Calibre running on more than 1 computer

sadievan · 09-24-2011, 12:26 AM

I have Calibre on an external hard drive. I have a laptop and desktop both accessing this hard drive. Will I run into problems if more than one computer is running Calibre at the same time from this hard drive? I leave my desktop running all the time and was thinking of leaving Calibre running on that one all the time so I can run the content server from it. I mostly use my laptop for my ebook activity, but that is not running all the time. Hope I am making myself clear.

Carol

itimpi · 09-24-2011, 02:37 AM

You will have problems if more than one copy of Calibre ever attempts to update its library and/or database as each copy will assume it has exclusive access and this can result in one copy of Calibre overwriting changes made by the other copy. This can occur if you make changes on one computer, and then leave Calibre running and switch to the other one to make changes.

Work is under way to rework the Calibre database layer to support multiple Calibre instances running against the same library safely, but there is no ETA for when this will be ready.

Having said that, it is OK for the Content Server to run in parallel with Calibre as the Content Server never tries to update anything. You can start the Content Server from the command line without loading the main Calibre program, and it sounds as if this is what you should be doing in your case.

sadievan · 09-24-2011, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itimpi

You will have problems if more than one copy of Calibre ever attempts to update its library and/or database as each copy will assume it has exclusive access and this can result in one copy of Calibre overwriting changes made by the other copy. This can occur if you make changes on one computer, and then leave Calibre running and switch to the other one to make changes.

Work is under way to rework the Calibre database layer to support multiple Calibre instances running against the same library safely, but there is no ETA for when this will be ready.

Thanks. I will keep them separate for now. No sense asking for trouble.

Quote:

Having said that, it is OK for the Content Server to run in parallel with Calibre as the Content Server never tries to update anything. You can start the Content Server from the command line without loading the main Calibre program, and it sounds as if this is what you should be doing in your case.

Could you please explain. I'm not understanding this. Also, I take it you cannot shut the computer off for this.

Carol

09-24-2011, 12:26 AM	#1
sadievan Wizard Posts: 1,931 Karma: 5456284 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, iPhone, Kindle Fire HD 6	Calibre running on more than 1 computer I have Calibre on an external hard drive. I have a laptop and desktop both accessing this hard drive. Will I run into problems if more than one computer is running Calibre at the same time from this hard drive? I leave my desktop running all the time and was thinking of leaving Calibre running on that one all the time so I can run the content server from it. I mostly use my laptop for my ebook activity, but that is not running all the time. Hope I am making myself clear. Carol

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09-24-2011, 02:37 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	You will have problems if more than one copy of Calibre ever attempts to update its library and/or database as each copy will assume it has exclusive access and this can result in one copy of Calibre overwriting changes made by the other copy. This can occur if you make changes on one computer, and then leave Calibre running and switch to the other one to make changes. Work is under way to rework the Calibre database layer to support multiple Calibre instances running against the same library safely, but there is no ETA for when this will be ready. Having said that, it is OK for the Content Server to run in parallel with Calibre as the Content Server never tries to update anything. You can start the Content Server from the command line without loading the main Calibre program, and it sounds as if this is what you should be doing in your case.

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