Installed W7 and know I have no Zotero?

Dadiva1908
If anyone can help me here, I'd certainly appreciate it. I had Windows 7 downloaded a couple of weks ago but did not back up my sources in Zotero. PLEASE tell me I didn't lost them all.....PLEASE, PRETTY, PRETTY PLEASE!
  • noksagt
    Refer to: http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data

    Did you sync with zotero's servers?
  • Dadiva1908
    No I did not. Is all hope lost?
  • noksagt
    This isn't really a Zotero-specific question & you aren't being precise enough. If you upgraded Windows & kept your other documents and settings, then you likely have the Zotero data still (with your old Firefox profile by default, as per the linked page). If you did a clean install & only backed up some of your documents and settings manually, you are probably out of luck (but then you would have lost other things, such as your firefox bookmarks).
  • Dadiva1908
    I did a clean install, but I backed up my firefox bookmarks, pictures, desktop items, etc., how would I retrieve that?

    Is that more specific? I'm fairly new to zotero and only used it store my library/sources.
  • dstillman
    You'll need to read the page that noksagt provided, because it contains all the information we could provide here.
  • Dadiva1908
    I reread the page three times, but it doesn't tell you what to do when you have windows 7 only, XP, Vista, 2000 and Mac. I attempted to use the directions for XP and vista, but at a certain point the folders aren't or least not named the same.

    So am I out of luck?
  • dstillman
    Linked from that page:

    http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles#How_to_find_your_profile

    If you backed up your entire Firefox profile, you likely still have your Zotero data (assuming you weren't using a custom Zotero data directory) wherever your old profile is. If you didn't, you probably don't.
  • noksagt
    Your old data would presumably have been at one of the paths for 2000/XP/Vista. Locate it from your backup using that path information and/or search your desktop for zotero.sqlite (assuming that you haven't already re-installed zotero; if you have, you'd of course use the one corresponding to your old firefox profile & not the latest).

    Then install firefox+zotero and follow:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#how_do_i_restore_my_zotero_library_from_a_backup
  • Dadiva1908
    Thank you both for your help, but I have tried all of your suggestion but to no avail. It looks like I will have to start over. Thank you anyway.

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