Backup to cloud storage (Jottacloud)

cjpoor · January 13, 2020

First, congratulations to everyone for maintaining such a great app and service. I realize there has been a lot of discussion on the topic of using cloud storage. However, I'm confused as to whether using a cloud service backup (not sync) is OK. A number of posts say that you should close Zotero before backup of the entire Zotero folder (database, storage etc). However TimeMachine and SuperDuper have never given me problems backing up the whole drive while Zotero is open. I use Jottacloud which offers backup/restore separate from sync. Is it OK for to run a backup of my entire Zotero folder to Jottacloud while I have Zotero open? If not is it OK to run a backup of the Storage folder while Zotero is open? Many thanks for your help.

adamsmith · January 13, 2020

There's no risk for Zotero itslef. Since the sqlite changes _all the time_, having a backup service that monitors folder changes rather than saves every hour/day etc. is likely going to be very inefficient and cause significant network traffic.

Ideally back-ups are run with a closed database, but that's for the integrity of the back-up, not for Zotero. In reality, just running an automated back-up is fine.

cjpoor · January 14, 2020

Thank you for your quick reply! Yes, several hundred MB several times a day is less than optimal. I did have Duplicati set to back up to Jottacloud daily but I enabled their (pesky) two-factor authentication and I'm waiting to see if they will tell me how to get Duplicati to fit in with that ..