Is it safe to change the "evernote local file" to a portable hard drive

[Liyuan 2]

I wanna change the evernote file to a portable hard drive. But I am not sure if this is safe, like if the hard drive got some problem, would I lose my data? Could they be recovered? Thx.

[gazumped 10,355]

Hi. You haven't said which version of Evernote we're talking about,  but in general that's a catastrophically bad idea!  Evernote installs itself and its data to where it absolutely wants them to be.  When you create or edit notes,  they're saved to Evernote's cloud servers as well as being available to you locally.  If anything bad happened to your local device,  you'd be able to download all your notes from the server and start over.  Sign in to Evernote.com to see the online database.

[Liyuan 2]

Thx for your advise. Seems no need to worry about the "data loss" issue. Glad to know about that. My purpise is to save the computer "space". My evernote file occupies more than 20G now and will be more than 100 later. So, saving them in a portable drive might be a good way.

[gazumped 10,355]

You're right to want to back up your data - it's your data,  but you're relying on someone else's computer system to hold it. I get daily backups of my database too.  Not expecting any failures, but if I get a corrupted note or a missing attachment,  I'd be able to find the note in my backups and replace the damaged version.

Best way to get a local backup is to install the Legacy version of Evernote,  which does have an accessible local folder - which you can relocate to another drive if you wish.  It works alongside v10 and receives the same updates for note content.

[Liyuan 2]

You are right. I reinstalled the evernote weeks ago to the old version. So, it offers option to choose the local file folder. The new version of evernote is not compatible with my new computer (surface laptop4).

[PinkElephant 6,253]

Why is it not compatible ? Is it running WindowsARM ?

[Liyuan 2]

ummm, i mean there are some bugs when using the version "Evernote-10.18.3-win-ddl-ga-2820-setup". Like the notes overlap. But everything goes well by using "Evernote_6.11.2.7027".

[PinkElephant 6,253]

OK, thanks for the explanation. I would say „Use whatever works“.

The only downside with the old clients is that they don’t, and will never support the new features.

[Liyuan 2]

Right. Anyway, old version is already perfect for my daily work.

[dbvirago 452]

I hope at some point they understand how critical owning a backup is and puts some process in v10 similar to what we have in Legacy. For now, the only reason I open Legacy is to do my weekly backups and if I need to do something with more than 50 notes.
Actually, more than about 30 as v10 is horribly slow with multiple notes.

Legacy, move those 20 files over there.

Right boss! Legacy moves 20 files over there.

V10, move those 20 files over there.
Right boss! V10 picks up one note and walks across the room with it and sets it down. Comes back for 2nd note, etc.

This common platform thing is a good idea in theory, but ignoring the OS completely is a waste of resources IMO

[PinkElephant 6,253]

About the backup: There is offline data as well in v10. What I run on all desktops is a full incremental backup.

So whatever the strategy, there is data inside of the backups, and it is (locally) restorable.

For me this is enough as a „backup of last resort“ - the main copy is on the server, including the note history for versions. Cloud servers are backed up themselves (in the case of EN even spread over separate data centers).

So there are copies enough of my little data hoard to stop worrying.

This is of course no argument for the v10 clients being slow on day-to-day operations.