Corrupt NSX backups

[Telos]

I've had up to here 💣 with this notes experience. After migrating my Evernote stash to Notes Station, I've discovered that the NSX backups I've been taking hold less than half my notes 😥

I stumbled onto this while playing with QOwnNotes while using an NDX to Markdown tool. At first, I blamed the tool, but after creating separate NSX files for each notebook, I found that the NSX file itself is the culprit. Now I'm surer than ever I'm moving off Notes 💩 Station as there is no clear means to focus in on the problem note(s) that cause this corruption as the NSX file holds 3 notes from a folder with 297 notes present. Another great Synology endeavor.

To try and find the issue, I'm breaking each corrupt notebook into 5 notebooks, exporting them individually and checking note counts.

Warning to all who use this... check your NSX file content against your message counts.

 

[Rusty]

Crap. Well sorry to hear about this but while I was still using it actively (and I still make backups of it via HB) never had a similar problem. Even a few times I restored the backup to a fresh new NS installation on a separate NAS and it was 100% clean.

Too bad indeed. How many notes in total do you have just out of curiosity?

 

[fredbert]

@Telos can you do an export of Note Station and does it only export the same few notes? The export is really a ZIP archive.

 

[Telos]

Too bad indeed. How many notes in total do you have just out of curiosity?

Just under 3200. Good to hear your experience. 2 years ago I changed machines and I thought the transfer went well.

@Telos can you do an export of Note Station and does it only export the same few notes? The export is really a ZIP archive.

That's how I found the issue. Opened an NSX file with 7z and selected the notes (not the files) and the count came up short (matching what the nsx2md tool yielded).

 

[fredbert]

Feel your pain

 

[Rusty]

That's how I found the issue.

So you were not using HB backup method for this?

 

[Telos]

So you were not using HB backup method for this?

I have HB backups and they seem fine for good for machine to machine transfer. Here I also using NSX exports to give me some independence from Synology.

NSX export is flakey. I see the notes in NS, yet in the exported NSX file, many notes are missing.

Unrelatedly NS has quite a few broken graphics. Apparently, the note graphics are not stored but only linked.

 

[Rusty]

Here I also using NSX exports to give me some independence from Synology.

main reason why I looked for a separate solution from NS...

 

[fredbert]

...Apparently, the note graphics are not stored but only linked.

I found in my unzipped export that some jpeg files were included, though I didn't check if all images were there.

 

[Telos]

I found in my unzipped export that some jpeg files were included, though I didn't check if all images were there.

I was referring to the NS interface itself. On NSX export I do have some jpg's and png's, but when I view certain notes using the browser interface their images are gone. Yet if I go to the source URL, everything is present. Go figure. At this point, I don't care, as I have the source URL and my notes are slowing migrating to text (markdown). Since markdown is available across OS, I'm settling on this and heaving NS (and Evernote).

All I need now is a markdown reader on the NAS ... I'm sure there is a Docker somewhere that can handle that.

 

[fredbert]

I want a editor that displays the formatted text in the edit window but creates .md or similar text files. Haven't found anything good yet. The most likely are language modules for BBEdit and Notepad++ but still not as good as TaskPaper and Folding Text on Mac.

 

[Rusty]

Using BookStack myself. No mobile app but a powerful web experience. Markdown support, attachment, code embeding etc

 

[subie]

hmmmm...is notestation really bad? I'm slowly adding all my notes in the app.

 

[Telos]

Is Note Station bad? First, it is weak compared to Evernote, both in capture and editing. What bothers me most is that it locks the user into the Synology NAS. Should you decide to change NAS manufacturer, or step away from your NAS altogether, you will have no ready access to your notes. That's my primary concern. Portability of personal files. If that's not your concern, and you are content with Note Station not capture and editing tools, it may be suitable for you.

 

[Rusty]

Looking into wiki.js myself

 

[SynoMan]

Using BookStack myself. No mobile app but a powerful web experience. Markdown support, attachment, code embeding etc

Do you host it on your NAS?

 

[Telos]

Looking into wiki.js myself

That never occurred to me. Keep us posted.

 

[Rusty]

Do you host it on your NAS?

Indeed I am. Docker ftw!

 

[Rusty]

That never occurred to me. Keep us posted.

Well I’m looking still at alternatives. Atm ruining bookstack but wanna see other options as well. Definitely not comfortable locking myself on a non open platform and keeping a documentation on a wiki based platform seems like a good way to go.

Modern features of wiki.js plus security in place and 2fa, is something that’s welcome in case I wanna open it the internet. Just need to see if there is an option there to additionally protect custom pages but haven’t started with this platform just yet. Maybe today at some point.

 

[fredbert]

A long while ago I used a Mac app called DEVONthink that was aimed at capturing and collating notes and content but it stored the data in original formats in it's 'database' (folder).

Over the years it haas been apparent that to export from one system to another has been left more with the new solution you're going to use than the one you want to leave.