how to get up-to-date zotero library onto computer from external drive + issue with sync

Hello, my old laptop was running out of space for Zotero, so I had moved the library to an external drive. However, I think that the drive accidentally unplugged once while Zotero was open and caused some kind of glitch. When I opened up Zotero with the drive plugged in, it did not have my library there. I am about to switch laptops. Are there any special instructions for getting the Zotero app on my new laptop to use the library on the external drive?

Additionally, my web library is not up to date. I just hadn't had a chance to pursue this on the forum yet, but I could not get my library located on the external drive to sync to the cloud. How can I address this issue? Thanks very much.
  • edited May 22, 2020
    Let's start with the first issue.

    Assuming your database is OK, Zotero just needs to be pointing at the correct data directory from the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences.
  • Great; thanks very much. Ok, I have now successfully linked Zotero to my external drive on my new laptop. How can I set up a sync with my cloud-based Zotero library?
  • Thank you. I did set up syncing, but I get an error message. This is the report ID: 1940535956. What should I do next? Thanks very much.
  • edited July 8, 2020
    [JavaScript Error: "Win error 145 during operation removeEmptyDir on file F:\Zotero_PRIMARY LIBRARY\Zotero\storage\XL8J3KWP (The directory is not empty.
    Is your 'storage' directory a symlink/alias? Specifically, a broken symlink/alias?
  • edited January 14, 2021
    Thanks for your help; this issue resolved itself a few months ago. I'm having some other issues, but I'll post to a different forum.
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