Pause Full text indexing

[srv181]

I work with Calibre every day, often adding or removing books. Right now, my full text database is 3.5 Giga. Since I am syncing my Calibre Folder for the library with OneDrive, this means that the .db gets uploaded constantly. Yesterday I uploaded (unintentionally) more than 15 GB because of this.

Is there some way to pause indexing so that the .db does not get a new time stamp?

What happens if I turn off the indexing option in the full text window? Does the existing file get deleted or does it just stop indexing new things.

I would be happy to turn it off and only restart indexing once a week or so.

Thanks for any tips you may have,
Susanne

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by srv181

I work with Calibre every day, often adding or removing books. Right now, my full text database is 3.5 Giga. Since I am syncing my Calibre Folder for the library with OneDrive, this means that the .db gets uploaded constantly. Yesterday I uploaded (unintentionally) more than 15 GB because of this.

Is there some way to pause indexing so that the .db does not get a new time stamp?

What happens if I turn off the indexing option in the full text window? Does the existing file get deleted or does it just stop indexing new things.

I would be happy to turn it off and only restart indexing once a week or so.

Thanks for any tips you may have,
Susanne

Live syncing your calibre library to the cloud (OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, GoogleDrive etc) or any other form of network storage should be avoided, see ==>> I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS?

Live Syncing: running the sync tool and calibre concurrently - i.e. at the same time.

What is your reason for syncing the library to OneDrive? Do you need the full text search database to be there?

BR

[kovidgoyal]

No you cannot pause indexing, if you turn it off it no longer has a way to track what books were not indexed while it was off. SO it will re-index everything. I suggest you simply exclude the index file from your sync tool.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No you cannot pause indexing, if you turn it off it no longer has a way to track what books were not indexed while it was off. SO it will re-index everything. I suggest you simply exclude the index file from your sync tool.

AFAIK: the consumer version of Onedrive only supports folder exclusions, i.e. can't exclude files.

BR

[srv181]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

AFAIK: the consumer version of Onedrive only supports folder exclusions, i.e. can't exclude files.

BR

Thanks for your answers.
I sync to OneDrive because it's a good way to backup the libraries as well as often having access to books on other devices without hassles.

I am aware of the warnings about syncing in the post mentioned, but honestly, I've been using this method for years and have never had a problem.

The only thing that seems to help is this:
1. turn off sync on Onedrive (which has to be done every 24 hours, or by logging out)
2. work normally in Calibre
3. close Calibre
4. move the full-text.db to a directory that is not being synced
5. let OneDrive sync everything else
6. move the full-text.db back to the Calibre library folder
7. turn off Onedrive sync again

then, once a week or so, I let OneDrive sync everything

>>> it works but is tedious and problematic because it means that other (non-Calibre) Folders are not geting synced.

Anyway, I appreciate your attention to the question

[chaley]

Originally Posted by srv181

I am aware of the warnings about syncing in the post mentioned, but honestly, I've been using this method for years and have never had a problem.

If I had a pound for every time I've seen this here on MobileRead soon followed by "My library is broken!", I would be rich.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by srv181

Thanks for your answers.
I sync to OneDrive because it's a good way to backup the libraries as well as often having access to books on other devices without hassles.

I am aware of the warnings about syncing in the post mentioned, but honestly, I've been using this method for years and have never had a problem.

That's what many people who Live Sync (running calibre and a sync tool concurrently) say, and then they have a problem and they have to rebuild their library as best they can.

Originally Posted by srv181

The only thing that seems to help is this:
1. turn off sync on Onedrive (which has to be done every 24 hours, or by logging out)
2. work normally in Calibre
3. close Calibre
4. move the full-text.db to a directory that is not being synced
5. let OneDrive sync everything else
6. move the full-text.db back to the Calibre library folder
7. turn off Onedrive sync again

then, once a week or so, I let OneDrive sync everything

>>> it works but is tedious and problematic because it means that other (non-Calibre) Folders are not geting synced.

Anyway, I appreciate your attention to the question

It's safer and just as, or even more, efficient to use a third party sync tool to backup your calibre library - but run it periodically (e.g. once a day) when calibre is not running. Here's a list of potential candidates ==>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...ation_software

Many of them will synch to cloud storage, and support file exclusion. Be sure to only do one way syncs (mirroring) on calibre libraries.

I like GoodSync, mainly because it was one of the few robust sync tools when I first started using it about 15 years ago. FreeFileSync and rsynch are also popular amongst calibre users. I exclude the full-text-search.db file and the .caltrash folders.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by chaley

If I had a pound for every time I've seen this here on MobileRead soon followed by "My library is broken!", I would be rich.

And you would have enough to give me 1/2 and both of us would be rich.
I betcha you could include BR and still have plenty

[BetterRed]

He didn't say what sort of pounds — TR and EG £s ain't worth a QV quarter anna (face value)

[DNSB]

Sometimes I feel as we are dogpiling posters who want to use their calibre libraries with cloud storage. OTOH, I have to agree that there have been so many posts with almost identical wording, that it's hard to resist the "it's not a question of if, it's a question of when" responses.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

He didn't say what sort of pounds — TR and EG £s ain't worth a QV quarter anna (face value)

And if you use the unit of mass, you'd be morbidly obese.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sometimes I feel as we are dogpiling posters who want to use their calibre libraries with cloud storage. OTOH, I have to agree that there have been so many posts with almost identical wording, that it's hard to resist the "it's not a question of if, it's a question of when" responses.

It can be scripted of course, but given the prevailing mindset that every bell & whistle known to man, should have a One-Click button in every application known to man, maybe its time for a Calibre Closed plugin that does a folder/file mirror synch of selected libraries & config folder to a designated cloud service… after closing everything of course.

BR

[theducks]

Anyone (of us) who has worked in IT has probably run into cases of users with "scheduled backups", that when needed, every one turned out to be total garbage ... for weeks .

No one even reviewed the log or tested one.

[DNSB]

Been there, done that. Quite a while back, our new backup software was in use for 3 months before an attempt to restore a file from a backup was made and it was realized that the software and tape library was running in test mode.

After that, we had a Monday task to check the full backup run over the weekend to make sure that you could restore a test file.

[srv181]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Sometimes I feel as we are dogpiling posters who want to use their calibre libraries with cloud storage. OTOH, I have to agree that there have been so many posts with almost identical wording, that it's hard to resist the "it's not a question of if, it's a question of when" responses.

Well, I suppose I asked for it, but I do wonder what the deal with the dogpile is. Is it a pile of dogs that I have joined, or maybe the piles they leave?

And yes: “The child is grown, the dream is gone. I have become comfortably numb.”

I promise not to raise this subject again.