corrupt metadata.db and redoing library

Dopedangel · 12-24-2009, 09:42 AM

I had to redo my library a few times because of database corruption. It was okay when I had a few books now that they are over a few hundred if I ever have to do over it will be really annoying. Plus for a few books I had changed the metadata in calibre but inside they still had the old metadata and covers so when I recreatred my library I had to redo a lot of it again

So I was wondering is saving the metadata of each book in its own folder in a xml file a better Idea. So even if I loose my metadata.db
calibre can have an option to rescan and make a new database from the xml files. So there is no need to re add all the books as that takes a long time as calibre tries to find metadata from each book.

itimpi · 12-24-2009, 10:45 AM

I wonder if Calibre should always save the .opf file with each book (rather like there is always a cover.jpg fle. It would certainly make recovering much easier and I cannot see any obvious downside other than the trivial amount of disk space it would consume. After all that file is always there when you do a "Save to Disk".

I guess a comment from Kovid on this idea would be useful?

kovidgoyal · 12-24-2009, 11:09 AM

It already does save the OPF file, unless you tell it not to.

Dopedangel · 12-30-2009, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It already does save the OPF file, unless you tell it not to.

That is for using the save to or send to device function
Where as I am talking about the actual library so that for if any reason the database gets corrupted. Calibre can rescan and remake it without having to manually add each ebook and remake the whole database all over again

kovidgoyal · 12-30-2009, 11:27 AM

The downside would be a slowdown. The OPF file would have to be regenerated for each metadata change and because access to the database is multithreaded the file would have to locked and unlocked to prevent corruption.

Dopedangel · 01-01-2010, 04:10 PM

That's true maybe an option to update opf files when closing calibre.

My main problem is database corruption so maybe calibre could make a backup file of the database every session so if there is corruption we can revert back to an older database

kovidgoyal · 01-01-2010, 04:49 PM

Why not just backup your library using whatever backup solution you normally use

12-24-2009, 09:42 AM	#1
Dopedangel Wizard Posts: 1,759 Karma: 30063305 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Singapore Device: Boyue	corrupt metadata.db and redoing library I had to redo my library a few times because of database corruption. It was okay when I had a few books now that they are over a few hundred if I ever have to do over it will be really annoying. Plus for a few books I had changed the metadata in calibre but inside they still had the old metadata and covers so when I recreatred my library I had to redo a lot of it again So I was wondering is saving the metadata of each book in its own folder in a xml file a better Idea. So even if I loose my metadata.db calibre can have an option to rescan and make a new database from the xml files. So there is no need to re add all the books as that takes a long time as calibre tries to find metadata from each book.

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12-24-2009, 10:45 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	I wonder if Calibre should always save the .opf file with each book (rather like there is always a cover.jpg fle. It would certainly make recovering much easier and I cannot see any obvious downside other than the trivial amount of disk space it would consume. After all that file is always there when you do a "Save to Disk". I guess a comment from Kovid on this idea would be useful?

12-24-2009, 11:09 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,859 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	It already does save the OPF file, unless you tell it not to.

12-30-2009, 11:27 AM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,859 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The downside would be a slowdown. The OPF file would have to be regenerated for each metadata change and because access to the database is multithreaded the file would have to locked and unlocked to prevent corruption.

01-01-2010, 04:10 PM	#6
Dopedangel Wizard Posts: 1,759 Karma: 30063305 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Singapore Device: Boyue	That's true maybe an option to update opf files when closing calibre. My main problem is database corruption so maybe calibre could make a backup file of the database every session so if there is corruption we can revert back to an older database

01-01-2010, 04:49 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,859 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Why not just backup your library using whatever backup solution you normally use

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