DTPO Crashes, Dropbox, and Multiple Computers

DEVONthink Tips
1

I’m wondering the best way to get out of this mess I suddenly find myself in. The setup:

I have several DTPO databases stored in Dropbox. None of these are terribly large – less than 1 GB for the primary database.

Recently I have had problems opening databases. I get the message (or ones like it) saying inbox.dtBase2 seems to be already in use, or my primary database djlUTD2.dtBase2.

I have a desktop computer at home and a laptop, among others, but these are dedicated to DTPO. I make sure each database is closed, not that DevonThink is closed and the database remains open – not sure that matters. Anyway, DT is closed on both computers.

When I go to access either one, I get these database already in use messages, I click continue, the program opens, then crashes. The only thing I can think of is maybe I’ve jumped the gun and Dropbox is working behind the scenes sync’ing the databases and this is not finished when I try to open DT. I’ve waited until it appears that Dropbox is no longer sync’ing, yet I still get the error and crash.

Looking inside the database’s package, I see quite a few conflicted copy and the date files, but I am not sure what this means. It all started around the first of the month. Anyway, I am not sure what these mean or what I should do about them.

So . . .

I need to get out of this mess. Is there anyway to open a database so it doesn’t crash? I can’t even access backup copies or run the optimize or repair tools – which I do periodically and just did for this one database that now keeps crashing.

What do I do with the conflicted copies? Are they usable?

Finally, I’ve had great success with Dropbox but now I am having problems. I wonder if I shouldn’t repair the databases, leave them on one of the computers, then copy the files via my network or put on a flash drive or portable drive. Can I use DTPO exclusively from a flash drive or portable drive, just moving the drives between computers?

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy note. Just trying to give you an idea of the environment as I encounter it. Thanks for reading.

Dan.

2

FWIW, I don’t trust Dropbox with complex files like packages. Too many things can go wrong.

3

Please try this:

  1. Select the database in the Finder, choose “Show Package Contents” in the contextual menu
  2. Copy (!) the most recent Backup folder to the desktop
  3. Copy (!) the Files.noindex folder into the copied (!) Backup folder
  4. Add the file extension .dtBase2 to the Backup folder

Now you should be able to open the copied Backup folder by double-clicking on it. Afterwards use Tools > Verify & Repair (or even better, use Tools > Verify & Repair and Tools > Rebuild) to ensure that everything’s fine.

4

See this Scrivener thread about working with databases that are located on Dropbox or other internet drives:
literatureandlatte.com/forum … f=2&t=5295

Sampler