WebDav backup?

jacekg · August 29, 2011

I am using WebDav on a local server to store full text of articles I save in Zotero (PDFs). I have not set up WebDav myself. What do I need to know and do to backup what Zotero stored in WebDav? So that I could switch to using a different WebDav server?
thanks - Jacek

dstillman · August 29, 2011

I'm not really sure what you mean, but all Zotero uses is the 'zotero' folder on the WebDAV store.

jacekg · August 29, 2011

Right. But if I want to move my collection to another WebDav server or to a folder in the local file system, is a straight copy of that 'zotero' folder sufficient? That is, are all references to PDF paper going to work? thnx

adamsmith · August 29, 2011

your pdfs are already in a local folder. You can't sync anything to WebDav without a local copy.
http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data

I'd strongly recommend backing up the local Zotero data folder.

jacekg · August 29, 2011

Thanks for the link! So, all computers which I use for Zotero (configured for WebDav) will have a local copy of all PDF files, or is it just a cache for files that were accessed on that computer? If all files are replicated - that seems rather expensive in terms of storage (even if HDs are cheap now). I just checked local zotero folder on my computer and the "storage" subfolder is about 1GB. So, all computers where I use Zotero have this 1GB of data and the WebDav folder too. correct?

adamsmith · August 29, 2011

Thanks for the link! So, all computers which I use for Zotero (configured for WebDav) will have a local copy of all PDF files

this. The size on your WebDav may be a little less, because I believe files are compressed there (doesn't matter for pdfs, but does matter for snapshots). Also, the actual database - zotero.sqlite - (and it's automatic back-ups) aren't on the WebDav (the data is synced with a server at zotero, even if you use webdav).

I don't see a good alternative to having the files locally - you wouldn't want to wait each time you're opening a file until it has downloaded from the server and you certainly wouldn't want to download and cache 1GB of files every time you open Zotero.

jacekg · July 13, 2012

Coming back to this earlier discussion. Is there any way to specify the local folder use by Zotero for storing PDF attachments etc.? I cannot find anything like that in Zotero preferences. What I would like to do is to use a service like Dropbox and to point Zotero on multiple computers to the same Dropbox folder. thanks - Jacek

adamsmith · July 13, 2012

You can change the location of the Zotero data folder in the advanced tab of the Zotero preferences:
http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data
But it is _strongly_ discouraged to place the entire data folder into dropbox or similar syncing services, as that may cause database corruption.
You _can_ use symlinks to put the zotero/storage folder - i.e. the folder containing all of the attachments but not the zotero.sqlite database - into dropbox or you can use a service like spideroak that allows you to specify individual folders on your file system to sync and have it sync the storage (but not the data) folder.