Nexus 7 - scanning folders?

[Truthowl]

I have a Nexus 7, it was an early xmas present, but when I plug it into my computer with calibre running, or start Calibre with it already plugged in, it seems to take several minutes 'scanning the device'. When I open jobs it seems to be scanning the entire 32gigs. Is there a way to make it scan only 1 directory? Or 1 directory and all it's sub-directories would be even better?

Also, not interested in CC. I already bought Calibre Library and never got it working on my old Pandigital. I just want to use Calibre to transfer my books to my device when I'm ready for a new selection.

It's really not that terrible, I guess, with the time it takes. But sitting around waiting several minutes for it to scan for the few books I have on there seems wasteful and a bit frustrating. It makes me not want to do it that often. I love to read, but sitting there watching it slowly scan through id's and then my images folders is... well, kind of like watching paint dry.

I guess I can just 'save to disk' and then drag and drop the files into my Nexus 7's Books folder. But I'm hoping there's a setting that I've overlooked that'll make it scan in only a specific location.

Sorry if the tone of this seems like a complaint. I Googled and read a post about someone having a long scanning issue and it frustrated me that he was basically hounded to buy the CC thing. It never said anything about being able to select a folder to scan, or not. lol Basically wasted my time reading a commercial I guess.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Truthowl

I have a Nexus 7, it was an early xmas present, but when I plug it into my computer with calibre running, or start Calibre with it already plugged in, it seems to take several minutes 'scanning the device'. When I open jobs it seems to be scanning the entire 32gigs. Is there a way to make it scan only 1 directory? Or 1 directory and all it's sub-directories would be even better?

Also, not interested in CC. I already bought Calibre Library and never got it working on my old Pandigital. I just want to use Calibre to transfer my books to my device when I'm ready for a new selection.

It's really not that terrible, I guess, with the time it takes. But sitting around waiting several minutes for it to scan for the few books I have on there seems wasteful and a bit frustrating. It makes me not want to do it that often. I love to read, but sitting there watching it slowly scan through id's and then my images folders is... well, kind of like watching paint dry.

I guess I can just 'save to disk' and then drag and drop the files into my Nexus 7's Books folder. But I'm hoping there's a setting that I've overlooked that'll make it scan in only a specific location.

Sorry if the tone of this seems like a complaint. I Googled and read a post about someone having a long scanning issue and it frustrated me that he was basically hounded to buy the CC thing. It never said anything about being able to select a folder to scan, or not. lol Basically wasted my time reading a commercial I guess.

Question has been asked before (recently).

Answer: Not at this time.

[PeterT]

Do keep in mind that all of the developers of calibre do it on their own time, and work on features that interest them.

If they don't feel like filtering or limiting directories scans, guess what... it won't happen.

Sorry that you had a bad experience with calibre library, but that has nothing at all to do with any of the developers here. Calibre Companion on the other hand is supported by one of the main calibre developers and gets glowing reviews.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Truthowl

When I open jobs it seems to be scanning the entire 32gigs. Is there a way to make it scan only 1 directory? Or 1 directory and all it's sub-directories would be even better?

No. If you are connecting to calibre as a device via MTP then there is no way to limit the scanning of your device.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

I already bought Calibre Library and never got it working on my old Pandigital.

The Calibre Library App has absolutely no ties to calibre and as such your past experience with this app is of no concern to this conversation.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

Also, not interested in CC.
... I just want to use Calibre to transfer my books to my device when I'm ready for a new selection.

Actually if you have a wireless router in your house, want to limit the directories calibre scans and you want to use "Calibre to transfer my books to my device" then you do want Calibre Companion (CC). This app does exactly what you state you want to do.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

Sorry if the tone of this seems like a complaint.

The long scanning time via MTP has frustrated folks so your tone in reference to this issue is understandable.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

I Googled and read a post about someone having a long scanning issue and it frustrated me that he was basically hounded to buy the CC thing.

This is currently the only option there is to the book scanning issue. No one has ever been hounded.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

It never said anything about being able to select a folder to scan, or not. lol Basically wasted my time reading a commercial I guess.

I cannot recall any thread about the scanning device issue that did not state that there currently wasn't a way to limit this if you connect to your device via MTP.

Bottom line is if you have a wireless router in your house, Calibre Companion is the solution to your problem. I have a Nexus 7 with 2026 books on it. Using CC I was able to connect to calibre and update all metadata on my device in 1 minute and 18 seconds. It only scanned the directories I have configured to hold my books. I also have the ability to not scan for new books.

Good Luck.

[Steve_Haley]

Originally Posted by Truthowl

Also, not interested in CC. I already bought Calibre Library and never got it working on my old Pandigital.
[...]
I Googled and read a post about someone having a long scanning issue and it frustrated me that he was basically hounded to buy the CC thing.
[...]
It never said anything about being able to select a folder to scan, or not. lol Basically wasted my time reading a commercial I guess.

Sorry if I sound like I'm adding to the 'hounding' to buy CC - but a few quick points. (Full disclosure - I'm one of the CC developers.)

1. Despite the extremely similar names, Calibre Library isn't linked to Calibre Companion at all, and I gather it isn't linked to calibre on the desktop either. CC is somewhere in-between being a 3rd party app and the official app; that's because it's written by two people, one of whom (chaley on this forum) is a regular contributor to calibre. That's how our app can integrate so well - chaley knows when something's going to change, and can make sure our plugin stays up to date.

Saying that, the main calibre developer (Kovid Goyal) is not on the CC team.


2. If you try our app and aren't happy, just email me the order number and I can refund the purchase. Most people are extremely pleased with it, but every so often I have to cancel someone's order. It's not a big deal.


