Zim

Lost data

Asked by Andres

Apparently, zim was open when an automatic update occured. I tried to add a page, and it didn't appear in the index. So, I tried to navigate my other pages, and there was nothing there.

Then, I closed zim, and opened it again. THERE it said there had been an update, and asked if I wanted to proceed with the update of the notebook database or stop and make a backup.

Without asking yet, I backed up my Documents folder, and proceeded with the update.

All the data was lost. No previous pages. I saw the contents of the backup folder, and I only have the history, were I can see the names of the pages I just lost.

PLEASE, if there is an automatic backup folder or file, or another way to restore the previous information, I'll be very happy and graceful.

I realize that updating an open database is never a good idea, but REALLY, there was no advice or warning...

Thanks.

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Revision history for this message
Jaap Karssenberg (jaap.karssenberg) said : 		#1

From your explanation it is not clear to me whether you also lost the actual
files in the notebook folder. Typically the update action changes the
content of the files but it does not do any deleting, so I suspect an glitch
in the index while the actual files are still there.

The index in zim can be easily re-generated (e.g with "zim --index") if you
have a copy of the actual files.

In case you really lost the files the next question is whether you used the
version control plugin, if so you can roll back to last saved version.

Revision history for this message
Andres (el-estudiante) said : 		#2

Thanks for replying.
No, I haven't used vc plugin. I just learned that it was possible when I had this problem.

I lost the actual files. In fact, the only thing I was able to recover was the history, so, I had the titles of the pages I had recently used.

I searched for the index.db and for the contents of the files, looking for the titles. Nothing.

I know now a few more tricks to prevent data loss in the future, but I really didn't think an unnoticed update could do this harm.

Is there any other information I can give to help solve this problem, or help others? I just don't know how to continue with this issue. I'm sad and dissapointed.

If I can help with anything else, or any more information, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards.

Revision history for this message
Jaap Karssenberg (jaap.karssenberg) said : 		#3

So the notebook folder is completely empty ?

Not saying it is impossible, but I have a hard time seeing how that could
happen.

Maybe you can let me know the file path you are looking at and make a zip
file of all the contents that are still there. (Send them to my private mail
if you don't want to post them here publicly.)

-- Jaap

Revision history for this message
Adam Porter (alphapapa) said : 		#4

Sorry: an automatic update of what? I don't understand what happened.

Revision history for this message
Andres (el-estudiante) said : 		#5

Adam, let's say I solved my problem. I mean, I regenerated all the information I was able to. The original info was lost.
The "automatic update" was simply a software update performed by Ubuntu. Let's say, the usual system "apt-get upgrade".
I never had trouble again with any other update. Closing this thread...

PS: sorry about the delay in replying, was wondering if there was an actual solution to this!

BR,

Andres.