library disappeared
Not really a new discussion, but certainly unanswered. I read the many previous forum discussions about this and tried the suggestions.
Running standalone Zotero 5.0.47 on Mac OSX 10.13.4.
Backed up Zotero May 4.
Yesterday I was working on an entry, and it disappeared when I left the machine for a while. Never had happened before.
Today, I had to "restart" the Mac to get rid of an annoying desktop notification. When it restarted, the entire Zotero My Library was empty. My one collection and all 9 K+ items, all gone. 2 weeks work beyond the backup. The data directory folder "SOFDH Library" with the sqlite and sqlite.bak files has those files, but they are empty, at 926 KB each. I checked Trash (Zotero and the Mac's), Unidentified Items, Duplicate Items, and My Publications - nothing. As mentioned, the collection named "SOFDH Library" is gone. I do have the backup from 2 weeks ago, but identifying the past 2 weeks work will involve checking over 9,000 books, 1 by 1, against the backup files, assuming I can get Zotero to recognize the backup files. I have searched the entire computer for zotero, sqlite, and sqlite.bak files, and all I can find are my backup files from 2 weeks ago and the "empty" data directory.
What did I do to erase the entered data, yesterday and today?
I now have turned on Mac's time machine and hopefully will have hourly backups from this point forward, but I really would like to know what happened.
Thanks,
--Ron
Running standalone Zotero 5.0.47 on Mac OSX 10.13.4.
Backed up Zotero May 4.
Yesterday I was working on an entry, and it disappeared when I left the machine for a while. Never had happened before.
Today, I had to "restart" the Mac to get rid of an annoying desktop notification. When it restarted, the entire Zotero My Library was empty. My one collection and all 9 K+ items, all gone. 2 weeks work beyond the backup. The data directory folder "SOFDH Library" with the sqlite and sqlite.bak files has those files, but they are empty, at 926 KB each. I checked Trash (Zotero and the Mac's), Unidentified Items, Duplicate Items, and My Publications - nothing. As mentioned, the collection named "SOFDH Library" is gone. I do have the backup from 2 weeks ago, but identifying the past 2 weeks work will involve checking over 9,000 books, 1 by 1, against the backup files, assuming I can get Zotero to recognize the backup files. I have searched the entire computer for zotero, sqlite, and sqlite.bak files, and all I can find are my backup files from 2 weeks ago and the "empty" data directory.
What did I do to erase the entered data, yesterday and today?
I now have turned on Mac's time machine and hopefully will have hourly backups from this point forward, but I really would like to know what happened.
Thanks,
--Ron
Then, you didn't sync, did you? That might help here.
And then just to confirm both the zotero.sqlite and the zotero.sqlite.bak file are 936kb (or around there) and there is no other .sqlite.bak file?
If that's the case, this almost certainly is not your old data directory, which would contain at least one more automatic backup file.
I'd guess your old files are still on your computer. How exactly have you searched?
Correct. Zotero is not synced to anything.
Correct. Both the zotero.sqlite and the zotero.sqlite.bak files are 926 KB, and the zotero.sqlite-journal file is 29 KB. There are no other Document files in the SOFDH Library folder.
I have searched the entire computer with the Mac Finder for zotero, sqlite, sqlite.bak, SOFDH Library, old data, and various other words and phrases suggested in other forum threads, such as source.
I agree, the SOFDH Library folder does not appear to contain the old data directory.
If this were a PC, I would ask the computer to show all files, in case the file extension had been changed, but I am new to Mac.
I did notice that Firefox keeps updating itself when I call up that program for e-mail, and that that might have been a problem if Zotero had been linked to Firefox, but I don't believe that it was.
What else could I search for? This Mac is so non-intuitive.
Thanks,
--Ron
Is there a ‘storage’ directory in that folder, and if so, if you sort it by date, do you see recently created folders?
Thanks,
--Ron
Note that Spotlight doesn't show results in /Users/:username:/Library by default, so you may have been using a data directory within there. Specifically, you can check the Zotero profile directory and, if you ever installed Zotero 4.0 for Firefox, the Firefox profile directory for 'zotero' subdirectories.
