[Data loss] Note is suddenly empty!

Bug description

Note was created today. I’ve been able to recover it with the core plugin “snapshot”, which luckily was enabled.

I backup my vault daily, but this wouldn’t have prevented this serious issue. First time such thing happens, been using Obsidian for a few years.

Is this a known issue ? It seems something similar was mentioned several times in the last few months (1, 2, 3, 4).

Environment

Windows 11 - Obsidian 1.1.16

Synchronization between desktop and iPad with iCloud.

Debug info

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.1.16
Installer version: v0.15.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Famille 64 bits (10.0, build 22621)
Login status: not logged in
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Legacy editor: off
Base theme: dark
Community theme: Color_Headers
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 38
Plugins enabled: 34
1: Templater v1.16.0
2: Paste URL into selection v1.7.0
3: QuickAdd v0.11.11
4: Shortcuts extender v2.2.0
5: Periodic Notes v0.0.17
6: Quick Latex for Obsidian v2.5.1
7: Natural Language Dates v0.6.1
8: Mind Map v1.1.0
9: MetaEdit v1.7.2
10: Maximise Active Pane v0.0.3
11: Latex Environments v0.3.0
12: Kanban v1.5.1
13: Hotkeys++ v0.2.7
14: Hotkey Helper v0.3.15
15: Admonition v9.2.1
16: Advanced Tables v0.18.1
17: Banners v1.3.3
18: Calendar v1.5.10
19: Citations v0.4.5
20: Completr v3.1.3
21: Dataview v0.5.55
22: Day Planner v0.5.8
23: Emoji Toolbar v0.3.2
24: Excalidraw v1.8.0
25: Extended MathJax v0.3.0
26: Wrap with shortcuts v1.2.0
27: Custom window title v0.3.5
28: BibNotes Formatter v0.9.214
29: Media Extended v2.11.1
30: Sort & Permute lines v0.6.0
31: Quick Switcher++ v2.3.2
32: Advanced Mobile Toolbar v1.8.0
33: Custom Attachment (Modified) v0.0.6
34: Outliner v4.3.0

“iCloud on Windows is known to cause file duplication and corruption issues. We highly suggest avoiding using this combination.”

Straight from the developers on Discord. I’ve tried it and had issues with iCloud on Windows myself as well. Sync would cut off the last half a sentence I wrote and I’d lose it. Definitely don’t use iCloud.

GitHub Private Repo (after research) is just as secure as the employees don’t look at or have access to private repos. Could use OneDrive, Google Drive, or DropBox but those could all have similar issues. Syncthings is another but if you use iOS devices you have to pay $5 for the app (one time and works on every iOS device) to sync on iOS but works pretty well from my test.

Posted this on the subreddit post as well.

1 Like

This was just posted to the Discord:

These are the methods currently believed to work for syncing between Windows and iOS devices:

  • Obsidian Sync

  • Self-hosted LiveSync plugin

  • Remotely Save plugin and various cloud services, including Amazon S3 or S3-compatible, Dropbox, OneDrive for personal, and Webdav

  • Git with the Working Copy or a-Shell iOS app

1 Like

Thanks for your reply, I didn’t know iCloud was not advised on desktop : This is the first occurrence of this problem in more than 3 years, with thousands of files.

It would seem important to confirm that the problem is not coming from latest Obsidian versions, especially regarding sources mentioning this problem (see OP), from users possibly not using iCloud sync (to be confirmed).

I can confirm. I have been deciding on Obsidian for 3-4 months now and since the beginning they advised against it.

I can also say that if you did ANY searching on the forums, you would have found this post (linked on the MAIN PAGE) Meta Post - Syncing between Devices

which tells you how to sync between devices and advises against using iCloud on Windows from July of 2021.

This is mostly likely an icloud on windows issue.

Nevertheless, the only data-loss issue that is due to Obsidian itself is this and we will work on it at some point.

Moving this thread to help. If you have some evidence that this is due to some new Obsidian’s problem, kindly open a new bug report.

Just FYI, you should really update your Installer version by downloading the newest from the website. Your Installer Version is pre v1.0 and since the v1.1.9 Installer Obsidian has been updated to Electron v21 (Obsidian Release v1.1.9).

Most likely not the cause of your problem here, just wanted you to know.

Thank you @WhiteNoise : The problem indeed happened exactly in the circumstances described in your link. Problem was also already mentioned here in this forum.

I think I closed Obsidian quickly after editing a file, and the file was empty after that.

I strongly believe the problem described here is due to Obsidian and not iCloud, and I can try to reproduce it in the sandbox vault if desired.

There is no need. If it’s that problem, we are aware of it. Just follow that bug report.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.