Links not maintained...

DEVONthink Tips
1

Howdy,

I’ve been transferring my database for a specific project between my powerbook and G5. I’ve noticed that most links I’ve created to documents in the same (small) database are not maintained when moving the database from machine to machine.

All docs are inside the database folder and I delete the old database each time I move it.

The links simply don’t appear (there is text missing where the link was) where this occurs.

Suggestions? Is this a bug?

2

Hi, Milhouse:

Were you using static or Wiki links, or both? If both, is only one type affected?

Did the process occur gradually over time, a link or so at a time, or was it a sudden one-time event?

If the material isn’t sensitive, could you make an archive copy and send it to Support with your description of the problem, info about the computers (type, CPU, HD size and HD free space)?

I regularly move databases between computers and sometimes even over the Internet and haven’t encountered problems. So I’d like to find out what happened.

3

Hi Bill,

I used the “make link” CM after I highlighted my target words.

I noticed the missing text/links today.

The material was transferred between computers twice (A->B->A).

Last night when I opened it on my laptop (machine “A”), DTP told me that the database needed to be repaired. I ran the repair as requested.

I was working in the beginning section of my document and the missing links are in the latter portions; I didn’t work there until today.

I think it was a sudden one-time event related to the reported database errors.

Both machines are using the same version of DTPro.(V 1.0) and the default location is the same (~/Documents).

I’ll try to send it via email but it’s somewhat large for an attachment (at ~ 47MB, zipped).

One odd behavior is that the file path for the document (in the comments view) shows the original path on my flashdrive, where it was created), thought the file resides on my HD and the flashdrive is not connected.

Edit: I cannot send the archive via email. Is there an upload location I may use?

4

Hi, Milhouse:

Thanks for the added information. I’ll pass it on to Christian. The file is likely too large for email. I’ll let Christian decided if he needs to see it – if so, probably by ftp.

Yes, it sounds like a one-time event connected with errors.

How big is your flash drive?

I suppose you don’t have a backup of an earlier state? (If not, shame on you. But since I do the same sometimes, shame on me, too.)

5

The flashdrive is 512MB.

I actually have a copy of the *.dtbase with the links intact (on machine B) and with the links “missing” (on machine A), if needed.

6

Milhouse,

you could upload the archive to ftp://ftp.devon-technologies.com/incoming (use anonymous FTP and a third party FTP client like “RBrowser Lite”). However, I don’t think that the issue is related to DEVONthink in any way - I guess the files were damaged during the transfer and therefore a few questions are coming to my mind:

  1. How is the flashdrive formatted (FAT, HFS, UFS etc.)? E.g. not all filesystems can handle long filenames.
  2. Did you copy the database to the flashdrive while the database was still used by DEVONthink? The results could be incomplete and/or inconsistent files.
  3. Did you unmount the flashdrive before unplugging it? Unplugging without unmounting can both damage files and filesystems (that’s of course true for any external FireWire/USB drive)

To avoid the first and second issues, you could use the script “Scripts > Export > Backup Archive…” - this creates a verified, optimized and zipped archive of your database wherever you want without having to quit DEVONthink (and although it’s a script, it doesn’t look like one and is as fast as an integrated tool :wink:)