Looking for /Users//Library/Application Support/Zotero/Profiles/,
but Zotero does not appear in the Application Support directory. In fact, there is no Profile file associated with Zotero anywhere on the computer.
I always have refused to link my Mac to iCloud, despite the constant pop-up prompts to do so.
No, never installed Zotero for Firefox.
Where could my library be?
Thanks,
--Ron
There is a "Library" folder under Macintosh HD, But there is no Zotero, or Profile, or Storage under it.
Where else could the files be?
Thanks,
--Ron
The note says:
"Note: The /Users//Library folder is hidden by default. To access it, click on your desktop, hold down Option, and click the Finder's Go menu, and then select Library from the menu."
But the Finder's Go menu does not list a Library. How/where else could it be listed?
Thanks,
--Ron
Under Application Support is Zotero,/Profiles/x65maee6.default, but nothing in there is large enough to be a data file.
Where would the data be stored?
Thanks,
--Ron
Thanks,
--Ron
mdfind -name zotero.sqlite
, and press Return. That should show you all the copies of zotero.sqlite on your computer, including within Library.These files came up:
/Users/rh/Desktop/SOFDH Library/zotero.sqlite
/Users/rh/Desktop/SOFDH Library/zotero.sqlite.bak
/Users/rh/Zotero/zotero.sqlite
/Users/rh/Zotero/zotero.sqlite.1.bak
/Users/rh/Zotero/zotero.sqlite.bak
/Users/rh/Desktop/Zotero backup/zotero.sqlite
/Users/rh/Desktop/Zotero backup/zotero.sqlite.1.bak
/Users/rh/Desktop/Zotero backup/zotero.sqlite.bak
The Desktop/SOFDH Library files are marked for today and May 18 and are empty. These are the ones I am seeking. I keep opening Zotero from the desktop and this empty file comes up.
The Zotero files are marked May 2 and May 4 and contain the records entered up to May 4. When I open Zotero from the Finder results, this is the file that comes up.
The Desktop/Zotero backup files are marked May 2 and May 4 and contain the records entered up to May 4.
I checked Trash again and found a smaller file called zotero.sqlite.
I have dragged it to the desktop, but how do I open it to check its contents?
Thanks,
--Ron
/Users/rh/Zotero/zotero.sqlite
how large is that file?
/Users/rh/Zotero/zotero.sqlite appears to have been my first attempt to import an EndNote file. It had thousands of tags that made it incredibly slow and not useful when displayed, so I went back to EndNote and transferred all my "Keywords" to the "Abstract" field and re-imported the EndNote file to Zotero. That was 2 weeks ago.
I would like to check the Zotero.sqlite file that I dragged from Trash to Desktop, without endangering other files (e.g., by putting it in the SOFDH Library folder and later deleting the wrong file).
Can you tell me how to open it?
Thanks,
--Ron
Turns out that the questioned filed was an old import attempt from May 4.
Any idea where else Zotero could have been storing the last 2 weeks of entries?
Thanks again,
--Ron
So I go to the Zotero backup folder, where the file from 2 weeks ago should be, and there it is, "zotero.sqlite" at 25.9 MB, which seems about right.
I re-set Zotero to the default rh/zotero directory. I remove the zotero.sqlite file from the rh/zotero directory. Now I've got the quick start message.
I check, and zotero.sqlite at 922 KB is back. Reappears every time I remove it and re-start Zotero.
Okay, it won't go away.
I drag the proper "zotero.sqlite" file to that directory.
"The selected file is not in a supported format." Oh yeah. You can't drag; you have to import.
So I file-import the proper zotero.sqlite file from the Zotero backup folder.
"The selected file is not in a supported format."
I rename the empty zotero.sqlite as zotero.sqlite.old and restart.
An empty zotero.sqlite reappears.
How do I get Zotero to access the proper file if import and dragging do not work?
Why is the proper zotero.sqlite not in a supported format?
Thanks,
--Ron
Zotero will use the files that are present in the data directory when it starts up. If you delete the database and start it up, it will create an empty one.
https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_your_zotero_library_from_a_backup1