missing zotero.sqlite when restoring zotero library from a backup

jmezpj

My hard drive crashed and I am trying to restore my zotero library. My entire drive was backed up. When I go to my data directory, there is a storage folder, but no zotero.sqlite file. I have searched through all of my backed up files and cannot find it. Of note, I saved all of my pdf attachments in a separate folder, not 'storage' that I am also able to retrieve. Why would the zotero.sqlite file not be backed up and is the organization that zotero creates lost without the file? Thanks so much!

dstillman

Why would the zotero.sqlite file not be backed up

Can't really answer that. It's possible that if Firefox were open the file would've been locked and skipped (though Time Machine on OS X has no trouble), but at the very least you should have the automatically generated backup copies in the same directory. What other files do you see in the same directory as "storage"?

is the organization that zotero creates lost without the file?

If you don't have a copy of the database, I'm afraid so. See "What makes a Zotero library?".

jmezpj

"What other files do you see in the same directory as "storage"?"

It's the only folder/file in the directory

I use a service - Mozy - to back up files and can look at previous back-ups. If it were skipped, perhaps it would be in an earlier back-up when Firefox was not open.

dstillman

In 'storage', do you actually see folders that were created recently? Perhaps you were using a custom data directory location and are just looking in the wrong place? You should definitely look at older backups, but, as I said above, even if the file were locked you should still have a backup of the backup database in the same directory.

Unless Mozy is set to only back up certain file extensions...