Do you always keep the original file of your books?

[DustyDisks]

I try and keep the originals plus copy's of all the converted format books in my library archives. One never knows how the tech will change over the years, plus self inflicted goof ups.

I have a 80 gig hd that came out of one of my dead laptops converted into a usb ext drive. That is used exclusivity for e-book/audio book storage and is not part of any system/file backups. I really do not trust any backups because over the years backup/image files have failed, and poof the info is gone!

(Think of the banker in the show, South Park and the banker and savings)

My electronic library is part of but also kept separate, so if disaster strikes I will have a copy saved that will help recover what is lost.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Catlady

But I have my converted copy, and a backup of the converted copy. I'm just not seeing the point of also having the original downloaded version on my computer, if it was sold by one of the major bookstores.

Conversions are not 100% reliable - they can and do go wrong - and you may not discover this until you read the book. Perhaps you keep on top of your book pile better than I do, but I have ebooks I bought many years ago that I haven't read yet. I suspect that I no longer have access to most of those at the original stores.

Books are small and essentially cost nothing to store. For me it's a no-brainier to store both the original and any conversions. It's minimising risk.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Conversions are not 100% reliable - they can and do go wrong - and you may not discover this until you read the book. Perhaps you keep on top of your book pile better than I do, but I have ebooks I bought many years ago that I haven't read yet. I suspect that I no longer have access to most of those at the original stores.

Books are small and essentially cost nothing to store. For me it's a no-brainier to store both the original and any conversions. It's minimising risk.

I do keep the original downloads from the stores I perceive as possibly less reliable, and the stores I shop at infrequently. But I think if Amazon, BN, or Kobo goes out of business, there will be enough advance notice for me to redownload the books in my account.

It's not the space per se, it's the clutter. It's confusing to have multiple versions of books scattered all over the place. I have a master list where I indicate where each book came from, so if I encounter a problem that may have resulted from a conversion--which hasn't happened yet--I can redownload from the store.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Catlady

It's not the space per se, it's the clutter. It's confusing to have multiple versions of books scattered all over the place. I have a master list where I indicate where each book came from, so if I encounter a problem that may have resulted from a conversion--which hasn't happened yet--I can redownload from the store.

I have a Calibre Library just for this. All Originals only. It has custom columns saying what store it was purchased from, the format and the date purchased. No confusion. It's quick and easy to go through and it keeps me from my buying the same book twice which I have been known to do in the past.

[jersysman]

I am with Catlady. I don't keep the originals from the bigger places. I have my Calibre library a backup for that, plus dropbox.

[Tattncat]

I back up my Calibre library and my original onto an external hard drive,and I keep myemailed receipts. Although, after a few years and computers, I doubt if they would do me any good.

[Tarana]

I agree with poster JSWolf. There's no point in keeping duplicate after duplicate. Once you've verified that YOUR version is fine, what's the point of keeping the original? I keep the mobi and epub versions but there is no point in keeping stuff converted from txt, lit, or other formats that I will NEVER USE AGAIN. The only exception I make are pdf files for crafts since the pdf file typically works better on the computer.

I've converted HUNDREDS of books from various formats and have yet to have one that needs to be 'reconverted.' PDF files are the only things that I've had any trouble at all with and it has ALWAYS been a problem with the original file, not the conversion.

[EowynCarter]

I agree with poster JSWolf. There's no point in keeping duplicate after duplicate. Once you've verified that YOUR version is fine, what's the point of keeping the original?

Laziness.
And you always end up messing up and deleting files you shouldn't have deleted.

[Sydney's Mom]

I was running out of space in the cloud. I deleted books I had already read (much better idea to create a separate library, and not have it back up to the cloud. I actually reread a book I gave 2 stars to 3 years ago). Now, I keep 2 copies if it is an epub book, and 1 if it is mobi. Since I always convert my mobi books (just to make sure the DRM removal is working) I go back in and delete the original file (AZW or Original Mobi), because I can always redownload it from Amaaon.

[piperclassique]

Gah! You got me converting, deleting, uploading, sorting metadata all day. As if I don't have anything else to do..

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by piperclassique

Gah! You got me converting, deleting, uploading, sorting metadata all day. As if I don't have anything else to do..

I'd rather read then spend my time with persnickety filing systems. I am awed by how good Calibre is and I let it take care of me. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling.

[frquixote]

I keep both the original and the deDRM'd. Doesn't take all that much space and I learned from the Borders shutdown that if I don't keep them I won't always have access to the originals ... six books of the 92 I had purchased from Borders did not transfer over when they went out of business. Fortunately, I had kept local copies of the originals.

[grumbles]

I keep backups of everything. From time to time I just backup everything to a DVD with par2 files for error correction (digital is much, much, much more fragile than paper.) But then I back up my music CDs as well. Rip the cd to a flac image. From the image I make mp3s for my portable devices and flacs to listen through the stereo. The CDs go into a box, I have far too many to keep on shelves. The ripped tracks fit nicely on a hard drive and I play them from there.

[cromag]

I keep backups of my originals and separate backups of conversions. The originals eventually go onto a CD-R and get stored in a binder, plus I have a bunch of older SD cards that are really too small for my current camera.

The conversion backups are on an external hard disk, handy in case I ever need a quick restore. It hasn't happened in a while, but I have had hard disks go bad.

[Dorca]

I keep them all. sometimes in several copies, too. It's not as if they're eating my resources or something.
It's getting hard to organize them, though.