Strange missing files issue

mhunter52

Hi all,

Helping a user sort out some Zotero problems they're having after "switching to a new username" and I can't quite make out which way to proceed with a backup.

Knowns:
- User had large Zotero 6 library including several hundred items w/ PDF and web screenshot attachments
- "Switched to a new username" sometime in late June; has been regularly syncing since then
- Can still see items in desktop Zotero and on web library
- Cannot access attached files ("Attached file could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted." error)
- When using the "Show File" option, or manually searching through the data directory, the corresponding folder for that item is also missing.
- No files/folders in the data directory are older than early July
- Syncing from the web library doesn't seem to remove any entries, but also doesn't fix the missing data directory files either
- Web library for old username is basically empty but does have a handful of items

Unknowns:
- Unsure how the user "changed" their username - whether by creating a new user, changing their username through account settings, changing their linked email, or a combination of these
- Unsure of how the current library is propagating between web library and local, if the handful of items I checked are missing folders in the data directory


So: is there a suggested backup option for this?

adamsmith

It sounds like the user wiped their local database when changing username (which Zotero warns about when you're doing it).
I'm not optimistic about restoring the old files unless the user has an old harddisk back-up from before they changed username.

For restoring PDFs, do note the Find Available PDF option, which can be quite useful (but doesn't, obviously, restore Snapshots)

mhunter52

Thanks, that's what I was sort of afraid of. Since the items (with the bibliographic info) are still present, is there a way to reconstruct those from the SQL files or anything? The Find Available PDF option would be a good workaround for actual files, but just to make sure the citation records are preserved I think would be priority #1.

dstillman

Since the items (with the bibliographic info) are still present, is there a way to reconstruct those from the SQL files or anything?

I'm not really sure what you're asking. Reconstruct what?

But this sounds like perhaps a misunderstanding. If they switched accounts, these would be two totally separate libraries — they have nothing to do with one another. Files for the new library would be on whatever computer those files were originally added, and if they're not available on the user's current computer, the files just haven't been synced from the computer where they were added (possibly because the user is at their file storage quota in that account and was getting a quota error).

This would only be related to switching accounts if they were using the new account previously on the same computer, switched to a different account (thereby clearing all local data after clicking through the warning), and then switched back to the new account and pulled down their data from the server. And in that case, again, it would happen if they were at their file storage quota and their files hadn't previously been uploaded. Zotero can only pull down what's available online.