Sync problem

sdspieg

One of my computers doesn't seem to sync anymore. Report ID 500722921.

sdspieg

Problem mysteriously solved. All is properly synced again.

sdspieg

I apologize, but this is happening again. Just on one computer - not on others. Report ID 581149668 now. I am also running it with debug on - will submit that one as soon as it stops (but that can take hours - it seems always stuck on "preparing sync").
I guess could try to fix the db with the dbfix utility, but I'd rather not mess with it as it is so large. I also don't know how any changes in the local db would affect the db on your servers, and since I know that one to be ok, I'd rather not mess with it. Anyway - any advice would be greatly welcomed!

sdspieg

Update - it is working again. As mysteriously as before. And again I am not sure whether anybody did anything server-side. I would still appreciate some pointers on how I can avoid this problem.

dstillman

database disk image is malformed

Yes, your database is corrupted, and you'll need to repair it.

This usually happens when you have your Zotero data directory in a cloud storage folder such as Dropbox.

sdspieg

Dan, thanks. But my Zotero data directory is in a regular, and not in a cloud storage folder. Also - things are merrily syncing again now. No more error messages. But so can you please still tell me what will happen if I 'fix' my db on my computer to the version that's on the Zotero servers? Is there a risk that something might go wrong there too then, or that it might delete groups/collections/items?

dstillman

This isn't a syncing problem — your database is corrupted, and you'll get random errors at unexpected times and likely end up losing data if you don't repair it. Repairing your local database has no effect on the server version.

sdspieg

Ok. Checking database integrity. Any idea how long that should take on a 3.5 GB zotero.sqlite file?

dstillman

Oh, well, there's no real need to check the integrity that way — it's definitely corrupted if it returned that message, and Zotero can't repair it itself. But if the integrity check is running now, the safest thing to do is let it complete. It could take quite a while for a database of that size.

Unfortunately 3.5 GB is far too big to use the DB Repair Tool, so you'll need to follow the manual repair instructions. I've just updated the manual instructions for Windows (which previously linked to an outdated forums thread), so you can try those.