different size of the same database on two machines

mibigo · December 13, 2017

I sync the same database on a windows PC at my workplace and and on my iMac at home. The original database, the one with the pdf files stored in, is the windows one, while the one at home, has no file stored.
Now my question is about the size of the zotero.sqlite file: is that normal that the on eon the windows pc is 200 MB while the one on the Mac is just 80MB ? I mean the fact that the pdf are stored on the PC, should not mean anything, as they are stored anyway in a separated folder, so why is that database so big? I ask that because I notice that the performances in search, opening zotero, sorting, etc.. are far more brilliant on the mac than on the PC; yes of course they are different machines, but has the size of the database any impact on the performances?
thanks!

bwiernik · December 13, 2017

Are you syncing all of the same group libraries on the two computers? What are your settings for "Sync full-text content" in the Sync preferences pane on the two computers?

mibigo · December 13, 2017

yes I'm syncing the same group libraries, and I have the same sync settings which are: ""Sync full-text content" and ""Sync automatically" ticked, but not the file synching.

dstillman · December 16, 2017

There are various things that can affect the size, but one thing you can try is clicking Check Database Integrity on the PC and then waiting, potentially a while, for that to complete, and then seeing if the size changed.

I wouldn't worry too much about the performance difference, though — that could very easily just be due to, say, an SSD/Fusion Drive in the Mac and a HDD in the PC, or just other differences between the computers or platforms.

If a particular operation is slow, you can provide a Debug ID for it and we can take a look.

mibigo · December 16, 2017

I had already done a check database integrity which had reduced the size of some 20mb or so but it remains and enormous difference in size 84mb against 184 mb..

for the the performances, I understand the machines might be different, but I have an SDD on both machines with are three years old. Might the fact that the PC is working in a protected environment of which I'm NOT an administrator play a role?

I've been struggling for years also with old Zotero 4, which I was obliged to run on a portable firefox version. Now I could Install Zotero 5 apparently with no problem (though the connector is still working on a portable firefox), but I'm wondering if this overall environment might cause a slow performances; my colleagues using Zotero in the same environment also experiences slowness, but there might be further problems on their machines which are older than mine, so I can't draw. conclusions.