New Dropbox/Calibre User Question

[Sydney's Mom]

This is definately the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I am a little worried. My laptop (main computer) is all done uploading, and says it is downloading a file (can't figure out what). The Calibre I have on my desktop and netbook have been pointed to their respective dropbox folders. The netbook is still downloading files, but I thought I would peek at Calibre on my netbook this morning. It shows 0 books.

Now, it could be because dropbox files are not readable until they finish syncing. Does that sound right?

[rollercoaster]

may be it has not downloaded the metadata.db file which holds all the records for books in that library folder.

Not sure but you could just copy that file from your other backup so that calibre will show all the files and stuff but the books will be inaccessible until they are downloaded

[chaley]

Worse, starting calibre on the netbook could have created an empty metadata.db file, which would then be sync'ed back to the other devices, possibly emptying your library.

Use calibre to check your library on your main machine. If it looks OK, then run the db check function in advanced tab of the GUI preferences. After that, check that metadata.db doesn't have conflicts (file name will have both 'metadata' and 'conflict' in it). If such a file does exist, then you might need to go to the dropbox website to select the correct version from the list of previous versions it maintains.

Don't start calibre on any of the client machines until the downloading is finished everywhere. Then be sure to start it on only one machine at a time.

Good luck!

[Sydney's Mom]

Thanks for both of these. I just shutdown dropbox on my laptop (main machine). I said it was downloading one file, and had been doing that all morning. But all 1187 books are still in my library.

REMEMBER: ONE CALIBRE OPEN AT A TIME

[chainring]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

REMEMBER: ONE CALIBRE OPEN AT A TIME

Yes, especially true on a Windows machine since calibre goes to the background instead of really quitting. If you have calibre open, Dropbox will sync endlessly. Close calibre, let Dropbox sync on that machine, then wait for Dropbox to sync on your other machine, and finally open calibre there.

[Sydney's Mom]

Wow. I used task manager to shut down Calibre on my laptop and looked at the db file. I had one with 75 bts and one with 3700 bts, which had been renamed conflicted. I deleted the 75 bts and renamed conflicted, and I was all set on my netbook. Next I have to get it working on the desk top. It looks like the metadata file loads last, so I have to wait for everything else to sync. Someone was home from school today (spring break) and somehow my dropbox stopped syncing.

[Sydney's Mom]

FINALLY!! Thanks to chaley (karma to you!) I was able to fix the metadata files on each machine. On the netbook, it was as easy as deleting the smaller file and renaming the larger file. On the desktop, for some reason only the small file downloaded. I went to my dropbox file in the sky, and saved the file in my desktop dropbox file. Now everything is working fine! Chaley, I was just about to uninstall Calibre and reinstall, because I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Thank you so much!!!



MobileRead members rock!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by chainring

If you have calibre open, Dropbox will sync endlessly. Close calibre, let Dropbox sync on that machine, then wait for Dropbox to sync on your other machine, and finally open calibre there.

Dropbox will seem to sync endlessly because it knows that the metadata.db file is in use and locked by Calibre.

@Sydney's Mom
One mistake I did make once, was to exit Calibre and shutdown my computer before Dropbox had a chance to Sync the metadata.db file. I had been working on multiple custom recipes in Calibre and when I got home they were not there. I realize immediately what had happened.

After that experience I make sure Dropbox has synced all files before shutting down the computer. I also started editing all my custom recipes using Notepad++ and saving them to another folder in Dropbox before adding them as a custom news source. The small files sync quickly.