Floppy Annoyance

Dimwit · 12-03-2011, 10:47 AM

Is there any way I can disable Calibre from searching my A: drive? I upgraded to 8.29 and that behaviour is back again. It's not the end of the world but it is annoying.

DrChiper · 12-03-2011, 11:39 AM

If you do not use the A: drive anymore (cannot imagine anybody still using it but I have been proven to be wrong before), you could try to disable it in the PC's BIOS settings, and/or via the device manager of your (Windows) OS.

HarryT · 12-03-2011, 11:43 AM

Surely Calibre shouldn't be accessing drives with removable media if they don't currently have any media in them, should it?

itimpi · 12-03-2011, 11:46 AM

This is almost certaintly something at the OS level doing this rather than Calibre itself.

chaley · 12-03-2011, 11:55 AM

See https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/741632

DrChiper · 12-03-2011, 12:27 PM

Drive A: (and B: ) are hardcoded/hardwired build-in left-over relics of non-mobile devices, but still valid when not de-activated. So searches over all drives will also include A:, B:, C:, etc. I do not think calibre should solve this.

For WinXP, there existed a tweak utility to let windows "know" not to use drive A, B by unchecking some check-box. Did a quick search for something similar on my Win7, but no luck (have no A/B floppy drive anyway).

Further, as windows allows renaming drive indications, drive A: might actually map to some exsisting external USB-drive. Another reason not to solve this in calibre.

Just my 2cts.

Dimwit · 12-04-2011, 02:29 AM

OS level? Don't think so. I'm using XP and Calibre is polling the A: drive constantly, not the Kobo. I don't know why and shutting off the A: drive because of Calibre doesn't seem to be the right direction to me. As soon as I unmount the Kobo the polling stops. Something is in Calibre that's buggered.

chaley · 12-04-2011, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimwit

OS level? Don't think so. I'm using XP and Calibre is polling the A: drive constantly, not the Kobo. I don't know why and shutting off the A: drive because of Calibre doesn't seem to be the right direction to me. As soon as I unmount the Kobo the polling stops. Something is in Calibre that's buggered.

When calibre detects the kobo, it asks windows for the list of drives so it can mount the kobo's memory. This causes windows (not calibre) to poll A:. If the kobo is not completely detected (busted memory or an unknown drive string), the process repeats in a bit.

If you have a "fix" for this "bug", I am sure that Kovid would love to have it. He said as much in the bug report that I pointed toward.

mrmikel · 12-04-2011, 07:02 AM

I don't anything about the phone and how it interfaces. If the issue is writing to an SD card, can't that writing be done to one of those little USB drives that mounts an SD card?
Then the card could be restored to the phone.

HarryT · 12-04-2011, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

When calibre detects the kobo, it asks windows for the list of drives so it can mount the kobo's memory. This causes windows (not calibre) to poll A:. If the kobo is not completely detected (busted memory or an unknown drive string), the process repeats in a bit.

Can you explain what you mean by "not completely detected"? In my naivety, I would have thought that a device would either be detected or not. What does "not completely detected" actually mean?

chaley · 12-04-2011, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you explain what you mean by "not completely detected"? In my naivety, I would have thought that a device would either be detected or not. What does "not completely detected" actually mean?

It means that some device connected to the computer has USB IDs that calibre recognizes, but that either no disk drive known by calibre to be associated with the device can be found or the disk drive cannot be written. This situation can arise because the device is non-standard, is new but reuses a previous USB ID, or has firmware changes that calibre doesn't know about. It can also happen if some device is presenting bogus USB IDs.

sabredog · 12-04-2011, 08:40 AM

I actually had to disable (within XP) the floppy drive because of the constant polling. No issues now.

HarryT · 12-04-2011, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

It means that some device connected to the computer has USB IDs that calibre recognizes, but that either no disk drive known by calibre to be associated with the device can be found or the disk drive cannot be written. This situation can arise because the device is non-standard, is new but reuses a previous USB ID, or has firmware changes that calibre doesn't know about. It can also happen if some device is presenting bogus USB IDs.

