Error ID: 1032796315

lucas

Zotero on my PC (XP) has been having sync errors for the past month. I have turned off automatic sync, but when I do a manual sync, the sync arrow just keeps spinning, and then if I try to access my library it displays the message that an error has occurred (the same thing happens when I turn on auto-sync). If I do a full sync through the reset tab, that does work, although it seems to take a very long time.

After the error occurs, Zotero becomes unusable until I restart Firefox.

I was hoping that the new beta version of Zotero (b4) would solve the problem, but it has not. (I am also running the current version of Firefox -- 3.5.3.)

Any leads?

Thanks,
Lucas

dstillman

Could you generate debug output for the sync attempt from the Advanced pane of the Zotero prefs, submit it to the server, and post the Debug ID here? Thanks.

lucas

Okay, the Debug ID is D523134796.

Thanks,

Lucas

dstillman

There appears to be a problem with the .eco file in the 'storage/58TBZ3SF' directory in your Zotero data directory. Can you take a look at that file and let us know if you notice anything particular about it? (Is it an empty file, is it an alias rather than a regular file, etc.) You could also try temporarily moving the file out of that folder and trying to sync.

Note, by the way, that this is a file sync problem only, and your metadata sync is still working properly.

lucas

Great, that solved the problem.

Let me explain about the .eco file: Once I got my WebDAV file syncing set up about a month ago, it occurred to my that I could use Zotero for other file syncing as well, so, for instance, I began to store my Ecco Pro (which is Personal Information Manager) file in Zotero. That way, I figured, my latest changes in Ecco Pro would regularly be backed up online. This setup seemed to work very well for a while. I have not discovered anything wrong with the file, but perhaps what happened is I tried to edit the file while a sync was running... could that be the issue? I don't know very much about how WebDAV works...

For now, I just re-saved my Ecco file to my harddrive and deleted the copy from my Zotero library, and now sync seems to be working normally again.

Thanks again for your help -- and let me know if there's anything else you want me to clarify in order to pinpoint why the error came up.

dstillman

Have you reimported the file back into Zotero? If you do so, does it then sync?

lucas

Well, just to see what would happen, I reimported the file to Zotero. At first it synced fine. Then I opened the file in Ecco (after locating it via the "Show File" button in Zotero), wrote a new note in Ecco, saved it, and re-synced. This caused the same error as before, so that I have to re-start Zotero.

dstillman

Does this only happen when the file is open in Ecco?

lucas

Yes, apparently the error only occurs when the file is open in Ecco. When I tried closing the file first, the sync was error-free.

FYI, Ecco automatically creates temporary files (.bk1 and sometimes .bk2) in whichever folder the main (.eco) file is stored. I wonder if this has something to do with it?

(I also store my Taskcoach (.tsk) file in Zotero in a similar manner, but it does not create any problems even when I sync while the file is open in Tasckcoach.)