Restoring my current Zotero data file to my library

Geminiguy90028
I have a storage folder that was last backed up in 2016, and a Zotero file with 16,000kb. I have been adding citations until the present and now my Zotero file is over 81,000kb.

My old laptop with the original Zotero program died on me so I had to get a new laptop. I had my Zotero files on my flash drive.

I had someone from Dell tech support help me try restore the 81,000 file. He told me that I need a storage folder for the 81,000kb file and the storage folder is only for the 16,000kb file. He told me since I haven’t backed up the storage folder since 2016 I can’t access my file that has the 81,000kb. Is this correct?

I haven’t been syncing the citations in in Zotero through the internet so if I can’t access the 81,000kb file from my hard drive am I I’m out of luck.

I have Zotero.sqlite and the tech guy renamed it to Zotero. I had another zotero.sqlite file as a backup called Zotero.sqlite.back and when I tried taking off the bak by renaming it, it turned into a Zotero executable file. The reason I tried doing this is because I thought renaming it would make it work on my Zotero library. It didn't.

Lastly, how do I back up my storage folder Zotero files? I didn't think it was necessary since I have the zotero.sqlite data file.
  • Geminiguy90028
    By the way, is there a way to merge two files together?
  • adamsmith
    By "Zotero File" you mean the zotero.sqlite? If so, then no, what the Dell person said is mostly incorrect. You can restore from the recent sqlite, though you won't have all the attachments.
    I have Zotero.sqlite and the tech guy renamed it to Zotero. I had another zotero.sqlite file as a backup called Zotero.sqlite.back and when I tried taking off the bak by renaming it, it turned into a Zotero executable file. The reason I tried doing this is because I thought renaming it would make it work on my Zotero library. It didn't.
    None of this is quite right. Very, very carefully follow these instructions: https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_your_zotero_data_from_a_backup
    Ask if something isn't clear.

    As for the storage folder -- that contains your attached files. You can back it up like any other component of your harddisk (e.g. using any standard tool to an external hd)
  • Geminiguy90028
    I tried restoring my data from backup.

    I went to the Data Directory Location

    In my case it is C:/users/gemin/Zotero

    I changed the Zoterofolder to Zotero-old

    I went to my flash drive and copied the Zotero folder that included the Zotero.sqlite file within it.

    I pasted the Zotero folder from the flash drive to the C: drive where Zotero-old is located. They are both there.

    I opened Zotero and it is still completely blank with no files.
    Did I miss any steps?
    Am I supposed to do something else to recover the citation files?
  • Geminiguy90028
    Update:
    I tried renaming the zotero.sqlite file to zotero and then I couldn't open Zotero again. It gave me an error message saying, "Couldn’t load XPCOM."
    I had to uninstall Zotero and install it again to get it working again.
  • adamsmith
    I tried renaming the zotero.sqlite file to zotero
    Definitely don't do that. Not quite sure what got you there, but it's never right.


    What file size is the zotero.sqlite file from your backup (the flash drive)?
  • Geminiguy90028
    I changed zotero back to zotero.sqlite. I didn't get a reply about how to restore my data from backup. I took the steps as specified on the link and it didn't work so I decided to try merging my libraries. I was able to do that but for some reason when I merged the library all the folders were gone and only the citations remained.
  • adamsmith
    Merging how?
    I'm still quite confused about what you're describing, so I asked a question to help me understand, which you never answered.
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