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(Archived) I emptied the trash and it took all my file data with it


patternphreak

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Using evernote 4.6.4.8136 (most recent update) on a Windows 7 desktop.

 

I was cleaning up some stack and folders organization today when the unthinkable happened.  I'm waiting patiently for the husband (sysop) to get home, but can't for the life of me figure out what I did.

 

I noticed that there were about 800 (as memory serves) files in the trash, made a mental note to clean that up, and continued to move several files and folders so that the "stacks" could best be organized.  Looked at trash again and there were 2K+ files.

 

Yes, that should have been my cue to step away from the housekeeping and figure out what was going on.  But at that moment, I was thinking:  "Well, maybe I was wrong about it being 800."  I looked at a few of the "deleted files" and they matched files I had recently merged.  Again, cringeworthy assumption on my part was that since the merged files were still visibly there in my organizational tree - I could expand the stack and get to the file in the folder - that what was in the trash was redundant.  NO.  Somehow, evidently,  the same copy as was in the trash was also what was showing in the files, and when I right clicked on the trash and clicked on "empty trash", that also empied all my notes.  And then running around like a chicken with my head cut off -- well, searching for answers in the knowledge base -- I inadvertently left Evernote open.  And it synced.

 

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I have Seagate desktop backup.  I have backblaze.  I am reasonably assured that I can restore the ENEX file Seagate saved last night per the Evernote knowledge base article on backing up and restoring Evernote Data under Windows.  (I'm just waiting on hubbie so he can look over shoulder of someone now questioning her own ability to press "enter".)

 

I'm still posting here, because having searched the knowledge base and the forum, I'm not finding any exact repeat related of my particular bug/corruption/stupidity issue.  I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue with Evernote's trash under Windows, also, what would be a better procedure than the above-related idiocy, should Evernote go (apparently) wonk again with the trash?

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Using evernote 4.6.4.8136 (most recent update) on a Windows 7 desktop.

 

I was cleaning up some stack and folders organization today when the unthinkable happened.  I'm waiting patiently for the husband (sysop) to get home, but can't for the life of me figure out what I did.

 

I noticed that there were about 800 (as memory serves) files in the trash, made a mental note to clean that up, and continued to move several files and folders so that the "stacks" could best be organized.  Looked at trash again and there were 2K+ files.

 

Yes, that should have been my cue to step away from the housekeeping and figure out what was going on.  But at that moment, I was thinking:  "Well, maybe I was wrong about it being 800."  I looked at a few of the "deleted files" and they matched files I had recently merged.  Again, cringeworthy assumption on my part was that since the merged files were still visibly there in my organizational tree - I could expand the stack and get to the file in the folder - that what was in the trash was redundant.  NO.  Somehow, evidently,  the same copy as was in the trash was also what was showing in the files, and when I right clicked on the trash and clicked on "empty trash", that also empied all my notes.  And then running around like a chicken with my head cut off -- well, searching for answers in the knowledge base -- I inadvertently left Evernote open.  And it synced.

 

------

 

I have Seagate desktop backup.  I have backblaze.  I am reasonably assured that I can restore the ENEX file Seagate saved last night per the Evernote knowledge base article on backing up and restoring Evernote Data under Windows.  (I'm just waiting on hubbie so he can look over shoulder of someone now questioning her own ability to press "enter".)

 

I'm still posting here, because having searched the knowledge base and the forum, I'm not finding any exact repeat related of my particular bug/corruption/stupidity issue.  I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue with Evernote's trash under Windows, also, what would be a better procedure than the above-related idiocy, should Evernote go (apparently) wonk again with the trash?

 

It's important you use correct terminology when having a critical issue so it's clear what you've done.  I don't know what you mean when you say you moved "files & folders".  (There are no folders in Evernote & files are attachments in notes.)  I'm guessing by files you mean notes & by folders you mean notebooks.  Stacks are a grouping of notebooks & do not contain notes.  Notes only reside in notebooks.

 

When you merge multiple notes, the originals go into the trash & the resultant note remains in the 'live' section (aka - "not the trash").

 

Emptying the trash only deletes what's in the trash - nothing more. 

