Best practice for zstash update... remove index.db first?

[jjbenedict]

I'm using zstash on Perlmutter to archive an E3SM simulation to HPSS. After the simulation completed 37 years, I successfully ran the short-term archiver and then zstash create (and zstash check). I then extended the simulation to 44 years and again ran the short-term archiver. I'd now like to run zstash update to update the HPSS archive. My case directory contains the usual subdirectories (archive, build, run), but it also contains zstash which includes index.db from the earlier zstash create step. Should I remove this existing index.db file before running zstash update?

[forsyth2]

Should I remove this existing index.db file before running zstash update?

No, that is fine. Actually, that is what will tell zstash what is already archived from the create step. One thing to note is that zstash update should be run from inside the directory you're archiving, rather than passing that directory in as the final argument, as is done with zstash create.