Upgrade StorageRestoring my library after Windows Refresh
Hello.
I was writing my PhD and using Zotero for Firefox to create a bibliography. I had about 200 articles saved in my library, mostly from pubmed. Then my computer with Win 8.1 had an automatic update and something went wrong with it. I had to "Refresh" my windows from recovery, because they just wouldn't boot. "Refresh" keeps all your data, it doesn't format your HDD, but it erases all your apps.
So I thought that after reinstalling Zotero it would find the files, which store my library, but it doesn't, it shows that my library is empty. I tried everything to fix this problem:
I am sure, that Zotero is looking in the correct location, I am in the correct Firefox profile. I tried syncing it with my account, but it is still blank. I tried playing with those sqlite and sqlite.bak files in Zotero directory, but still I didn't succeed in restoring my library.
Now I really don't know what to do, so I am asking for some help or an advice..
I was writing my PhD and using Zotero for Firefox to create a bibliography. I had about 200 articles saved in my library, mostly from pubmed. Then my computer with Win 8.1 had an automatic update and something went wrong with it. I had to "Refresh" my windows from recovery, because they just wouldn't boot. "Refresh" keeps all your data, it doesn't format your HDD, but it erases all your apps.
So I thought that after reinstalling Zotero it would find the files, which store my library, but it doesn't, it shows that my library is empty. I tried everything to fix this problem:
I am sure, that Zotero is looking in the correct location, I am in the correct Firefox profile. I tried syncing it with my account, but it is still blank. I tried playing with those sqlite and sqlite.bak files in Zotero directory, but still I didn't succeed in restoring my library.
Now I really don't know what to do, so I am asking for some help or an advice..
An empty sqlite is about 1MB in size. Look in your computer (and, ideally, check a back-up). If you do have a back-up of your HD, we can walk you through using that to restore your Zotero library.
If "Refresh" deleted the Firefox profile you had used with Zotero, that would have indeed deleted the Zotero data, too, though, so it's at least possible it'd be gone, unfortunately.
The sqlite files in Zotero directory are all about 1MB, so it means they're empty.
I do not have a backup of my HDD.
Refresh deleted Firefox as an app, I had to reinstall it, but it didn't delete it's files from HDD, in which, as I understand, are the files containing my profile's info..
"C:\Users\vyte\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\v8nx2wda.default\zotero" shouldn't have been deleted by refreshing the Windows..and I thought that Zotero would automatically catch my library from those files, but as You said, if they're around 1MB, they're empty.
Maybe there is a possibility of restoring my library from Zotero servers..? Maybe they could check if there's at least something left..
If they are there, you can copy the library files to the correct location on your new installation to restore your library (https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#locating_your_zotero_library)