missing snapshots

Sputnik2
I've just discovered that nearly all of the snapshots from my some collections in my library are missing. Clicking on the link for the snapshot yields a "file cannot be found. It may have been deleted or moved" message.
The error report log is: 2079482691
It looks to me like the files for the snapshots are all still in the zotero storage folder of my user profile, but I have no way of correlating the files to the citations.
My library is synced to the zotero server, which does not have these snapshots either (the ones I'm concerned about are html pages).
I have the links to the original database, but no longer have access to the database. So, getting these snapshots back is very important.
  • dstillman
    Have you done anything recently to your library? Are you using multiple computers?

    You can see the folder a file should be stored in by generating a report from the attachment and looking at the random string in the URL. For example, if the URL is zotero://report/items/0_42N6AIBZ/html/report.html then you should have a '42N6AIBZ' directory within your 'storage' directory within your Zotero data directory. If you don't, you likely did something to your storage directory, because this can't really happen in normal usage.
  • Sputnik2
    I got a new computer (running Windows 7) a couple of months ago. Zotero and my library made the transition fine. The snapshots must have been compromised when I synced my library with the zotero server shortly thereafter -- although I spot checked things after the first sync and everything seemed ok. Today was the first time I had tried to access these collections, and it was unnerving to find them all compromised. I am only using one computer.

    I can't see the URL on the attachment because clicking on the snapshot link just produces the error message (no zotero attachment or URL). clicking on "locate" pulls up this folder (
    C:\...\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\........default\zotero\storage) which has tons of subfolders and no indication as to which one might harbor the appropriate snapshot.
  • dstillman
    edited July 26, 2010
    Things don't just get "compromised"—this almost certainly happened due to the way you transferred your data from the old computer. (Did you use Zotero RDF? If you simply used syncing or copied your data directory you shouldn't have had any problems.)
    I can't see the URL on the attachment because clicking on the snapshot link just produces the error message
    Generate a report—don't try to open the attachment. In other words, right-click and select Generate a Report...
  • Sputnik2
    The new computer was cloned from the old one. I'm sure that the snapshots were fine originally. The problems began when I synced my local library to the zotero server.

    Generating a report produces a new URL, ie:
    zotero://report/items/0_2TWWN8T9/html/report.html

    A quick prowl through the storage folder did not turn up a subfolder starting w/0_2, TW, etc.
  • dstillman
    The folder name would be 2TWWN8Y9, not 0_.

    But again, there's no way syncing could mess up your files—if the Zotero data directory were cloned exactly, syncing would continue to operate as it always had. So it was either something in the transfer or something else afterward.
  • dstillman
    edited July 26, 2010
    For what it's worth, it looks like you uploaded (or updated) most of your attachment items in two batches on 6/2, and none of the hundreds of files in the first set were actually synced to the server (possibly because they were already missing, or possibly because you had file syncing turned off on whatever computer you synced those items from). The files in the second set are all present on the server.
  • Sputnik2
    Thanks. 6/2 would be the first time I synced with the zotero server (ever). The library was installed and working properly (w/the snapshots / attachments) on the new computer in May.

    Interestingly, there is no folder in my storage file named 2TWWN8Y9. I checked a few other reports generated from missing snapshots and those are note in the storage folder either. The collections I'm most concerned about have names ending with 10-09. Some items in those collections have the snapshots, but the majority do not.

    I do think the problem began with the syncing to the zotero server, especially in light of the problem with the first batch of uploads that you noted above. At this point I'm less interested in what went wrong than in getting access to the data again.

    Should I uninstall zotero and delete the storage file, and then reinstall zotero and import the library from the old computer? (I'd lose some work this way, but not the most important items.)
  • dstillman
    I do think the problem began with the syncing to the zotero server, especially in light of the problem with the first batch of uploads that you noted above.
    No, what I noted above suggests that your storage directory was missing at the time or you didn't have file syncing enabled and somehow caused the snapshots to be missing before syncing again. I can't really tell you what happened, but there's simply no way for syncing to delete files in the way you're implying.
    Should I uninstall zotero and delete the storage file, and then reinstall zotero and import the library from the old computer?
    Uninstalling Zotero has no effect. You should first read Zotero data directory so that you understand what's actually in your data directory, and then, if you actually have a backup, you should see if those missing directories are in that 'storage' directory. If they are, you could just copy them into your current 'storage' directory.

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