Sync Timestamp (second resolution) when pulling from FTP

[Rob]

I'm trying to synchronize file timestamps when pulling a file from a FTP server down to my local machine.

I'm seeing different behavior depending on how the timestamp is displayed in the remote (FTP) side of the folder sync.

Files that have a remote timestamp of this year are displayed with a modified date and time. Files that have a remote timestamp prior to this year are displayed with just a modified date (no time).

When I copy a file that has date & time (remote) they are written locally with timestamps that are HH:MM:00 (0 seconds).

When I copy a file that has only date (remote), they are written locally with timestamps that are HH:MM:SS (correct # of seconds).

When I look at the log window, I can see that Beyond Compare is sending MDTM commands for the 2nd type of files, thus it's able to get second resolution on the timestamp.

When copying the 1st type of files (those that are displayed with date & time on the remote side), BC doesn't send the MDTM command, it just uses the HH:MM timestamp that is available from the directory listing.

Is there a way to force BC to always do the MDTM command so I can sync files from FTP with second resolution on the timestamp?

[Aaron]

Hello,

Depending on your FTP server, there are a few different listing options that may help. They are in the Tools menu -> FTP Profiles, select your profile, Listing tab. Depending on which your server may respect, "Complete Timestamps" or "Fetch incomplete timestamps" may help. I would try one, then the other, then both; and you may need to fully restart BC3 (as a troubleshooting step) to make sure the changed settings are applied.

[Rob]

Thanks for the info. I did notice and try those options yesterday, but maybe restarting BC was necessary since today the "Fetch incomplete timestamps" worked.

For the record, here's the FTP server that I'm connecting to:
2/17/2012 12:06:02 PM Recv> 220 (vsFTPd 2.0.5)

The fetching of timestamps took a bit of time, there are nearly 1000 files in this directory. I then restarted the session and BC remembered the full timestamps so it didn't need to fetch them again. How does it know when it needs to refresh the full timestamp?

[Aaron]

Hello,

BC3 will remember your fully fetched timestamp if you haven't restarted the program, but only opened a new tab. We'll then fetch the partial timestamp, and if the dates match, we use the full timestamp again. If you restart BC3 (Bcompare.exe), then it will need to fully fetch everything again.