Lost data on a synced folder after an upgrade to zotero 6

sbppbs
Hi

I'm using a synced folder on a mega drive as a data folder to sync zotero with another computer. Today while I had zotero open on the remote computer (i was working remotly on one of the computers and locally on another, I opened the zotero on the local computer as well (mistake, I know) and it started an update to zotero 6. Since then I don't have most of my data on both computers. my question is as follows:

I have managed to find the folders that are meant to be in the 'storage' folders with all the pdf papers in them. I can assemble an offline 'storage' folder with all the single pdf folders (and the desinated cach and info files). Is there a way to make zotero read this new 'storage' folder and identify these papers, to rebuild the libraries they were tagged in? The data is there, it just got terribly messed between two folders on two computers (a storage folder was created inside the storage folder with all the newer files). An advice would really be appreciated, for some reason zotero does not read the newer files.



  • dstillman
    Sorry, we can't provide any support if you stored your data directory in a cloud storage folder.

    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder

    But the 'storage' folder doesn't contain your data. The zotero.sqlite files do.

    https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#restoring_from_the_last_automatic_backup
  • sbppbs
    Hi

    I see...I didm't know that. I'v been working with maga drive for six years flawlessly and could not see this coming.

    I'm rather new to zotero. The upgrade started on zotero startup without letting me decide or backup. Is there a way to make a new sqlite that reads the current storage and at least only indexes the pdf's if not keep the tagging?

    I lost considerable work and really in a jam here...
  • dstillman
    Again, your 'storage' folder doesn't contain data — you can't recover data from that other than by starting fresh with a new data directory, dragging PDFs into Zotero, and hoping it can retrieve metadata. But I linked above to how to recover from one of the zotero.sqlite backup files Zotero makes in the data directory. Even if the main database is corrupted, there's a good chance one of those isn't. Otherwise, if Mega gives you version history, you should be able to revert to an older version of the database.

    That's really all I tell you. We've always been very clear about this, and Zotero itself warns if "MEGA" is in the path to the data directory — if so, you would've had to have clicked through that warning. If there was some other standard variation of the MEGA folder where your files were, let us know and we can update the warning, but that's about it.
  • sbppbs
    For starters, I didn't get a warning. So please update whatever needs to be updated, there's no way I could have known. The only thing I saw was that it's complicated to set but this was not a zotero official warning.
  • dstillman
    As I say, if you had your Mega files at another path that we could reliably identify, let us know, but it would've shown a warning if the path contained "MEGA". We obviously can't identify it if it's just some other random path on your disk.

    But the data directory setting is in Advanced for a reason. You'd be risking corruption storing any database-backed program's files in a cloud storage folder.
  • dstillman
    edited April 11, 2024
    Also, to be clear, this wouldn't have had anything to do with an update. Zotero 6 has been out for two years, and the few recent updates have been small bug-fix releases that wouldn't affect this. This would've just been normal corruption that can occur when you store a database in a cloud storage folder and open it on multiple computers.
  • dstillman
    We also warn about this in the documentation linked from the settings pane:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/preferences/advanced#data_directory_location
    Storing your Zotero data directory in a cloud-syncing folder (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, or other similar folder synchronization services) is extremely unsafe and will almost certainly lead to database corruption and potentially data loss.
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