Back up just new part of Storage Directory

freeze · May 30, 2009

It takes a long time to back up the Storage directory by copying it to my external hard drive. (And even longer to a flash drive) Is it possible to copy just the new subdirectories? How are they numbered?

noksagt · May 30, 2009

If you used WebDAV syncing in the 2.0 sync beta, it will already copy these efficiently.

Most third-party sync tools (rsync, unison, etc.) will also be efficient with the copying process.

freeze · May 30, 2009

Thanks for your quick reply.

I will check out the syncing tools. The reason I don't rely on WebDAV syncing is that the Zotero web page strongly suggests keeping my own backup files. Also, I use mainly Pubmed with full text access, so the vast majority of PDF's are easily available to me where ever I go without online syncing.

I do have another question though. I have a portable Firefox on a USB flash drive for use on computers other than my own. If I copy the sqlite file to the flash drive regularly, but don't bother with updating the Storage directory, will that interfere with using the library itself? I should be able to copy the modified sqlite file back to my own computer. (I realize that any new snapshots or PDF's will not be remembered)

I know that I am being a dinosaur by not upgrading to the beta version, but things are working so well as they are that I just don't want to yet.

dstillman · May 30, 2009

If I copy the sqlite file to the flash drive regularly, but don't bother with updating the Storage directory, will that interfere with using the library itself? I should be able to copy the modified sqlite file back to my own computer. (I realize that any new snapshots or PDF's will not be remembered)

That's correct. As long as you have a backup of the zotero.sqlite, you'll have all the data you see in the Zotero interface itself—just not attachment files.

adamsmith · May 30, 2009

@freeze - I would suggest just using incremental back ups (i.e. syncing) for your entire hard-drive.
Mac does that automatically with Time Machine, Linxu with Back in Time and I'm sure there's some 2nd best option for Windows users that does something along those lines.
Flash Disks are so cheap now - there's no good reason to just back up one part of you HD.

edit: overlooked what noksagt said. For most of these tools (definitely unison and Back in Time) you can specify just one folder (e.g. the Zotero directory) to be synced, if you really insist on doing that.