drive? (on CNET Forums), there is a tool named SafeCopy V2 that could preserve creation timestamp; however, I've never used this myself (Last modified timestamp suffices for me, as it is that timestamp shown by default in Total Commander).

Solution 3:

SafeCopy truly copies all files and folders, including the date and time. It is free too! https://www.elwinsoft.com/safecopy-free.html