on the possible use of rsync

bonobo

hi there,
just started using zotero, I would like to become an addict...

There is one main obstacle for this. In the forums I could only find some inconsistent information on the possibility of using rsync for synching different computers.

As zotero syncs the high-level information itself without any limitation, my plan consists of replacing file syncing (so it will be turned off) with a manual rsync. So I thought I could just call rsync from work computer to sync only the the relevant folders containing the data, which I think consists of the storage folder exclusively.

Before trying this, I would to ask whether this is doable, and what are the possible pitfalls?

adamsmith

I'm not using that set-up, but it should work just fine.
As long as you're only syncing the "Storage" folder - i.e. the folder with all the files - and _not_ the Zotero database I can't think of any problems you'd experience. I know of people who put symlinks to their storage folder into dropbox and that definitely works.

Can't think of any serious pitfalls either - obviously you won't be able to access attachments from the Zotero website and you won't be able to share attachments in private groups, but if that's not something you want this should work just fine.

ajlyon

I did essentially this for a while, and it works fine. Just be careful to sync only the storage folder and not zotero.sqlite.

bonobo

and now how are you dealing with the problem, if I may ask ?

aroque

I have been using rsync to sync my zotero database for some time now and I am quite happy with it. Issues may arise if you store (many!) website snapshots, which will give a cluttered storage directory. Rsync will have to go there and check every single file, which may take quite some time. On the other hand, it also depends how frequently you plan to sync between the two machines. If the idea is to do that in the background (cron job or at login/logout), then you might have no problems at all, just let rsync do the work. Personally I ended up saving only pdf files and it works fine (my zotero directory is ~1.5 Gb). I sync back and forth every time I open/close firefox and never keep two firefox instances running on the two machines at the same time.

ajlyon

I use rsync for backup still-- I was using it to keep the Linux and Windows partitions synced up, but stopped when I stopped booting Windows.