Upgrade StorageStorage on external SSD
Hello,
I am very new user of Zotero and I need the recommendation, which option is better.
I changed the place of storage from my PC to external SSD (I changed the directory in advanced settings and I copied the contents of storage from PC to file on external SSD, includin .sqlite files). This way, the program will work only with connected SSD, otherwise the storage is completely empty.
Is it good solution? I am amateur in IT, so I asked ChatGPT what to do and it advised me this OR to use some plugin for storage, so now I am not sure with the solution I tried.
What do you think? Has someone some experiences with this?
Thank you!
I am very new user of Zotero and I need the recommendation, which option is better.
I changed the place of storage from my PC to external SSD (I changed the directory in advanced settings and I copied the contents of storage from PC to file on external SSD, includin .sqlite files). This way, the program will work only with connected SSD, otherwise the storage is completely empty.
Is it good solution? I am amateur in IT, so I asked ChatGPT what to do and it advised me this OR to use some plugin for storage, so now I am not sure with the solution I tried.
What do you think? Has someone some experiences with this?
Thank you!
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/using_multiple_computers
Having your data folder on an external drive does have some risks, so it is best avoided if possible. But it's not quite as risky as putting your data folder in a cloud-mirrored local folder ...
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_directory_in_cloud_storage_folder
So the external SSD approach can work, although it will likely be somewhat slower. Of course you should avoid starting Zotero when the external SSD is not plugged in (as you seem to have found - Zotero obviously must be able to find its data folder). You would of course also need to avoid removing the SSD while Zotero is running. If Zotero is writing to the sqlite database then, that could be corrupted. You would want particularly good backups.
https://www.zotero.org/support/zotero_data#backing_up_your_zotero_data
An alternative and somewhat safer approach would be to have your data folder on the internal SSD but use "linked" PDFs that live in a folder on your external SSD. That reduces the file storage required on your local hard drive. You can sync Zotero data across computers (free and unlimited), and just take your PDF files on the SSD between computers. Note the limitations of linked PDF attachment files compared to the standard "stored" files (see link below). A plugin like Zotmoov or Attanger is often used to facilitate linked-files setups.
https://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files#stored_files_and_linked_files