I went through the overall discussion and found it very instructive.
I have a specific issue with the moving of my Zotero Data Directory getting more complex the process.
I use Zotero both on a desktop PC running with Windows and a MacBook Air, and I also have an online Zotero account with unlimited storage, that is synching both data and files, thus updating the data inserted in PC to Mac and vice-versa.
I don't want to have a double Zotero storage folder anymore, since it has also been taking up a lot of (:C) disk space on both devices.
My idea is to compact and move the storage folder to a single shared folder hosted on a domestic server (QNAP TS-464) and give access to this same storage folder to both the PC Zotero and the Mac Zotero. Do you think it would work?
Moreover, before doing anything, today I confronted the two storage folders with a file sync software and found differences for thousands of files.
Folders and archived files remain almost the same for each entry, but: - From PC to Mac storage folder: the software indicates to update almost 700 files named .zotero-ft-cache and copy 1.200 files named .zotero-ft-info. - From Mac to PC storage folder: the software indicates to update almost 1.400 files named .zotero-ft-cache and copy 1.600 named .zotero-ft-info, .zotero-pdf-state, .zotero-ft-unprocessed, .zotero-ft-cache. And also some archived PDF files. It looks like the Mac storage is more complete.
Now I am stuck, I don't know how to proceed. Could you advise me?
An upcoming version of Zotero will make it possible to configure how many days to keep local copies of files that have been uploaded in order to save disk space. I'd recommend just waiting for that. If you really can't wait, and you're sure that all your files are online, you can just search for PDFs within the storage folder and delete them, and set Zotero to download files "as needed" in the Sync preferences.
Don't touch the folders themselves or the .zotero files — those files are managed by Zotero.
And in respect to the following, what do you advice?
"My idea is to compact and move the storage folder to a single shared folder hosted on a domestic server (QNAP TS-464) and give access to this same storage folder to both the PC Zotero and the Mac Zotero. Do you think it would work?"
You suggest keeping local storage in (:C) for both Zoteros (on PC and Mac) in a light version while having complete storage online.
I was thinking: of the latter, should I have an offline backup copy done at the end of each day/working week, that could be stored on an external hard-disk such as the domestic server QNAP I was referring before?
The Zotfile addon would allow you to move all your PDFs to the QNAP NAS as linked files (assuming that NAS is accessible from everywhere you work). That would leave just your Zotero data on the local machines. But Zotfile's status in relation to Zotero 7 is still evolving, so probably best to wait until that resolves before considering that option.
I was thinking: of the latter, should I have an offline backup copy done at the end of each day/working week, that could be stored on an external hard-disk such as the domestic server QNAP I was referring before?
But if you're using Zotero Storage, all your files are online and there's no real risk of losing those, so when using "as needed" file-sync mode I would recommend just excluding the 'storage' folder. Even if you accidentally deleted items and emptied the trash, you'd be able to restore your items from the zotero.sqlite backup and we could reassociate stored files on request.
If you really wanted to make sure you had a full offline backup of everything, you could have one computer set to download files "at sync time" and make a regular backup of the entire Zotero data directory from that computer, but I wouldn't bother — your uploaded files are stored very reliably. The important thing is just to make regular backups of zotero.sqlite so you can recover from any mistakes you make (though the automated backups Zotero makes in the data directory can also help with that).
Upgrade Storage
I went through the overall discussion and found it very instructive.
I have a specific issue with the moving of my Zotero Data Directory getting more complex the process.
I use Zotero both on a desktop PC running with Windows and a MacBook Air, and I also have an online Zotero account with unlimited storage, that is synching both data and files, thus updating the data inserted in PC to Mac and vice-versa.
I don't want to have a double Zotero storage folder anymore, since it has also been taking up a lot of (:C) disk space on both devices.
My idea is to compact and move the storage folder to a single shared folder hosted on a domestic server (QNAP TS-464) and give access to this same storage folder to both the PC Zotero and the Mac Zotero. Do you think it would work?
Moreover, before doing anything, today I confronted the two storage folders with a file sync software and found differences for thousands of files.
Folders and archived files remain almost the same for each entry, but:
- From PC to Mac storage folder: the software indicates to update almost 700 files named .zotero-ft-cache and copy 1.200 files named .zotero-ft-info.
- From Mac to PC storage folder: the software indicates to update almost 1.400 files named .zotero-ft-cache and copy 1.600 named .zotero-ft-info, .zotero-pdf-state, .zotero-ft-unprocessed, .zotero-ft-cache. And also some archived PDF files.
It looks like the Mac storage is more complete.
Now I am stuck, I don't know how to proceed.
Could you advise me?
Thank you very much in advance.
Claudia
An upcoming version of Zotero will make it possible to configure how many days to keep local copies of files that have been uploaded in order to save disk space. I'd recommend just waiting for that. If you really can't wait, and you're sure that all your files are online, you can just search for PDFs within the storage folder and delete them, and set Zotero to download files "as needed" in the Sync preferences.
Don't touch the folders themselves or the .zotero files — those files are managed by Zotero.
I can wait, thank you for the news, but I don't grasp how this feature will help with my issue.
Can I ask you to elaborate on your thinking on the best way to act through this novelty?
And in respect to the following, what do you advice?
"My idea is to compact and move the storage folder to a single shared folder hosted on a domestic server (QNAP TS-464) and give access to this same storage folder to both the PC Zotero and the Mac Zotero. Do you think it would work?"
You suggest keeping local storage in (:C) for both Zoteros (on PC and Mac) in a light version while having complete storage online.
I was thinking: of the latter, should I have an offline backup copy done at the end of each day/working week, that could be stored on an external hard-disk such as the domestic server QNAP I was referring before?
Thanks again.
But if you're using Zotero Storage, all your files are online and there's no real risk of losing those, so when using "as needed" file-sync mode I would recommend just excluding the 'storage' folder. Even if you accidentally deleted items and emptied the trash, you'd be able to restore your items from the zotero.sqlite backup and we could reassociate stored files on request.
If you really wanted to make sure you had a full offline backup of everything, you could have one computer set to download files "at sync time" and make a regular backup of the entire Zotero data directory from that computer, but I wouldn't bother — your uploaded files are stored very reliably. The important thing is just to make regular backups of zotero.sqlite so you can recover from any mistakes you make (though the automated backups Zotero makes in the data directory can also help with that).