Help Needed: Database lost (Attachment sync with WebDav)

matherte

Hello folks,

I have a serious issue here. I use Zotero Standalone with WebDAV Sync.
So far i thought, when using WebDAV everything is synced over webdav and the zotero servers are no longer used.

I recently installed zotero standalone on a new computer. Since zotero is empty after installation, everything on my online-zotero account has been deleted. The structure (folders) was downloaded successfully. However the folders/collections in zotero are empty.

How can I restore my zotero database?

Kind Regards,
Matt

aurimas

So far i thought, when using WebDAV everything is synced over webdav and the zotero servers are no longer used.

When you use WebDAV, only file attachments (e.g. PDFs, Snapshots, Excel attachments, etc.) are synced via the WebDAV server. All of the metadata (collections, items and all their fields, notes, attached links) are still synced through zotero.org (but they don't take up "space", so you don't need to worry about reaching your quota).

Since zotero is empty after installation, everything on my online-zotero account has been deleted.

Unless you used the "Reset to server" option in Zotero preferences (don't do it if you haven't) or at some point actually deleted all the items from your library, Zotero would not delete anything during this sync. It's smart enough to know that this is a fresh library that needs to be populated with your items, rather than syncing the empty library to zotero servers.

1. Are you sure that you do not see anything under https://www.zotero.org/matherte/items/ (that's the My Library page on this website)
2. Are you sure you are using the correct username on Zotero Standalone?
3. Are you sure that you used the same username on your other computer?

The structure (folders) was downloaded successfully. However the folders/collections in zotero are empty.

Has the sync completed successfully? At the top right of the Zotero Standalone window, do you see a green circular arrow or a red exclamation point? If it's the green arrow, what happens if you click it? (does it stay a green arrow?)

In case your items have truly been deleted from the server, and assuming you still have access to the other computer, you should make a backup of your Zotero library before opening Zotero on the other computer. If you do need to open it to find your Zotero data directory, disconnect from the internet first.

matherte

"1. Are you sure that you do not see anything under https://www.zotero.org/matherte/items/ (that's the My Library page on this website)"

-> There is just the folder structure, but no content.

"2. Are you sure you are using the correct username on Zotero Standalone?"

-> yes :-)


"3. Are you sure that you used the same username on your other computer?"

-> yes :-)

Unfortunately, I already synced the old computer with the "empty/just the folders", since auto-sync was enabled.


Is there a possibility to get my database back?

aurimas

Besides restoring from a backup that you may or may not have made, there is this: http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_from_the_last_automatic_backup

But, I would suggest that you wait for Dan to come around, so he can determine what caused this and perhaps suggest a better way to recover your library. He'll probably get back to you in a few hours.

matherte

I've tried these steps yesterday night, but without success.

I only have a backup (export of the librar) from one month ago. but this month, I made a lot of changes. So it would be very painful to restore the backup and than manually add the pdfs from the Webdav (they still exist) Plus, all my notes would be gone.


Many thanks in advance. Great support so far!

aurimas

You tired those steps on your old computer? (Btw, if you're going to try anything else, do make complete backup of your data directory and disable automatic syncing)

Also, on your old computer, how many zotero.sqlite files with various extensions do you see? What size are they? What's the modification time on those files?

Finally, not to pour salt on open wound, but a library export (while better than nothing) is not a great way to back up your library. See the suggested method on the page linked above. Just FYI for later.

matherte

Yes, I tried the steps on the old computer.

old computer:
zotero.sqlite 40MB
zotero.sqlite.bak 40MB (mod. date: after the automatic sync yesterday evening)
zotero.sqlite1.bak 40MB (here dhe modification date is one day BEFORE I set up the new computer

I have backups of these files. But although I followed the steps, the entries did non show up.

new computer:
zotero.sqlite 6MB (mod. date: this morning)
zotero.sqlite.bak 6MB (mod. date: yesterday, around when setting up zotero on the new computer)

Both databases include some references (1146 papers) stored in a group library - I think thats the 6 MB.

These entries are still visibile, but here, no attachments are available (the attachment sync was disabled for the team-project, due to storage limitations)

matherte

One thing to add: I recently updated zotero on the old computer. I read that this could cause some problems in some cases, but i am not sure, if the update is related to my problem (i feel that the entries were still available right after I updated zotero

dstillman

A few things:

1) As aurimas says, there's no way for Zotero to delete your items on its own, and syncing an empty library just pulls down your existing data, so this is quite likely due to something you did manually.

2) You have ~700 top-level items on the Zotero server. They're just in the trash (again, presumably because you deleted them). Just go to the trash on one of your computers, select all the items, and click Restore to Library in the right-hand pane (or the right-click menu). They should go back into their original collections.

3) If that doesn't get you back what you want, you can use the zotero.sqlite.1.bak file, if it's from before the deletion. If that didn't make a difference when you tried it, I suspect it's because you didn't disable auto-sync first and the changes from the more recent server database just synced down and overwrote what was in that database. You'd have to use the reset options, as explained in the Restoring Your Library section, to fix that. But unless you manually deleted items from the trash, it's unlikely that this is necessary at all.

matherte

Ok, Thank you so much!!

Restoring worked fine :-)

But I never deleted all the files of all subfolders by hand. Maybe its because of the update.

Again, thank you so much.. I hope, now I can activate sync again.

dstillman

It wasn't because of the update. Again, Zotero definitely didn't do this.

But I never deleted all the files of all subfolders by hand.

So going by this, I think maybe you misunderstand how collections work in Zotero. Collections aren't folders. If you delete items from My Library, they'll disappear from all collections too. See The Zotero Collections Model.