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FAT isn't meant to record file access time, but the FAT filesystem I have in a VeraCrypt container file does. Why is this?

This was before I opened the file /run/media/veracrypt1/test:

~ $ stat /run/media/veracrypt1/test File: /run/media/veracrypt1/test Size: 351 Blocks: 2 IO Block: 1024 regular file Device: 7,1 Inode: 42223 Links: 1 Access: (0700/-rwx------) Uid: ( 1000/ emma) Gid: ( 1000/ emma) Access: 2025-10-26 01:00:00.000000000 +0100 Modify: 2025-10-26 13:34:36.000000000 +0000 Change: 2025-10-26 13:34:36.000000000 +0000 Birth: 2025-10-26 13:57:51.270000000 +0000

This was after I opened the file /run/media/veracrypt1/test:

~ $ stat /run/media/veracrypt1/test File: /run/media/veracrypt1/test Size: 351 Blocks: 2 IO Block: 1024 regular file Device: 7,1 Inode: 42223 Links: 1 Access: (0700/-rwx------) Uid: ( 1000/ emma) Gid: ( 1000/ emma) Access: 2025-11-19 00:00:00.000000000 +0000 Modify: 2025-10-26 13:34:36.000000000 +0000 Change: 2025-10-26 13:34:36.000000000 +0000 Birth: 2025-10-26 13:57:51.270000000 +0000
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    "FAT isn't meant to record file access time" says who? That's the whole thing here: you're basing this on a claim that you don't back, and which seems to be wrong. Occam's Razor, the method of determining truth by making the least possible assumptions, says that you're simply wrong here (FAT can indeed record ACCDATE). Commented Nov 19 at 12:41
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    I’m voting to close this question because it's based on an incorrect unbacked claim. Commented Nov 19 at 12:42
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    @MarcusMüller : the question to me is still answerable (and has been answered) so I don't see why it should be closed. (Having a bogus claim in the body of the question: is very, very often seen, and the answers usually recognize and corrects that). The question is stll something many people can ask themselves and thus stays useful and should stay. Commented Nov 19 at 13:19
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    @EmmaV : FAT can record access dates, but you can also probably disable it with mount options (usually by adding ,noatime to the mount options, if it is on Linux and if FAT supports that option) in case you don't need the access date. This will diminish the amount of disk writes (which is important for those on usb keys or ssd medias, for exemple, as the number of overall possible writes on some section of the media could be limited) and could also save quite a lot of time spent writing those dates (especially on slow medias such as usb keys) Commented Nov 19 at 13:25

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FAT doesn’t record access times but it does support recording access dates, and that’s what’s happening here: note that the timestamps have a time matching the timezone offset, that is to say they correspond to midnight.

See Microsoft KB 135481 for historical details.

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