Syncing: default zotero db location required?

kmata
Hi,

I keep my zotero db stored on a flash drive, i.e. I am pointing zotero to that location rather than using the default location in the firefox folder.

I am wondering if this is the reason why I have been unable to sync. For syncing to work, is it required that I maintain my db in the default location?

If not, I'll have to post some syncing issues, but that's the next step.

Thanks for your insights.

Cheers
  • kmata
    Not sure what happened buy Sync finally worked for me.

    What could have happened is the following.
    I keep my zotero db files on a flash drive and point zotero there
    I actually could not find any zotero files in the default location (may have removed them)
    I apparently rebuild a db by pointing zotero to the default location again
    After Firefox restarted I was able to find the empty zotero db files there
    I pointed to my flash drive once more and synced
    All is well, my library from my flash drive got synced fine
    I guess Zotero needs a db in the default folder for sync to work even when that is not where I point zotero (?)
    Cheers
  • dstillman
    Changing the data directory doesn't copy any data. You have to do that yourself.

    From the Zotero Data page:
    When specifying a custom data directory location, keep in mind that Zotero doesn't move or copy any data. You still need to copy your data into the specified location. Also, when pointing the data directory location to an existing directory, be sure to specify the parent directory containing zotero.sqlite and 'storage', not the 'storage' directory itself.
  • kmata
    Hi Dan,

    Thanks for the comments. To be clear, I had no problems with Zotero while my data directory was elsewhere. I pointed it to the new location and all was fine.
    The only issue I had was syncing to the zotero server. This always failed.

    This I thought may have been caused by the fact that I not only apparently was pointing zotero to a new directory but I had left no db files in the default firefox location.
    I could not find any zotero files at:
    C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\u27ve3th.default\zotero
    Once I reconfigured zotero to point to the default directory again it rebuilt its default set of database files there.
    Then I pointed back to the files on my flashdrive and I had no problem syncing to the zotero server.

    So the short of it, I think though I am no developer, it seems sync will fail no matter where the zotero db files are stored, unless there are at least db files in the default location.

    Perhaps the sync procedure first checks for the default zotero files before it checks whether or not zotero is configured to point to db files elsewhere?

    Anyways, perhaps none of this makes sense but I'm glad sync works.
    Cheers
    Karim
  • dstillman
    No, sync has nothing to do with the database location.
Sign In or Register to comment.