I won't go through the other points, as DoctorOhh has already answered them. (And he's not even on our team, just a dedicated fan!)

[Truthowl]

Alright, this is why I mentioned I wasn't interested in CC. I didn't want to go off topic and get into a flame war. I'm new to posting here, so noone knows me and/or what I'm like. So I'm replying, simply to point out that I'm not a lier or an ass... well, maybe I am an ass after all, since I am pointing out my facts, but I'd like to continue being welcome here. So here goes:

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

This is currently the only option there is to the book scanning issue. No one has ever been hounded.

I cannot recall any thread about the scanning device issue that did not state that there currently wasn't a way to limit this if you connect to your device via MTP.

Here's a link to the article/topic/thread I mentioned:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/arc.../t-192257.html

The above article/topic/thread may help you recall what I mentioned. You were also party to that thread. From the way it's formatted on that page it almost looks like your the one 'hounding' the guy transmitthis. But after my need to support my last post, I went back, and now see, it was likely PeterT who hounded him. His comment has been removed, which I didn't notice my first read through. I'm sorry Doc, for thinking that of you. I now see where you also stated your disapproval of the hounding.

The guy went out of his way to be polite and try to keep the discussion on topic. But even my second time through I still do not see where it was explained that there was no way to minimize scanning time(except by buying an unwanted additional app). The thread ends with Doc pointing to a link and mentioning 'progress feedback'.

@Steve_Haley I may decide to get CC after all. But not for this need. I don't see the point. Adding a function that allows the user to choose a directory and setting that choice to a global or local variable isn't all that difficult. Not that I'm saying what I asked SHOULD be implemented. Hell, I never even said, nor indicated, that the developers must implement such a feature. I was simply asking about my particular issue. PeterT is the one that made it appear so.

@Doc, Thank you. Your first quoted response answered my question. Currently I'm using the 'save to disk' function to accomplish what I want.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Truthowl

Here's a link to the article/topic/thread I mentioned:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/arc.../t-192257.html

The above article/topic/thread may help you recall what I mentioned.

A few things pop out to me about this thread. First, calibre's MTP implementation was a brand new feature and was exactly one week old, other quirks were still being addressed. Second, the Original Poster of this thread was Post-It and the problem was his calibre locked up when connected to his device. The developer suggested he reboot his device, then suggested he reboot his computer. Post-It immediately responded that his device was working again.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

The guy went out of his way to be polite and try to keep the discussion on topic.

"The guy" (transmitthis) was doing two things. He was trying to help the original poster by sharing his experience and he was straying off topic by asking new questions.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

But even my second time through I still do not see where it was explained that there was no way to minimize scanning time(except by buying an unwanted additional app).

As stated this was not the question originally asked in the thread. It is possible transmitthis was the first to ask the question, but he did it in the middle of a thread dedicated to getting someone going again that was having problems and as such his specific question seems to have been lost. I responded after the initial problem was solved. transmitthis next post made it clear he was aware of calibre's limitation in regards to scanning directories.

Originally Posted by transmitthis

Update - Shame that calibre doesn't implement the useful features you talk about in your update, "single folder scanning" user choice scans, etc.

Where he learned of this fact I don't know (another thread I suspect), but it is clear his question has been answered.

Originally Posted by Truthowl

@Doc, Thank you. Your first quoted response answered my question. Currently I'm using the 'save to disk' function to accomplish what I want.

You're welcome.

[weedy]

I am bitten by this, scanning takes 25-30minutes.
I started googling and came to this forum and the numerous threads with users complaining and devs saying "we have to do it this way, buy CC if you don't like it".
I would just like to point out we DON'T have to do it this way. Yes using full file system enumeration is the way almost all applications use MTP, but that is not how windows explorer does it. And as of the past few months we have been cluing into this. First with a proof of concept from google https://github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs/, and then a nice fork of gfvs from Phillip https://github.com/philipl/gvfs. And that is just what I found in 5 minutes.
I don't know if this will change how MTP is implemented, but on-demand file enumeration is not hard. I'm just tired of seeing the same excuse/statement.

Also why can't we set ignores for the data after the fact? Calibre is showing everything from app data in /storage/sdcard0/Android/data to crap in /storage/sdcard0/bugreports as ebooks. And it's really annoying. We already default to "Calibre_Companion, Books, eBooks/import, eBooks, wordplayer/calibretransfer, sdcard/ebooks, kindle", if we find one of those directories why are we displaying EVERYTHING else on top of it?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by weedy

I would just like to point out we DON'T have to do it this way. Yes using full file system enumeration is the way almost all applications use MTP, but that is not how windows explorer does it. And as of the past few months we have been cluing into this. First with a proof of concept from google https://github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs/, and then a nice fork of gfvs from Phillip https://github.com/philipl/gvfs. And that is just what I found in 5 minutes.
I don't know if this will change how MTP is implemented, but on-demand file enumeration is not hard. I'm just tired of seeing the same excuse/statement.

You are welcome to do the work and submit the patch. As it "is not hard" it shouldn't take you too long, and you will make some people happy.

PS: I am one of the developers who might choose to do this work. However, I have zero need for or interest in it, so am not willing to spend the time to do the implementation and maintenance.

[kovidgoyal]

@weedy: No developer has ever said it cant be done. Just that they (I) dont want to do it as I have higher priorities at the moment. Your options are:

1) Submit a patch.
2) Try to motivate me to implement it.
3) Bitch and moan

Note:

a) (2) and (3) are mutually exclusive.
b) I already know how to implement partial filesystem scanning. Any fool that spends 10 minutes reading the MTP spec would know how to do that. It just takes time and effort. And all the time and effort come from making the system robust and well tested. So posting links to wrappers of libmtp written in Go is pointless.