Lost Data - Please Help

dalza
Hello. I've been using Zotero version 1.0.3 and Firefox version 2.0.0.14 for a few weeks now on an important research project (like everyone else here I suppose!).
Until this afternoon everything seemed to be working perfectly.

A few minutes ago something went wrong, and in my rush to resolve the problem I didn't write down the exact error messages I received. I believe it stated something like "corrupted sqlite" and it prompted me to restart Firefox. When I restarted, Zotero reverted to a file that had been saved about 5 hours earlier; that is to say, upon re-opening Firefox I got a message stating that the the backup was from "12:29". (I thought all files were saved instantaneously...and have not been able to find a setting for backing up files manually).

I hope I'm being clear and apologize if I am not providing enough precise information. My questions are:
1) Is there anything I can do to get back this lost data?
2) How can I avoid having the same problem in the future?

The 5 hours of research I did today can be replicated rather easily (no notes/comments were lost), but I wouldn't want this to become a recurring issue. I even backed-up my whole Zotero folder two evenings ago in the event that my hard drive fails, but I wasn't anticipating, and don't know how to prepare for, loss of data due to software problems.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David A
  • dstillman
    1) Is there anything I can do to get back this lost data?
    There should be a zotero.sqlite.damaged file in your Zotero data directory. Try uploading it to the DB Repair Tool.
    2) How can I avoid having the same problem in the future?
    Firefox 3 RC1 will be out later this week. Upgrade to that when it comes out and use it with Zotero 1.0.4, which will be out later today and offer Fx3 compatibility. Firefox 3 fixes problems in the database layer that existed in Firefox 2, though we haven't seen any corruption from that that wasn't correctable with the repair tool.
  • dalza
    Thanks so much for the quick response. A couple of follow-up questions before I upload the file:

    1) What do I do after I upload the "zotero.sqlite.damaged" file? Will I receive a new file that I have to put in the data directory?

    2) Should I back-up the whole Zotero folder before proceeding?

    Thanks again,
    David A
  • dstillman
    1) What do I do after I upload the "zotero.sqlite.damaged" file? Will I receive a new file that I have to put in the data directory?
    It'll tell you what to do.
    2) Should I back-up the whole Zotero folder before proceeding?
    Yup. Says that on the page too.
  • dalza
    Great. I'll back everything up and then upload the file. Thanks again for your help.

    David A
  • dalza
    Ok, all the data I lost is back. I really appreciate the help. The directions you gave me were perfect, uploading the "zotero.sqlite.damaged" file and then replacing the existing "zotero.sqlite", with the new downloaded one. However, the documentation on the "Zotero Database Repair Tool" page, I believe, is outdated.

    The repair page says to "locate the zotero.sqlite.bak file in your Zotero data directory and upload it using the form below". When I did this, and then replaced the existing "zotero.sqlite", with the new downloaded one, there was no change. It was only after I uploaded the "zotero.sqlite.damaged", as you instructed, that the fix worked.

    I am making a point of this only to help anyone who has a similar problem in the future.

    One last question, is there any way to verify that ALL of my files are still in the database? As you can imagine, when there are hundreds of files it is nearly impossible to know if something is missing.

    Once again, thanks.

    David A
  • dstillman
    The repair page says to "locate the zotero.sqlite.bak file in your Zotero data directory and upload it using the form below"
    Right, that's because most people who experience DB corruption can just use the backup database. Yours triggered automatic fallback to the backup database and saved your more recent one as a .damaged file, but that's pretty rare.
    One last question, is there any way to verify that ALL of my files are still in the database? As you can imagine, when there are hundreds of files it is nearly impossible to know if something is missing.
    Not really. Chances are the corruption was just in the fulltext word index, though.
  • dalza
    OK, I see now. Thanks.
  • skr8
    Once I've uploaded the zotero.sqlite.damaged file for repair, can I delete the existing .damaged file?

    Thanks!
    -SR
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