Lost files

kramec
I recently opened up Zotero to find none of my collection of literature loaded into Zotero. The application states that there is 195 MBs of data. I checked the pathname and it is correct. I have over 12 years of research articles stored on this application that I now can not find. I attempted to do a Time Machine back up for Zotero from this past July and it was still empty when I went to open it. I am struggling to find out not only what happened but how to find my articles. Any assistances with this would be greatly appreciated.
  • dstillman
    Follow Locating Missing Zotero Data through to the end.
    The application states that there is 195 MBs of data.
    What do you mean by that? Where?

    Do you have any non-standard security software on this computer?
  • kramec
    The 195 is when I click on get info for the Zotero application. I do not have any non-standard security software on this computer. I do believe this is about the upgrade to Zotero 5 based on the link above (thanks for the link). However, I am struggling to find the profile directory and I don't use Firefox. When looking for user>application support>Zotero - I don't have the application Zotero in the application support. However I firmly believe this is what has happened how can I find the missing profile to reload it? appreciate any assistance you can offer.
  • dstillman
    The 195 is when I click on get info for the Zotero application.
    The size of the application isn't relevant at all. This is about the data files.
    I do believe this is about the upgrade to Zotero 5 based on the link above (thanks for the link).
    Zotero 5 came out in 2017, so that's very unlikely unless you know you were purposely staying on Zotero 4 for the last several years and just chose to upgrade to Zotero 5. Why do you think this is relevant?
    When looking for user>application support>Zotero - I don't have the application Zotero in the application support.
    That's not the path given in the instructions, and that folder is definitely there if you've been using Zotero on this computer. But it's also not likely to be relevant.

    Before doing anything else, we need the info requested at the end of the section I linked to.
  • kramec
    1. Zotero.sqlite-journal - 427 KB, zotero.sqlite.bak 1.1 mb, zotero.sqlite.1.bak 1.1 mb, zotero.sqlite.77.bak 1.1, zotero.sqlite 5 MB
    2. I do not see a storage folder
    3. I believe my current data directory is my default home folder
    4. I spend up Zotero a week ago to find it empty, since that time I have not really done much except for today I tried to restore from a TimeMachine backup from July but it remained empty after doing it.

  • dstillman
    You didn't provide the dates of the zotero.sqlite files.
  • dstillman
    I believe my current data directory is my default home folder
    You believe? This is just asking for the location of the folder you're looking at. And this should be the folder specified in the Advanced → Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences, which is how you should have gotten to this folder.
  • dstillman
    You also didn't answer my question about why you think this has to do with the Zotero 4 → 5 upgrade.
  • dstillman
    edited September 10, 2020
    Anyhow, if there's no 'storage' folder, this isn't the data directory you were using previously, or it was somehow deleted (but probably not if you also don't see a 'storage' folder in your Time Machine backups of this folder). You should search your computer for another folder containing zotero.sqlite, including a 'zotero' folder within your Zotero profile directory if you were previously using Zotero 4.
  • kramec
    1. Dates zotero.sqlite-journal today 6:45, zotero.sqlite.bak today 3:43, zotero.sqlite.1.bak yesterday 2:44, zotero.sqlite.77.bak Sep 2, 10:28, zotero.sqlite April 16th, 2017 7:50.
    2. I know my current data directory is my default home folder
    3. In regards to the Zotero 5 upgrade, based on what I read it seemed to match what happened, that is all nothing more.
  • dstillman
    Yeah, so this definitely wasn't the data directory you were using before. You'll have to find that somewhere on your computer.
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