Collections dissappeared but books still there

[speakingtohe]

I uploaded a single file to my ereader (Sony Prs-600) and after disconnecting there was a warning rectangle on the reader.

No Sony software in use (I have disabled its's autostart but double checked in task manager)

Turning off reader didn't work so I did a shutdown which did.
Turned it on and same rectangle.

Hit the reset button and my last book read was gone and all my collections. books on SD card were still there.

Plugged in reader to compter and calibre saw reader but not SD Card.
Sent book to main memory, no problem.

Unplugged ereader and book and collection for this book was there.
Exited calibre and started Sony software.
Sony software recognized SD Card and books on it but no collections

Exited Sony and restarted calibre and no SD card

Unplugged reader removed card, reinserted it and calibre recognized it.

I always check the jobs list (and remember doing so) before unplugging reader so unsent data should not have been the problem.

My collections are gone I know which isn't a bad thing as I was going to do some major changes to formats on many of the books so now I have no excuse to procrastinate.

Just curious as to what I might have done to cause this. I am pretty sure it is not calibre at fault, but me

Helen

[chaley]

I can only speculate on what happened.

When you plug a Sony reader (actually, any reader) into a computer, the reader software switched into 'disk drive' mode. In other words, it stops being a reader and becomes a disk. Both sets of software are complex, and the interactions probably equally complex. I can easily imagine corner cases (reader bugs) where this switch-over isn't clean, with the result that the reader gets confused. The fact that you had to reboot the reader argues for something like this.

Now, collections. On a sony, collections are stored in main memory, even if the books are on an SD card. If main memory got hosed in some way, then when you rebooted the reader it would throw away its database and rebuild it from books. Result: metadata would revert to what is in the books, and collections will be lost. If you have any .txt files on the reader, check their metadata. A database rebuild will set their author to "Unknown" and their title to something inferred from the file name.

Unplugging and reinserting the SD card will force the reader to take a close look at the card and to check the card's embedded database. It is possible that for a time, the card was read-only, which calibre would not like and might possibly prevent calibre from seeing the card. It is also possible that the card's database was broken in a way that calibre didn't like but the Sony Reader sw could tolerate.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, and instead a garden gnome put binary beetles into your reader.

One thing I am quite sure of is that you didn't do it. I think it was bad luck. That is what backups are for.

If you can get to the point where you use calibre's automatic metadata management, then incidents like this will have little effect. Calibre will be able to rebuild all the metadata when you connect the device.

[speakingtohe]

Binary Beetles eh? Binary Raid should help that.
Perhaps I will trot over to the town's only store and see if it is stock.

I back up a lot, but not from the reader. Not even sure how to go about that?

I know I can save the reader files to disk etc. but would that restore the collection info somehow without resending the files?

Would I send the files to the reader and then copy the SD card and Sony main memory somehow?

I keep meaning to try the auto sync but tried the Sony sync when I got my reader and it took me 3 hours to get things working again. Apples and oranges I know but the memory lingers. If I do try it will it restore my collections?

Interesting about the database rebuild but my author names were/are still okay, only liabilty was collections and bookmarks and once one has collections they become a necessity as opposed to a convenience.

Anyway no harm done. I just had to find the place manually in the book I was reading and I have done that before.

Thanks for the reply
Helen

[chaley]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Binary Beetles eh? Binary Raid should help that.
Perhaps I will trot over to the town's only store and see if it is stock.

When my children were doing something that they *knew* I would want them to do elsewhere, they were subjected to me looking at them, slapping my head, and shouting "duh ... RAID". They knew that meant that they were about to be exterminated. I don't think they ever actually saw the commercial, and if they did I suspect that they would be offended by the idiot bug.

The notion of a town's one store having Binary Raid boggles the mind.

I back up a lot, but not from the reader. Not even sure how to go about that?

Copy/zip the reader's disk(s). That simple. Really!

Would I send the files to the reader and then copy the SD card and Sony main memory somehow?

To back up, aim your zip program at the root of your sony's disks and let them run. To restore, you would plug the device in, format the 'disks', then unzip the backups onto the right memory. Sonys will survive that. Other devices might need a reboot.

It might even be possible to use your OSes incremental backup facilities on the disks. Can't see a reason why it wouldn't work, but that is of course meaningless. For all I know a particular program may work only on Thursdays.

I keep meaning to try the auto sync but tried the Sony sync when I got my reader and it took me 3 hours to get things working again. Apples and oranges I know but the memory lingers. If I do try it will it restore my collections?

I want to answer 'yes', but the true answer is 'I don't know'. If all of your collections are represented in series and tags, then the answer is yes. If some of your collections are entered manually and don't appear in calibre's metadata, then the answer is no.

[speakingtohe]

Wow I am impressed.

I got brave and tried auto manage turned on.
For some reason the tags were back in the Sony plugin template so I had 486 collections for 99 books. Eeek!!! I thought

I changed the template and plugged in the reader and voila all the books were back in their original collections.

How cool is that.

They are all sorted alphabetically, but maybe if I sort by series in Calibre it will resort them on reader?

Thanks to all the calibre developers
Helen

[chaley]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I changed the template and plugged in the reader and voila all the books were back in their original collections.

How cool is that.

I am happy that it works for you!

They are all sorted alphabetically, but maybe if I sort by series in Calibre it will resort them on reader?

Now that confuses me. I assume that the collections are built from series. Such collections are supposed to be in series order! If they are not, then I (we?) have some debugging to do.

No hurry, though.

[speakingtohe]

hmmm...
Perhaps I don't have something right.
Used to be when I sorted in calibre on series and sent to device that is how the books appeared (or am I just imagining things?)
Deleted a series of 52 books an resent them in series order and still in in alphabetical order.
Probably I have something set wrong somewhere.
Not a big deal anyway.
Helen

[itimpi]

Are you sure that you have the series information set correctly in Calibre, and also have the Sony driver set to make series into collections?

If you have and it is not working then I am sure that there will be those who would like to get to the bottom of why in case others encounter the same issue.

[speakingtohe]

Probably not. I am packing to move and suffering from fuzzy brain and frustration. Not a pretty picture.

I am sure if others are having same problem you would have heard by now.

Any way not a problem. I'll check an old library backup and see what I have messed up.

Thanks
Helen

[chaley]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

hmmm...
Perhaps I don't have something right.
Used to be when I sorted in calibre on series and sent to device that is how the books appeared (or am I just imagining things?)
Deleted a series of 52 books an resent them in series order and still in in alphabetical order.
Probably I have something set wrong somewhere.
Not a big deal anyway.
Helen

I just tried about 15 different ways of testing this, and it always worked for me. Now, of course, that doesn't mean much, because it isn't working for you. Frustrating. My wife often has computer 'glitches'. She calls me, I look at her screen, I see the remains of the glitch, I do what she did, and it works. She screams. She has decided that I am required to sit next to her while she is working, glaring at her computer, so it will work reliably.

Attempts at humor aside, lets see if we can make some progress.

First, books will be sorted in series order *only* in the collection that matches that series. In all other places, and especially collections built from tags, the books will be sorted in title_sort order.

Second, books will be sorted in collections order *only* if 'series' is in the collections box in device customization.

Third: if a tag and a series have the same value, then strange things will happen.

Any help?

[speakingtohe]

Pretty sure it is just me.
Don't waste any more time on it although I appreciate the effort.

Just sold my laptop in preparation for the great trip back to civilisation and my real computer.

Again thanks and I am sure it will all be ducky.

Still impressed with the auto manage function

Helen