sqlite database size, and size of zotero sync allotment

kajeling

I have a fairly small database at this point (~300 entries), and noticed that my sqlite file is already 25mb. Is this expected? It doesn't seem like there should be nearly enough meta-data to make it that big, even accounting for all the pdf full-text (I assume that is stored within the same file?)

I am particularly curious since I have seen people describe zotero databases with many thousands of entries, and if it scales up I would expect their sqlite file to be too large to fit into any free space provided by Zotero.

so:

1) Is 25mb for 300 entries typical? Will it scale with more entries or is there some overhead?
2) how much space are we allotted for storing db online?
3) (slightly unrelated) why are there 3 sqlite.bak files in my zotero directory? (.sqlite.bak, sqlite.1.bak, .sqlite.55.bak) They seem to all be the same size, and were all modified recently so it's not just some orphaned backup.

Thanks,
Keith

dstillman

1) Is 25mb for 300 entries typical? Will it scale with more entries or is there some overhead?

It's due to the full-text word index, which includes content from both PDFs and other text files (including HTML snapshots). As the index grows, it doesn't need to keep storing as many new words, only item/word associations, so the size shouldn't keep increasing at the same rate.

At some point we'll be switching to SQLite's native full-text search, which should be faster and more efficient, and we'll also likely be splitting the full-text word index into a separate database.

2) how much space are we allotted for storing db online?

There's no limit. The full-text word index isn't currently synced to the server, though, so this isn't related.

3) (slightly unrelated) why are there 3 sqlite.bak files in my zotero directory? (.sqlite.bak, sqlite.1.bak, .sqlite.55.bak) They seem to all be the same size, and were all modified recently so it's not just some orphaned backup.

.sqlite.bak and .sqlite.1.bak are the automatic backups Zotero makes during use. The number and time interval are configurable in about:config.

.sqlite.55.bak is one of the backups that Zotero makes whenever it changes the user tables in the database on upgrade. It automatically keeps the last one.

dstark

What are the proper about:config lines to modify in order to adjust "the number and time interval" used for generating the .sqlite.bak files?

Thank you so much!

aurimas

https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/hidden_preferences#general_preferences

(in case you saw it before, the backup preferences were just added)

dstark

Fabulous. Thank you. Yes, I had looked for this elsewhere in the documentation before I inquired. So, having it added now is most helpful.

Thank you, again.