DEVONthink 3.8.3 (on MacPro 4,1/OS X 10.11.6 (15G22010)) deleted a text file (hours of work), not by moving it to trash but erased altogether. The database is being snychronized with a second mac but the file erasure seems to have been synchronized as well, meaning it isn’t present on the other mac either. Any idea why this is happening and if there is a way to retrieve that file, also to avoid such damage in the future? (TimeMachine should have avoided this but didn’t, due to some other, unrelated mistake I haven’t jet figured out.)
At the moment, based on information provided, I can’t think of a plausible explanation. I’m wondering if the file was ever saved during the hours you worked on it?
Also, both your macOS and DEVONthink are well out of current versions, if that matters.
Yes, I know it’s dated. The machine is working fine though and the software is, too, normally … but that’s another matter of course.
I have trained myself to a cmd-s reflex decades ago and now I can’t easily stop myself from saving documents of any kind constantly, every few moments, so no, I don’t think it hasn’t been saved.
Settings are set to Duplicate documents on both macs.
Sorry, I misunderstood. Since you asked about the location in the Finder, I assumed you were asking about the spotlight index. It is indexed by spotlight, but not internally (not via Devonthink > Files > Index Files and Folders). I never saw a need, since search within Devonthink works fine without it.
I don’t understand the second question. How can a database be on a document? The database is on both macs. They get synchronized. But I don’t suppose that is the question, right?
On the MacPro, the database file (.dtbase2) is indexed by spotlight/Finder (mac). It is located on an external usb volume—on that MacPro. You are of course right, on the second mac (MacBook Air, macOS 12.7.6) the synchronized database is not located in the same spot, but on that MacBook Air (on a USB stick, to be precise). Does that make sense? Totally possible that I miss the point here.
I don’t know exactly at what point in time the file in question got erased and if the second mac was running at that time exactly. It is almost certain though that it was on at some point between my last working on that file and the moment I found it lost.
My hunch is putting the indexed files and the databases on USB stick which are sometimes reported to be unreliable for high activity reads/writes is the root cause.
Definitely an unusual way to use DEVONthink IMHO. The recommended way and surely better way is to put databases on the local drive.
Possibly. I can’t though. The internal drive is way too small, and since it can’t be swopped, I’d have to buy a new machine. Normally, Time Machine would, I believe, help here. Only in this case for an unrelated reason it did not, and it would be nice to know what caused the loss either way. And by the logic of it, as far as I understand, the USB stick may be the culprit on the one side, but since synchronisation is set to duplicate in case of conflicts, that shouldn’t erase the file in the original dtbase, or should it?
Oh, yes, ok, that makes sense. Yes, there should be two yet there is none. I know not why.
I wasn’t aware that hosting an actively used database on a flash drive is not recommended. Unfortunately, short of purchasing another mac, I can only move the most frequently used ones to the hard drive home directory (and carefully back up all). I find varying advice on how to do this. The manual seems to advise letting Devonthink move a database (3.9.4, p 12), but I find nothing on how to. In another place, you write: “Just close the databases via File > Close Database > Close All. Then move the databases in the Finder and double-click each to open them in DEVONthink.” So I suppose I can safely do that?
If the database is already on an external drive, why do you need Bonjour (or any other sync) at all? Just disconnect the drive from A and plug it into B.
DEVONthink will only move a database if you have put it in a cloud-synced folder, like iCloud Drive. Then it will offer to move it or tell you to do it.
“Just close the databases via File > Close Database > Close All. Then move the databases in the Finder and double-click each to open them in DEVONthink.” So I suppose I can safely do that?
(I wouldn’t absolutely need Bonjour but thought it good to have synchronisation as a second backup, and without that, switching macs would require to close everything each time … however, knowing that using a flash drive even on one of the machines is deprecated, this is out of the question now anyhow.)