AW: [Papyrus-L] Cleaning up Papyrus files!

[Hessling, Rene]

Dave,

Thanks for this response as well !

I followed your instructions and managed to reduce the size of my Papyrus
files somewhat (about 25%). Exporting everything and then reimporting it
into a fresh database results in even less (<50%) but then this way all
personal formats and stuff are gone.

Thanks again for your help!

Rene


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Dave Goldman, Research Software Design [mailto:dave at rsd.com]
> Gesendet am: Donnerstag, 2. August 2001 08:01
> An: papyrus-l at rsd.com
> Betreff: Re: [Papyrus-L] Cleaning up Papyrus files!
> 
> Rene Hessling wrote:
> >It seems that my database contains a lot of junk. I 
> (probably wrongly)
> >started the database a long time ago by using a database of 
> a colleague,
> >then deleting all his entries and entering my papers. I 
> think we did this so
> >I would already have his journals and abbreviations in my database.
> >
> >Now having a look at the Ref.bib in a normal text editor it 
> seems that there
> >is still a lot of old junk in this file. Is there any way to 
> remove this? ...
> >...
> >Is there a way to simply clean up my original database? I 
> tried creating
> >back-up files and restoring from them as well as 'index file 
> generation'
> >with no luck.
> 
> In general, when you enter data into Papyrus and then delete 
> it (e.g., when
> you delete a duplicate journal entry or reference) the space that data
> occupied in the *.BIB files is marked as available for 
> re-use. Eventually
> the space will be overwritten by new data, but in the interim it will
> remain unerased (though Papyrus will never access that unerased data).
> 
> However, under some circumstances the old data will hang 
> around for a long
> time, or even forever. The files INDX.BIB and REFKEY.BIB, in 
> particular, do
> not always overwrite deleted records.
> 
> Here is a procedure that will allow you to rebuild your *.BIB 
> files from
> scratch, without losing any formats or preferences settings:
> 
> (1) Make a back-up copy of all of your *.BIB files, just to 
> be safe. (You
> can simply copy all of your *.BIB files to another folder, 
> for example.)
> 
> (2) Launch Papyrus. Go to Utilities. Run "Create Back-up 
> Files". This will
> create a set of smaller *.BB files that contain all the data from your
> *.BIB files. Then quit from Papyrus.
> 
> (3) Delete all of your *.BIB files except for PRINT.BIB.
> 
> (4) Launch Papyrus. It will ask if you wish to create a fresh, empty
> database. Answer "Y". Papyrus will create a new set of small 
> *.BIB files.
> 
> (5) Go to Utilities. Run "Restore From Back-up Files". This 
> will read in
> the data from the *.BB files and rebuild the *.BIB files accordingly.
> 
> The result will be a somewhat smaller set of *.BIB files than 
> you started
> with. Any formerly-deleted data should now be entirely absent 
> from your
> files.
> 
> Caveat: Actually, when Papyrus creates or enlarges a *.BIB 
> file, it does
> not take the time to zero out the section of hard disk newly 
> owned by that
> *.BIB file, but rather overwrites that data gradually as you 
> enter new data
> into Papyrus. So if you look into a *.BIB file using a text 
> editor you will
> discover that the most recent part of that file still 
> contains data from
> some previous use -- perhaps a snippet of text from a deleted word
> processor document, perhaps some numbers from a deleted 
> spreadsheet, or
> even (if you just followed the above procedure) a section of 
> random data
> from a previously-deleted Papyrus *.BIB file.
> 
> 
> -- Dave Goldman (dave at rsd.com)              Research Software Design
>    503/796-1368, fax 503-452-8920           617 SW Hume Street
>    The PAPYRUS Bibliography System          Portland OR 
> 97219-4458 (U.S.A.)
> 
>    Technical Support: support at rsd.com       Other Questions: 
> info at rsd.com
>                        WWW Site: http://www.rsd.com/
> 
> 
> 
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