Thanks! I appreciate the explanation. Presumably the reason for the retry is in case the device simply hasn't finished initialising the USB connection, or something like that?

chaley · 12-04-2011, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thanks! I appreciate the explanation. Presumably the reason for the retry is in case the device simply hasn't finished initialising the USB connection, or something like that?

That is one reason. Another is that the device might actually have been changed between scans.

I suppose we could detect that a given USB ID has failed N times in N tries and stop checking it until it disappears for a complete cycle (or something like that). My problem is that I have no motivation at all to take on this task, having neither a floppy drive nor a device that isn't fully recognized.

HarryT · 12-04-2011, 10:10 AM

I completely understand that. It's always difficult to justify spending time on coding for obscure error conditions.

12-03-2011, 10:47 AM	#1
Dimwit Connoisseur Posts: 60 Karma: 12652 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kobo	Floppy Annoyance Is there any way I can disable Calibre from searching my A: drive? I upgraded to 8.29 and that behaviour is back again. It's not the end of the world but it is annoying.

12-03-2011, 11:43 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 54,661 Karma: 26165759 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Touch, PW, Fire HD, iPad 3, iPhone 4, Samsung Tab 2 7 + More	Surely Calibre shouldn't be accessing drives with removable media if they don't currently have any media in them, should it? __________________ Harry Currently proofreading The Poison Belt, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

12-03-2011, 11:55 AM	#5
chaley Wizard Posts: 3,853 Karma: 285886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: France Device: Sony PRS-300, HTC WM6.5, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Sensation	See https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/741632 __________________ Support calibre developers at no cost to you by using calibre's get books feature. Use Calibre Companion to wirelessly connect your Android phone or tablet to calibre charles.haleys.org/calibre

12-04-2011, 08:40 AM	#12
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,549 Karma: 14516829 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-300/650/T1, iPad2, K3(wife's)	I actually had to disable (within XP) the floppy drive because of the constant polling. No issues now. __________________

12-04-2011, 10:10 AM	#15
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 54,661 Karma: 26165759 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Touch, PW, Fire HD, iPad 3, iPhone 4, Samsung Tab 2 7 + More	I completely understand that. It's always difficult to justify spending time on coding for obscure error conditions. __________________ Harry Currently proofreading The Poison Belt, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

12-03-2011, 11:39 AM	#2
DrChiper Enthusiastic Bookworm Posts: 100 Karma: 14 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: pc, prs-600, prs-t1, prs-t2, nexus 7	If you do not use the A: drive anymore (cannot imagine anybody still using it but I have been proven to be wrong before), you could try to disable it in the PC's BIOS settings, and/or via the device manager of your (Windows) OS.

12-03-2011, 11:46 AM	#4
itimpi Wizard Posts: 3,591 Karma: 549131 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (stanza/iBooks/QuickReader)	This is almost certaintly something at the OS level doing this rather than Calibre itself.

12-03-2011, 12:27 PM	#6
DrChiper Enthusiastic Bookworm Posts: 100 Karma: 14 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: pc, prs-600, prs-t1, prs-t2, nexus 7	Drive A: (and B: ) are hardcoded/hardwired build-in left-over relics of non-mobile devices, but still valid when not de-activated. So searches over all drives will also include A:, B:, C:, etc. I do not think calibre should solve this. For WinXP, there existed a tweak utility to let windows "know" not to use drive A, B by unchecking some check-box. Did a quick search for something similar on my Win7, but no luck (have no A/B floppy drive anyway). Further, as windows allows renaming drive indications, drive A: might actually map to some exsisting external USB-drive. Another reason not to solve this in calibre. Just my 2cts.

12-04-2011, 02:29 AM	#7
Dimwit Connoisseur Posts: 60 Karma: 12652 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kobo	OS level? Don't think so. I'm using XP and Calibre is polling the A: drive constantly, not the Kobo. I don't know why and shutting off the A: drive because of Calibre doesn't seem to be the right direction to me. As soon as I unmount the Kobo the polling stops. Something is in Calibre that's buggered.

12-04-2011, 07:02 AM	#9
mrmikel Book Twiddler Posts: 974 Karma: 1087515 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	I don't anything about the phone and how it interfaces. If the issue is writing to an SD card, can't that writing be done to one of those little USB drives that mounts an SD card? Then the card could be restored to the phone.

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