[Peakcrew]

So, I loaded 205 books (my entire collection at this time!) onto an SD card (after making a new Calibre library and changing the author on all books to "SD Card" so I could easily identify them, and avoid confusion with the books already loaded). Inserting the card was fine, once I worked out which way round to insert it (gold contacts facing the back, for reference), and Calibre saw both the internal drive and the SD card with no problems. Loading the books was no problem, either, but there were some fairly long pauses in updating process that made me sweat a bit, especially one at 75% that was 55 seconds (yes, sad aren't I?).

I opened one of the books that I knew worked well before, and did 30 page-turns so that the screen refreshed five times (I have maintained the default setting of a screen refresh every six pages), with no crashes or returns to the home screen. Very positive.

I removed the SD card and checked all the settings from before they were on, to find that the Shelves I had set up were missing. I tried to re-create them, but found that the KT will not remember them now. I seem to remember that people who experienced similar problems sorted it by logging out of their account and back in, so I duly synched the KT and logged out.

Now, I have discovered something irritating - logging back into my account needs a computer, either to use the Kobo desktop, or get into the database with an SQL editor. That's going to be great help if I run into difficulties with no computer access! (Seriously - very poor idea, Kobo. What's wrong with allowing login from the device itself?) I am now left with in a bit of a quandary - I like to have my books on removable media so that, in the event I need to do a reset whilst away from a computer (I don't like taking computers on holiday), I can do it and then have my library complete. That option is now taken from me, so I'm left up the creek without a paddle either way. Essentially, I don't need an SD card with this level of messing around: my Calibre library is stored on a Google drive, so if I can get to a computer to sign in (assuming that, say, an internet cafe computer would let me install Desktop or an SQL editor), I can get to my books. This has seriously dented my confidence in the KT: does anyone have any workarounds?

Anyway, following login via the Desktop, I am now able to make Shelves again, which is good news, but why on earth isn't there a search function on the page to add books to Shelves? Come on, guys and girls at Kobo!

Right, I have just put the SD card back in the KT, and powered it up. The first time, it completely ignored it, but after switching it off and on again,it is at least recognising new content, though it is much slower than last time (four minutes to 17%, ten minutes to 26% - it's like watching paint dry). I think it is safe to say that the KT has issues with SD cards!

Well, it took just under an hour to process the content, but the database seems to be good, and the Shelves showing up nicely.

I have just Removed the books from the SD card using Calibre, without the same difficulties as above, but now Calibre fails to recognise that there any books on the device at all, despite the fact that that the KT sees them, and selected ones open. Whatever - I'll give it a rest now.

I'm on holiday for a week from tomorrow, so I'll no doubt have more to report when I get back!