[BUG] ctime, mtime, atime of files and directories are lost in SMB external storage

[ShGKme]

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• Sub-issue of Consistent handling of last modified dates when copying/moving files #15192
• ctime, mtime, atime of files and directories are lost when moved from SMB external storage using files_external

Steps to reproduce:

1. Add an SMB storage via files_external
2. Sync the storage to desktop folder
3. Move data from Nextcloud storage to files_external storage via synced folder
4. Files first have original timestamps until data on files_external is rediscovered

[sorbaugh]

cc @jancborchardt , the more we analyze this issue the more questions pop up. For instance, COPY operations change the mtime of the file. Do we have a reason for this? Wouldn't it be better for COPY moves to leave the mtime unchanged?

Also cc-ing @Altahrim & @come-nc to join the discussion

[jancborchardt]

@sorbaugh at least from design side there is no reason for this, no. It’s also weird because if you are in a folder sorted by date and copy/duplicate a file, both files would be far away from each other, whereas they should be right next to each other.