Data Disappeared!

zoeh77
i am using Zotero on a desktop which is managed by my university department, they had a massive server failure which resulted in the link between where my Zotero data is stored (a custom directory on my desktop) and firefox being severed. I have tried what you said about redirecting where zotero is looking and it is not making my files reappear. I have also tried transferring onto another machine and using it on there with the method you recommend and its still not working. I just submitted an error (may have done this twice so my apologies!) with the error ID 2139178530. Could this be to do with why i cant see my files?

Thanks
  • adamsmith
    Could you be a bit more specific about what type of date you have as a back-up? I.e. can you still see the zotero.sqlite and the files in a folder somewhere?
  • zoeh77
    yes, all the files are in my folders - so the sqlite file and all the storage. This is why I am so confused beause all the data is there but zotero cannot see it.

    I have just tried to put it on the other machine again and have just got the error ID 1527439058 if that helps at all?
  • adamsmith
    edited December 7, 2011
    Dan has to look at the error report, but I'm skeptical that there'd be something relevant in it - you're right now just seeing an empty database? It just sounds that in one way or the other Zotero is pointed to an empty database.

    How large -roughly - was the size of your database (how many items)? How large (how many bytes) is the zotero.sqlite file you're pointing Zotero to?
  • zoeh77
    Yep, just an empty database.

    in the database there were approx 6000 references, 2/3rd of these have PDF or web links - The size of these are approx 6GB. The size of sqlite file is 936KB. But I also have a zotero.sqlite.bak file (936KB) and zotero.sqlite-journal (89KB)
  • dstillman
    edited December 7, 2011
    That's almost certainly an empty database. Are you saying that the 'storage' folder below that shows all of your files?
  • adamsmith
    yeah - those are not the right .sqlite file - it would have to be around 100MB or more in size - without that - or a back-up of it - there's nothing you can do to restore your database (if you have synced your data a "restore from server" would also likely help.)
  • zoeh77
    The storage folder is still massive though. The problem is that because there was a server error (which I cannot technically explain to you) I dont know how the file can have been edited. Any ideas about how it may have shrunk?

    Would restoring that file back to a previous version perhaps work (as this is what my IT dept advised)?

    Is there nothing I can do with all the data which is obviously in the storage folder?
  • dstillman
    Most likely the file was wiped out altogether and recreated. You should be able to tell by the date of the Zotero Quick Start Guide item, if there is one.
  • zoeh77
    6th Dec 11.35am. So will restoring the folder with all the zotero data in help solve the problem?

    Again, is there nothing I can do with storage folder because all the files are still in there?
  • adamsmith
    edited December 7, 2011
    there's nothing at all you can do with the storage folder by itself.

    Your IT department's suggestion to retrieve an older version of the file is the way to go.
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