Reintalling Windows, re-importing data from server, Zotero crashed and data lost

cgianolla · January 16, 2017

Hallo,

I re-installed my Windows 10 OS from scratch (formatting C partition) because the OS was too slow after upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. After reinstalling Win10 I reinstalled firefox and Zotero for Firefoz. I then made the import of zotero-server data into my client but during the process Zotero crashed. I suppose the import was only partially through then. I repeated the import but I did not check that all data had been imported, I simply assumed they were. After a few days I discovered that a big part of my data are missing and by then I had reactivated the automatic synchronisation so that the data on Zotero Server and on my pc are both missing a lot of information. I tried re-importing a backup but I discovered that it was too old (I was convinced I was regularly doing the backup of my Zotero files but I was mistaken).

Is there a way I can recover my zotero-server storage as it was until the 7th of January (this is the day before I reinstalled my OS, Firefox and Zotero)? In my Zotero folder data (zotero.sqlite.1.bak) start from the 8th of January, right after new installation and they are incomplete.

As you can imagine this issue is quite sad as much work has gone lost...

Thanks,

Cristiano

adamsmith · January 16, 2017

If you only got partial data by syncing, you never had the full library on the Zotero server, I'm afraid.
Zotero sync never deletes items that you haven't explicitly deleted, so syncing an incomplete library with a complete server-side library would complete the local one, not overwrite the server one.

cgianolla · January 16, 2017

Thank you for your answer adamsmith, I am sure I had full data in Zotero server because I used them and never deleted. I fear that for some reason the crash has created an issue with sync.

Be it as it is, is there a form to recover an older version of my zotero-server files? Does it exist a backup of some sort? The deletion has occurred 9 days ago. I recovered some of the data from docx documents, but not all.

Thanks again,

Cristiano

dstillman · January 16, 2017

No, what adamsmith says is correct. Before a large batch of items you uploaded today, you had no items in your online library created after July 24, 2015, and there had been no syncs to this account since September 2015.

It also appears that everything currently in your online library — including the items from 2015 — was uploaded starting two days ago, suggesting that you used Restore to Zotero Server, which would overwrite all data online with your local data. Again, though, there wouldn't have been anything between September 2015 and now anyway, because you weren't syncing.

So unless there was another account you were syncing with, your only option would be to restore your local data directory from a backup.

cgianolla · January 17, 2017

Dear dstillman, thank you for your prompt response and I really appreciate your clarifications which help me understand what happened: for some reasons my sync was not active and between September 2015 and now I saved Zotero references only on my PC (not on Zotero Server), therefore I lost them when reinstalled my OS formatting C partition. Two days ago I tried to restore a backup which was obsolete as you noticed.

This all issue is unfortunate because in this time slot I have entered several references, especially until September 2016 (the large batch of today contains part of it). Something went wrong and I am perplexed about it but I will have to work out a solution.

I think I can only try to re-import the references from various docx files, is there a form to delete duplicates?

adamsmith · January 17, 2017

nothing automated in batch, but you can spot your duplicates and merge them pretty quickly in the "Duplicates" view at the bottom of your library (in Standalone -- that's not available online).

For importing from .docx (assuming you inserted the references with Zotero) see http://rintze.zelle.me/ref-extractor/

cgianolla · January 17, 2017

Thanks a lot adamsmith! I will go through duplicates as you explain. Importing from .docx as you described is what I have done for one file and will do for others to restore my data, thanks to that I am not completely lost. Once more thanks for your support.