Note data disappeared

bydavis
Earlier today, I entered several notes as part of a larger entry. Nearly all of the inputted data has now disappeared, though it was visible while I was typing it and editing it. Now, all I get is what was the first line of each note. Is there any way to retrieve the rest of the information? This is very frustrating and is the loss of several hours of work!

Report ID: 1090144232
  • bydavis
    Also, am I correct in assuming that since my library has synced since then, the data is irretrievably loss? Should I be making backups while working to prevent this? Please help!
  • adamsmith
    First, disable automatic syncing now (sync tab of the Zotero preferences) and see how the notes look when you look at "My Library" here on the webpage.
    If the notes are gone there, too, you can try:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_from_the_last_automatic_backup
  • bydavis
    The data is also missing in "My Library". Also, what are the odds the backup is any different than what is in "My Library" or opening when I open Firefox? I had automatic syncing on when this happened, so wouldn't any automatic backup be the same? I'm asking because I'll probably need assistance to do the steps on the link and want to know if it's worth recruiting and paying for assistance.
  • adamsmith
    well, the automatic back-up would be from a slightly earlier point in time, so it's worth a try, but I can't promise anything. This isn't really hard to do and doesn't take long. Anyone with some computer skills could help you do that in 5mins.
  • aurimas
    edited January 17, 2014
    By default, automatic backups occur no more frequently than every 24 hours. You can tell when the last backup happened by looking at the Modified timestamp for the zotero.sqlite.bak file (how you do that depends on the OS you are running).
  • bydavis
    I tried the steps on the link and it didn't restore anything. There's another file "zotero.sqlite.1.bak" with an older timestamp though it's not the one I used. At any rate, that timestamp is prior to when I inputted the data that has gone missing. The rest seem to have been last modified yesterday evening, after the data went missing.

    Does this mean it's permanently gone? And, if so, what can I do (other than switching to another reference management program) to prevent this from happening again? I can't really afford to keep losing hours of work...
  • aurimas
    Do you recall if you put anything unusual in the note? Perhaps you dragged-in an image? Also, if you click on the HTML button in the note editor, is the remainder of your note there (I doubt it, but it's worth a try). Is this in a group or personal library? Did you maybe have Zotero open on some other computer besides the one you were working on? It's very difficult for us to say what happened and fix it because we're unable to reproduce this problem (though I believe it was reported once before).

    I can't access the Report ID you submitted (Dan or Simon would be able to see this), but what version of Zotero are you running? Is this Standalone or Zotero for Firefox? Do you have any add-ons installed?
  • dstillman
    It's Zotero for Firefox, and there are a bunch of other extensions installed. It's possible some other extension interfered in a way that caused this, though, as aurimas says, it's hard to know for sure. But this certainly isn't a normal problem that people face with Zotero.
  • bydavis
    Yea, it's Zotero for Firefox, which I've been using for over 1.5 years on this computer (and longer on a previous computer) with no problems. Never had any weird interactions with other extensions before either.

    Nothing unusual in the note. Bulleted text, italicized text, orange text, but that's it. No images or anything was added. Tried clicking the HTML button and nothing was there. Zotero wasn't open on any other computer when this happened. Personal library. Using Zotero version 4.0.17.1.

    My real concern is that this will happen again, which leave me very, very screwed if there's no way to know why it happened or if it will happen again. I have over 2700 references in my library and randomly losing data means losing work which affects my employment.

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