How do you find a lost files when you change hard drives

Desenkov
Please explain this for an idiot, I had Zotero on my laptop that had a small internal hard drive. I kept my documents, related videos, and audio files on an external hard drive that was designated as as "D" drive.
The laptop shot craps but I got a new laptop with a much large internal hard drive. You can probably already see my problem. When I place ALL the files on the new "C" drive of the new laptop, Zotero still tries to find them on the old "D" drive designation.
How can I make Zotero change the old designation to the new designation? When I press the locate button nothing happens. There are around 4000-5000 links involved so please tell me you can save me weeks of time by not re-linking every file.
Thanks for any help.
  • dstillman
    edited June 8, 2022
    Assuming you're talking about linked files here, if you properly set a linked attachment base directory before, you can just update that to point to the new location.

    If not, you can use the Zutilo plugin to batch-change the linked-file paths (and then set up a LABD so this doesn't happen again).

    An upcoming version of Zotero will try to locate attachments when setting a new LABD even if it wasn't set properly before.
  • adamsmith
    Could you give the exact filepath where Zotero is looking and where the file actually is?
    You can use xxx for your username if you want to -- but if it's part of the filepath, make clear whether the username is the same or different in both cases.

    Short version: This might be possible using Zotero's linked attachment base directory option and it's almost certainly possible using the Zutilo add-on, but would be helpful to completely understand the situation before giving advice.
  • Desenkov
    A couple of things here to address. Please re-read my first sentence and dumb down your responses.

    Zutilo plugin seems to be incompatible with the new version of Zotero.

    The exact path is D:\Intranet\Original Sources\Movies - Videos\(1938) German Propaganda - Wort Und Tat - (Words and Deeds).mp4

    for 1 of thousands of files. I want to change the "D" to "C" the everything would be found. I had a small library of documents on the original "C" drive and Zotero had no problems finding them when copied to new laptop.

    One thing I forgot to mention is that a copy of my old "library" consisting of all my links is in my account. I synced it here a couple of years ago and it is an updated version, just with the "D" designation.
  • dstillman
    Zutilo plugin seems to be incompatible with the new version of Zotero.
    It's not. Why do you think that? Note that, if you're running Firefox, you need to right-click and save the XPI to disk rather than just clicking on it.
  • Desenkov
    You are correct, I was doing something else. How does this wonderful addon change the location for me.
  • Desenkov
    I read some documentation, played with some directories I was willing to destroy and rebuild; but I got it figured out. Thanx for help guys. You saved an old man a lot of time.
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