Need Help Restoring Data

purelavender
Trying to restore my data after a virus wiped my computer. I backed up onto a CD which now contains a folder called "files" and something called "my zotero library.rdf". I read the instructions in the Zotero documentation:

"First, reinstall Zotero from zotero.org if necessary. After restarting Firefox, open the Advanced pane of the Zotero preferences and click “Show data directory”. This should reveal a folder containing zotero.sqlite and possibly a 'storage' folder. Close Firefox and move zotero.sqlite and 'storage' from this folder into a temporary folder on your desktop. Next, copy zotero.sqlite and 'storage' from your backup into the active data directory. When you reopen Firefox, your Zotero library should be there waiting for you."

My problem is that my backup disk doesn't have a file called zotero.sqlite or storage on it. This folder is filled with lots of numbered sub-folders.

Does anyone know what I should do to get this restored properly?

Thanks much.
  • noksagt
    You cannot restore it "properly," because you did not back it up properly. As the zotero documentation notes, you should have kept a copy of your zotero data directory. If you did not do this & have used syncing in Zotero 2, your next-best option is to perform a sync. If you do not have a backup & werenot syncing, you can partially recover things by importing that rdf into your new zotero database.
  • purelavender
    Thanks for the response. I see now that I exported my library to disk rather than copying the .sqlite file. Sigh. And I saw in a forum post that this is definitely not recommended. Sigh, again.

    I tried importing the rdf (and other files) file but got "no translator could be found for give file".

    I'm starting to get that sinking feeling......Any further ideas out there? I'm a user not a computer expert so I need as specific guidance as possible. Thanks!
  • noksagt
    This thread describes some recently found (and mostly, but not entirely fixed) problems, some with work arounds &refers to the debug logging and error reporting instructions:
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8036/cant-import-zoterordf-wfiles/

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