Synchronizing EER Diagram in MySQL Workbench

Question

I've been getting comfortable with MySQL Workbench, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to update an EER Diagram to the server without overwriting pre-existing rows of data. I've tried both "Forward Engineer" and "Synchronize Model", but both run into the same problem of removing rows of data. Perhaps I'm missing a setting?

Any enlightenment is appreciated. Many thanks.

Answer 1

Forward engineering is the process of applying your model to a database. Old data gets lost in this process. Synchronization is the one you need. It applies changes both ways (model -> db as well as db -> model) and is usually non-destructive. However, if you drop columns you will of course lose data. Synchronization should definitely not remove individual rows as it only operates on meta data (except for the initial data for a table you can specify on the Inserts tab in the table editor). If you lose records then there must be a different reason (a trigger?).