 

ENEX files are not really intended as backup files.  Instead, they are better suited to moving notes between accounts.  If you have a backup of your exb file, you can restore from that.  Please search the board on 'restore' & 'exb'. 

 

If you must restore from an enex, please note that the notebook information will not be retained.  IOW, all notes in the enex file will go into the same notebook.

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Thanks for your reply, BurgersNFries.  It's been very helpful getting me this far.

 

As suggested by you and others on prior threads:

 

(1) We stopped evernote and quit the taskbar icon.

(2) We renamed the [username].exb to include today's date. 

(3) We restored from last night's backup the [username].exb file.  It was 391 MB.

(4) We restarted Evernote.  Upon first sync, we lost data and the file is now 284 MB.  Concurrent with that loss, multiple notes disappeared from multiple notebooks.

 

How do we get this 391 MB file to take priority uploading to the cloud?  It appears that Evernote syncs first by reading the cloud's data in and then looks to see if anything needs to go up to it.

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Thanks for your reply, BurgersNFries.  It's been very helpful getting me this far.

 

As suggested by you and others on prior threads:

 

(1) We stopped evernote and quit the taskbar icon.

(2) We renamed the [username].exb to include today's date. 

(3) We restored from last night's backup the [username].exb file.  It was 391 MB.

(4) We restarted Evernote.  Upon first sync, we lost data and the file is now 284 MB.  Concurrent with that loss, multiple notes disappeared from multiple notebooks.

 

How do we get this 391 MB file to take priority uploading to the cloud?  It appears that Evernote syncs first by reading the cloud's data in and then looks to see if anything needs to go up to it.

 

Both of your posts would indicate that you apparently (accidentally) deleted notes, which would explain why they disappeared when you emptied the trash.  That's why after restoring from the backup (and you did do that correctly) and sync'ing, that the notes were deleted from the newly restored file.  (So it now matches what's on the EN servers.) 

 

From what you've posted, if it were me, here's what I would do:

 

  • disconnect computer from internet so it won't sync
  • re-restore the exb file
  • move all the notes in the newly re-stored exb file into local notebooks.  To keep notebook info, you could either create a local notebook with a similar name (IE work (sync'd) & work - local (non-sync'd)  OR you could tag all notes with the notebook name & simply move them to the same local notebook.  I'd probably do the first item. 
  • connect computer to the internet & sync
  • confirm no notes exist on the Evernote servers by logging into the web client using a browser (but they will all be in local notebooks on the Windows client)
  • now, move all the notes back to sync'd notebooks & sync

This should cause the EN servers to match the exb file you're restoring from.  The reason you need to do this is because changes & deletions on the EN servers is done by the globally unique identifier (GUID).  A unique record number, if you will.  This allows you to create record number 100 & change any identifying info such as creation date, title, etc but the computer knows exactly what note it is by the record number of 100.  Since it seems you accidentally deleted some notes, the EN servers know you deleted note 100, since that's the only way the servers identify that same note.  So you restored you exb file & when you sync'd, the EN servers saw note 100 & deleted that note - just as it does when you intentionally delete a note from one Windows computer, sync & then sync a second Windows computer - you want that note deleted across all computers/devices you are using.  The computer doesn't know if you intentionally or accidentally deleted those notes, so it's doing what it's supposed to be doing to record 100 - deleting it across all computer/devices using that account.   But when you move the notes to a local notebook, sync & then back to a sync'd notebook & sync, those notes now have a different GUID. 

 

I hope this makes sense. 

 

Also, you may need to upgrade to premium for a month in order to get all the notes re-uploaded, using this method. 

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That makes sense, and I wouldn't have thought of the workaround by myself, not knowing about the GUIDs. 3 days back and stable now. All praise to multiple redundant forms of backup, and thanks for your help as well, B&F.

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That makes sense, and I wouldn't have thought of the workaround by myself, not knowing about the GUIDs. 3 days back and stable now. All praise to multiple redundant forms of backup, and thanks for your help as well, B&F.

 

 

Great!  Glad to hear it!  My motto is a girl can never be too rich, too thin or have too many backups.  :P

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