> I guess that this 'archive state' is related to file flags on msdos-fs
> only, according to [1], the flag is used to allow "Microsoft backup and
> other backup programs to know which files to backup".

Yup, its used while doing differential or incremental backups.

"The archive bit is used to determine what files have been backuped up
previously on a Windows filesystem. The bit is set if a file is
modified. A backup program can then clear the bit when it does a full
backup. This allows the backup program to do an incremental or
differential backup that only backs up the changes to the filesystem
since the last time the bit was cleared." [1]

Thanks,
Rakhesh

[1] http://www.netadmintools.com/art399.html

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