Restoring after changing drives

ogadol

Hallo all

I'm using zotero standalone.
Recently i have formatted my computer and installed a new hard drive
Before doing so i have copied all my pdf's to a backup drive
i also copied all the zotero.sqilt files
Now after formatting i have reinstalled zotero stand alone copied all my pdf's back to the computer and used syncing.
Now in zotero i see a list of all my files they are not connected to the actual files i need to assign them manually (more then 500)
I also tried replacing the zotero.sqilt file with the old one...
Is there a way to assign all the files back automatically ?
Is it too late ???
I will appreiciate the help im really confused

Cheers Omri Gadol

adamsmith

Where the PDFs stored with Zotero or linked? If they were stored, just replacing your storage folder with the old one should fix this (the folder called "storage" in your Zotero data directory https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data )
with linked files it'll be a bit harder.

ogadol

Hey thanks for your fast response.
Unfortunately they were only linked , is there anything I can do?

adamsmith

Likely the filepath where Zotero is looking doesn't exist on your new computer.
You should be able to use Zutilo to check where Zotero is looking for an attachment and then change the filepaths (in bulk).
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/zutilo-utility-for-zotero/

aurimas

Edit: Yeah, nvm what I said. I missed your comment about linked attachments. What adamsmith said.

If you want to restore PDFs from your backup, rather than syncing, you should also restore your library from backup, not via sync. Hopefully you have not made any drastic changes since you synced, in which case, you can just follow the directions to restore your library from backup https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_your_zotero_library_from_a_backup1

ogadol

Thanks but how do i run zotilo in zotero standalone ?

aurimas

Download the Zutilo extension to your computer (it should be an xpi file), then Tools -> Add-ons -> Gear menu (top right) -> Install Add-on From File

ogadol

Hi aurimas thanks

but even with zutilo i need to go one by one and change the path...

am i missing somthing?

ogadol

OK i think i almost got it figured out

i just nee to replace in all th pathes "D:" to "C:" is there a way to it not one by one ?

adamsmith

You can select multiple items and "Modify Attachment Path" via Zutilo for all of them at once - it will first ask you for the part of the old path you want to replace (D: in your case) and then for what you want to replace it with (C: in your case).

aurimas

I think it should be safe for you to select all attachments using a saved search (right-click My Library -> New Saved Search) with "Item Type" "is" "Attachment". You can then select all attachments using Ctrl + A.

ogadol

Wow it worked unfreaking believable thank you guys a lot