Upgrade StorageLibrary Deleted
In brief, after a hiatus of use, I have come back to the Zotero software on my computer and noticed my entire library is missing.
I downloaded Zotero onto my MacBook Pro (2012) during a weeklong dissertation bootcamp at my university in October 2018, after discussions with colleagues on some of the citations managing software that exist. I created folders and subfolders related to my dissertation chapters and topics, and inserted something around 50 references, with notes and copies of articles, over the course of the next few weeks.
Time got away from me, and I didn't really add much to the library after December 2018. Then the spring weeklong dissertation bootcamp came along, and I decided I ought to check in on my library and add a few more references. This is when I noticed everything was missing and my folders were all gone. It looked like a brand new user file was opened and I was starting fresh.
I believe I recently updated Zotero (per my computer's suggestion), and I have also recently updated my MacOS from High Sierra to Mojave. These updates, I believe, may have occurred before the realization that my library went missing.
Additional things to note: I had a Chrome extension with the Zotero button pinned to my address bar and used it frequently to auto-download/add articles to my library; this worked very well. I am not sure I officially synced the computer library to the online library, but I figured it was synced since the Chrome extension worked. I also did not download the library to save it to my computer, an external hard drive, or a non-Zotero-related cloud.
I further tried to troubleshoot the issue by looking into some forums located on this site, including one that stated an update to Zotero changed the location path of the library. This was not fruitful, as I found the previous version's path with no library file ("/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Zotero/Profiles/<randomstring>/zotero" but no "zotero") as suggested by https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
I'm not sure if this post was all that helpful either: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_missing_after_zotero_5_upgrade
I'm hoping that if someone had a similar issue and solved it, they could offer suggestions on how to get the library back. If it's gone for good, I'll just have to start over. Thank you.
I downloaded Zotero onto my MacBook Pro (2012) during a weeklong dissertation bootcamp at my university in October 2018, after discussions with colleagues on some of the citations managing software that exist. I created folders and subfolders related to my dissertation chapters and topics, and inserted something around 50 references, with notes and copies of articles, over the course of the next few weeks.
Time got away from me, and I didn't really add much to the library after December 2018. Then the spring weeklong dissertation bootcamp came along, and I decided I ought to check in on my library and add a few more references. This is when I noticed everything was missing and my folders were all gone. It looked like a brand new user file was opened and I was starting fresh.
I believe I recently updated Zotero (per my computer's suggestion), and I have also recently updated my MacOS from High Sierra to Mojave. These updates, I believe, may have occurred before the realization that my library went missing.
Additional things to note: I had a Chrome extension with the Zotero button pinned to my address bar and used it frequently to auto-download/add articles to my library; this worked very well. I am not sure I officially synced the computer library to the online library, but I figured it was synced since the Chrome extension worked. I also did not download the library to save it to my computer, an external hard drive, or a non-Zotero-related cloud.
I further tried to troubleshoot the issue by looking into some forums located on this site, including one that stated an update to Zotero changed the location path of the library. This was not fruitful, as I found the previous version's path with no library file ("/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Zotero/Profiles/<randomstring>/zotero" but no "zotero") as suggested by https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
I'm not sure if this post was all that helpful either: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_missing_after_zotero_5_upgrade
I'm hoping that if someone had a similar issue and solved it, they could offer suggestions on how to get the library back. If it's gone for good, I'll just have to start over. Thank you.
What are the names, sizes, and dates of the zotero.sqlite* files you see in there? Is there a 'storage' folder, and does it contain subfolders? If so, do the dates of those correspond with your previous usage of Zotero?
Did you ever use Zotero for Firefox prior to 2018? If that's possible, you'd want to check the Firefox profile directory as explained in the data-missing page.
If you open Terminal (via Spotlight) and paste in
mdfind -name zotero.sqliteand press Return, do you see any results for locations other than /Users/:username/Zotero?My apologies for the lag in response. My current Zotero data directory is /Users/my_username/Zotero.
In this directory, there are the following: zotero.sqlite (1.4 MB, added 3/12/19), zotero.sqlite.1.bak (1.4 MB, added yesterday), zotero.sqlite.bak (1.4 MB, added today), and zotero.sqlite-journal (210 KB, added 4/18/19). As a side note, I have added some references to this empty library in the last week or two.
I don't recall using Zotero with Firefox, and I did not have Zotero before October 2018; the computer I've been using with Zotero does not have Firefox on it.
Using the mdfind command, I only found the four items I mention above, all in the /Users/my_username/Zotero directory.
I can't tell you what happened to your previous data directory, but it seems like either you somehow deleted it or you're misremembering and actually used Zotero on a different computer without enabling syncing. The only time Zotero ever clears the data directory itself is if you switch accounts for syncing, and then it makes you confirm that you want to delete the local data.