My laptop has been having issues with charging for a while now, and when I last tried to charge it I found the port was damaged and it won’t charge anymore so I can’t turn it on now. Before it died today I synced the cards before closing the app.
However, when I went to the Ankidroid app to continue making cards on my phone it gave me the option of syncing the AnkiWeb or AnkiDroid version. I rarely use the AnkiWeb version and didn’t realise that was where the desktop cards go so selected the AnkiDroid option. And now all the cards I have made in the last 5 months are gone, which I don’t understand because I’ve used the Ankidroid in the last 2 months to review some of these cards which are now gone. So I checked on AnkiWeb and the decks are lost from there too.
Is there anyway I can get the lost decks back without being able to get on to my laptop? I tried to restore back up from AnkiDroid but the only options it gave me were from times after the cards were lost.
Ouch – that’s a rough lesson to learn this way. Yes, all syncing happens between the device you are using and your AnkiWeb account. When you are done using a device, you should always sync with AnkiWeb to give AnkiWeb the most current version of your collection. Then, when you start using another device, you should always sync with AnkiWeb to get that most current version of your collection.
The best way to recover
Hopefully that means your hard drive is fine, and you’ll be able to recover your data. If you can get your hard drive connected to another computer as an external drive, the folder you need to rescue is your Anki2 data folder – Managing Files - Anki Manual . [Doing that is hardware-specific, but I’m sure a local computer shop or the internet will be able to tell you if it’s possible.]
Another way to recover – option A
If you kept the AnkiDroid version on that one-way sync, then your collection should look exactly like it did the last time you used AnkiDroid.
Have you recently updated versions on AnkiDroid? If it had been a while since your last update, your collection might have migrated from the old storage location to the new one, and that might be why you’re not finding the collection you expect. Solving that issue would at least get you caught up to within the past 2 months.
Another way to recover – option B
AnkiWeb makes periodic server-side backups. The most recent one in your account [the account associated with the email you used to post here] was made a few days ago – click for your local date/time. That version of your collection will only be as updated as AnkiWeb was at that moment, so if you didn’t sync your desktop Anki regularly, that version might be out-of-date as well. Think about when you last synced with AnkiWeb before that date.
Please confirm if you want me to restore that version of your collection to your account – it will overwrite whatever is currently there.
Sorry for the delay – that’s restored now. Make sure that you download from AnkiWeb on your next sync.
If you have other progress on your device since then that you need to save, make sure to preserve that before syncing – Syncing with AnkiWeb - Anki Manual .