backup and reinstalls

docstudent22
If you subscribe to storage packages, so that zotero actually stores you content like pdfs, I'm wondering what is recoverable when your computer crashes. If you need to get a new machine, so the file structure that you had for the pdfs on your local machine are gone, can you reconstruct this all from the copies that are backed up by zotero?
  • adamsmith
    uhm - only files in your Zotero storage are backed up - so you don't get to pick the file structure in the first place.
    If you mean the structure of items in Zotero - including collections etc. - yes, that would remain the same.
    I think the one thing you'd lose would be annotations in snapshots (but not in pdfs if you made them with e.g. acrobat or pdf x-change.)
  • docstudent22
    Thx for the reply. I thought that unless you had paid-for storage thru zotero, attached files were actually on your own hard drive, in that fancy file directory system with all the random letters. That is the file structure I was talking about.

    If you lose your computer, and want to retrieve from zotero (assuming that you had paid for storage), then can you bring down the pdfs linked to the bib data? right now, it seems that it references the pdfs on my hard drive, so that's why I was worried about losing the link if I lost my computer . . .
  • adamsmith
    edited May 26, 2010
    you can also store your files online using a web-dav server - but unless you get one for free from your institution, the little money you may be able to save is probably not worth it and you should go ahead and use Zotero Storage.
    Answer remains the same though - you'll be able to get an exact replica of your library on a new or even a second computer from your sync if you have Zotero storage of sufficient size, including all files.*

    That said, let me just add my usual ceterum censeo that given current prices of Flash memory (USB harddisks) every academic - or rather anyone who does actual work on a computer - should make daily or at least weekly back-ups of the entire content of his/her harddisk - any product you buy comes with software that automates that process.

    * (provided all attached files are (locally) in the Zotero folder - what you call the fancy folder structure - and not attached as links)
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