Upgrade Storagezotero library lost after reinstalling plugin, syncing with outdated library?
I am not someone to start threads usually. But I have tried all solutions I have found in the forum, which adds to the increasingly sickening feeling of just having lost 2 years of work sculpting the backbone of my phd thesis.
The facts:
1. I reinstalled the firefox and open office zotero-plugins after an anti-spyware tool had recommended I reset firefox to default.
2. On opening the zotero-library, I found it empty. The same was the case when I rerouted zotero to the zotero folder, which I had moved to my dropbox.
3. I then synced with the zotero-cloud, which I had not remembered I was using. I quickly found out that this was in fact the case: I had not been using it for around 2 years. After realising the library was woefully incomplete, I synced twice again. To the same effect, unsurprisingly.
4. It is now almost 24 hours since then. I realised a couple of hours ago that I should not have closed firefox in the meantime - which I did, several times. I do still have the automatically generated backup files which I have now copied to a secure location. They all have dates of last alteration previous to the fatal syncing. However, the most recent also have the same size as the current 'zotero.sqlite'. And none of them have so far recovered my library with the method suggested on zotero.org (https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data).
5. I have not backed up elsewhere.
Any clarifications of the situation that I am actually in would be much appreciated. And, if possible still, any ideas on how to get out of it.
The facts:
1. I reinstalled the firefox and open office zotero-plugins after an anti-spyware tool had recommended I reset firefox to default.
2. On opening the zotero-library, I found it empty. The same was the case when I rerouted zotero to the zotero folder, which I had moved to my dropbox.
3. I then synced with the zotero-cloud, which I had not remembered I was using. I quickly found out that this was in fact the case: I had not been using it for around 2 years. After realising the library was woefully incomplete, I synced twice again. To the same effect, unsurprisingly.
4. It is now almost 24 hours since then. I realised a couple of hours ago that I should not have closed firefox in the meantime - which I did, several times. I do still have the automatically generated backup files which I have now copied to a secure location. They all have dates of last alteration previous to the fatal syncing. However, the most recent also have the same size as the current 'zotero.sqlite'. And none of them have so far recovered my library with the method suggested on zotero.org (https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data).
5. I have not backed up elsewhere.
Any clarifications of the situation that I am actually in would be much appreciated. And, if possible still, any ideas on how to get out of it.
This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.
As for the first comment, I only reset firefox to default and only reinstalled the relevant plugins. Maybe that is why I unfortunately do not have an according folder on my desktop.
Regarding your question, I have my zotero folder under E:\Dropbox\Zotero. I redirected the fresh install of zotero via the zotero control panel, ie. an open zotero in firefox, settings, advanced, files and folders. I am translating from the German language version of zotero, but I hope you can follow.
What I don't remember is whether I actually closed firefox in between redirecting to the zotero directory and syncing, or if I immediately synced with the outdated library stored in the cloud.
hope that helps,
Henning
I don't think not restarting Zotero would have made a difference here (though Zotero is fairly insistent that you do restart, so it's unlikely that you did not). The nice thing about Dropbox is that it keeps multiple versions of files, so odds are that you will be able to recover your data if it has, somehow, gotten cleared.
I'll note, though, that you should not keep Zotero data directory inside Dropbox if your intention here is to share the directory between multiple computers. This could lead to database corruption. If you only intend to use Dropbox for backup purposes and not syncing, then that's ok.
'Spybot Search and Destroy 2' asked for permission to reset firefox to default. Add-ons like Adblock were however unaffected. I am using Windows 7.
'Which setting under Files and Folders did you change? There are two that could be confused with one another'
To specify: I opened settings via the wheel-icon, went to advanced, and clicked on 'files and folders', where I changed the base-folder to E:\Dropbox\Zotero, which is the folder that zotero had been using previously. This is also the location displayed here when I open my current zotero install.
'The nice thing about Dropbox is that it keeps multiple versions of files, so odds are that you will be able to recover your data if it has, somehow, gotten cleared.'
I have the suspicion that this does not apply in my case, since I have maxed out my storage a while ago, because I did not continue paying for storage that I had gotten with a new mobile phone contract. Same stinginess as with the zotero-cloud that I thought I didn't need..
I heard about the conflict with using different devices, but that seems way in the future right now.
Is it possible though that the old versions of my library (as mentioned above, the backup versions of the 'zotero.sqlite' date from before the sync) have not been overwritten?
Another question: how do I cite comments here?
I hope you're not running out of ideas,
thanks a lot for your help,
Henning
Thank you, aurimas, please share in the elation that I am currently experiencing.. Seems like a better back-up plan is in order for the future. And thanks for your concern dhinds, you guys have been enormously helpful.