On a Windows XP SP2 computer, I wish to copy photo files (usually
JPGs) from my hard disk to a CD-ROM, and preserve all original file
data, including EXIF data. How can I preserve the EXIF data, including
"Date Picture Taken" and "Camera Model," when burning the photo files
from my hard disk to a CD-ROM?

Background:  I have found others encountering the same problem. The
EXIF data is not preserved with the copied files on the CD-ROM, in
either the File Properties area or the Detailed listing of file
properties in columnar format. The information does show up on the
photo files in the temporary folder of files (the "Files to be written
to CD-ROM") to be burned to the CD-ROM. Furthermore, I have not found
a way to preserve the Modified Date and Create Date by using the
Windows copy utility, so instead I use the FileTouch2 utility in order
to preserve the Modified and Create dates, both of which are often
different than the "Date Picture Taken."

Many thanks in advance for your assistance.

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Request for Question Clarification by landog-ga on 11 Aug 2005 23:29 PDT

Just to make things more simple:

- What software are you using to burn the jpg files to CDR? Are you
burning the files as 'data'? Idea: Prior to burning - insert a known
good jpg with EXIF data inside a ZIP or RAR compressed file - burn it
to CD then uncompress from the CD to see if the EXIF data is still
there.

- Have you tried other CD burning software?

- Did the jpg files go through some photo editting software? Does that
software preserve the EXIF data correctly?

---

Request for Question Clarification by landog-ga on 12 Aug 2005 07:17 PDT

Hi
After doing some testing I can conlude that the EXIF metadata is NOT
lost when burning JPG files to CDR/CDRW media.

I used 2 methods to check this (NERO 6.3.02):

1. Burnt jpg to CD and then copied the jpg from burnt CD back to HD.
EXIF data still exists in file.

2. Using Windows Explorer -  browsed to CD drive with burnt disk
inside. Right click on a jpg file --> properties --Summery Tab --->
Advanced.
All the EXIF data can be viewed.

Why Windows XP does not show the EXIF data with a 'mouse-over' on a
jpg file residing on a burnt CD remains to be found out.

But the data is there.
The problem is that

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Clarification of Question by betterworld-ga on 12 Aug 2005 11:27 PDT

Landog-ga, I'll address your second clarification request first. You
are certainly correct, the EXIF data can be viewed in Windows Explorer
on a file burned to a CD when right-clicking on the file, choosing
Properties, Summary, then Advanced. I had not attempted the Advanced,
and apologize for the oversight.

Therefore, let me rephrase the question: As you mentioned, the EXIF
data does not appear when the file is "moused-over" in Windows
Explorer. More importantly, I can't get the EXIF data to appear in the
"Details" format when viewing the contents of a folder. This is the
columnar layout of all file data, normally including EXIF data, with
each row pertaining to a file. This view is particular helpful in
selecting files since one can sort on any of the columns and view all
the data at once without additional keystrokes. Whereas prior to
burning the files to a CD-R, I can get all data to appear in the
"Details" format in Windows Explorer (even the files copied to Drive
E: for writing to the CD-R), I cannot get the EXIF data to appear
again in the "Details" format from the files burned to the CD-R. Do
you or does anyone know of any solutions to this?

As I mentioned before, the only way in which I get the correct file
dates for "File Created" and "Last Modified" fields is to use the
FileTouch2 utility (PC-Mag) which can replace the file burn date held
in the "File Created" and "Last Modified" fields with the dates
contained in the files being copied to a CD-ROM drive.

In regards to your first request for clarification, I am using the
Windows copy utility in Windows Explorer to transfer the photo files
from my HD to a CD-R. It's the standard, two-step process, copying the
files to the CD-ROM drive (in this case, my E: drive), then
burning/writing the files to the CD-R disk. I don't know enough to
answer if the files are being burned as "data," other than I'm not
choosing any format and assume they are being burned as "data." I have
not tried other CD burning software. Some of the files have been
edited using photo editing software prior to burning them to a CD-R,
and I'm aware that such software can cause the EXIF data to be lost.
In a few cases, that has happened, but the large majority of the photo
files have their EXIF data.

Many thanks for you assistance, Landog-ga, and to all others who
assist with this question. Given the popularity of digital
photography, Windows Explorer, and the desire to archive photos to a
CD, I imagine the number of people dealing with this issue is huge.

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Request for Question Clarification by landog-ga on 14 Aug 2005 05:39 PDT

I tried to query Microsoft via their email support - here's what they
responded with:



CASE_ID_NUM: SRZ050812002444
MESSAGE:
********************** The message for you follows ************************
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.

I understand from your e-mail that you are experiencing issues with
your Windows based computer.

As this is a technical issue, you may find that working with a Support
Professional in the Windows group would best resolve your issue. As a
Customer Service Representative, I suggest you to contact a Microsoft
Support Professional directly at (800) 936-5700. The working hours are
Monday - Friday 5
:00 A.M. - 9:00 P.M. Pacific time, Saturday - Sunday 6:00 A.M. - 3:00
P.M. Pacific time.

I hope your issue gets resolved soon and I also appreciate your
patience in this regard.

Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.

Subhasish
Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

If you have any comments or feedback about the service I provided you,
please send an e-mail message to my manager, Prasanna Thiagarajan, at
managers@microsoft.com
********************************************


If you want to follow up - you have the details of the call I opened.

Good Luck
Landog-ga

I have found in the past that attempts from programming to set the
date of files I was writing to a CD wasn't available. It seems that
the driver software itself decides the date of the file.

But you can get round this by building up CDs rather than writing them
in one go. So you add the files on the day they are added to the
computer, remembering not to close off the CD/DVD so that you can add
others at a later date.

Also remember that CD/DVDs that are not closed off can rarely be read
by other systems than the one you are writting it on. So if you need
to share these CDs then they would not be shareable until you close
them off.

But you may well want to spend time touching up the pictures before
you write the CD. In which case a better solution is to create a file
list that goes onto the CD with the pictures. A sort of library card,
could be as simple as,

picturecontens.csv
Date,picture name

With that you can then be even more elaberate, for example,

ID,Date,Picture name,<a href="picture name">Open picture</a>,subject,comments

Rassler2-ga, thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate the
workarounds you provided, and agree, the utility software determines
the file date and other limitations, apparently. Since I like to know
the time a photo was taken, photo dimensions, and camera model, in
addition to the date, and since I'm hopeful that an easy, elegant
solution is still available to an issue many people face, my first
desire is to find a software solution to being able to view all EXIF
data and the correct "File Created" and "Last Modified" dates in an
easy to use format, most likely columnar/tabular, for ease of sorting
and selecting. Absent that, including Picture Taken dates in the file
names and the workarounds you provided may be good alternatives.