Moving Calibre to new PC

Kaetrin · 02-19-2012, 10:38 PM

Hello, The PC where I had all my books stored died. Before the hard drive gave up the ghost altogether, I was able to store all my books and the Calibre files and folders from the hard drive onto a USB and I've transferred that data over to our other PC now. I've also downloaded Calibre to that PC as I understand that a programme can't just be copied over but that it has to be installed to the Windows registry.

I've put the data from the old hard drive into the same folder where the new install of Calibre is on the PC but my books are not showing up.

Can someone please tell me how I get my old Calibre library to be readable on the new PC?

We are running Windows 7 Ultimate on our PC, in case that's relevant. Please let me know if you need any more information.

thx for any help

davidfor · 02-19-2012, 10:48 PM

Start up Calibre and then on the toolbar, press the library button (looks like the Calibre icon and probably has the number of books in your library under it). Then select "Switch/create library...". On the dialog, enter or navigate to the location of your library, choose the "Use the previously..." option and press the OK button. Your old library should open up.

Kaetrin · 02-20-2012, 12:26 AM

Thx.

After I posted I read the FAQ and tried the suggestions there as well. The previous library was just pointing to "my documents". I copied everything from there and pasted into a new folder I called "calibre library". However, when I tried to point Calibre there, I receive an error message saying that there is no Calibre library at that location. What am I doing wrong? Any clues?

Thx

itimpi · 02-20-2012, 02:14 AM

Did your backup of the library include everything in the calibre library folder? In particular did it include the metadata.db file that is at the top level of the calibre library folder that Calibre uses to store and track metadata?

If that is missing (as sounds like it might be from your post) then you may have to set up a new calibre library and re-add the books.

You also mentioned putting the new library in the same location as the program? If by this you mean put it in the Calibre2 folder under Program Files then you should not do this as under Windows 7 permissions may stop calibre having write access to the library in that location. The library should be somewhere else which has no such access restrictions.

Kaetrin · 02-20-2012, 02:34 AM

thank you - problem solvered! It's all back now.

02-19-2012, 10:38 PM	#1
Kaetrin Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 9402 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Moving Calibre to new PC Hello, The PC where I had all my books stored died. Before the hard drive gave up the ghost altogether, I was able to store all my books and the Calibre files and folders from the hard drive onto a USB and I've transferred that data over to our other PC now. I've also downloaded Calibre to that PC as I understand that a programme can't just be copied over but that it has to be installed to the Windows registry. I've put the data from the old hard drive into the same folder where the new install of Calibre is on the PC but my books are not showing up. Can someone please tell me how I get my old Calibre library to be readable on the new PC? We are running Windows 7 Ultimate on our PC, in case that's relevant. Please let me know if you need any more information. thx for any help

02-20-2012, 02:14 AM	#4
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	Did your backup of the library include everything in the calibre library folder? In particular did it include the metadata.db file that is at the top level of the calibre library folder that Calibre uses to store and track metadata? If that is missing (as sounds like it might be from your post) then you may have to set up a new calibre library and re-add the books. You also mentioned putting the new library in the same location as the program? If by this you mean put it in the Calibre2 folder under Program Files then you should not do this as under Windows 7 permissions may stop calibre having write access to the library in that location. The library should be somewhere else which has no such access restrictions. Last edited by itimpi; 02-20-2012 at 02:21 AM.

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02-19-2012, 10:48 PM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Start up Calibre and then on the toolbar, press the library button (looks like the Calibre icon and probably has the number of books in your library under it). Then select "Switch/create library...". On the dialog, enter or navigate to the location of your library, choose the "Use the previously..." option and press the OK button. Your old library should open up.

02-20-2012, 12:26 AM	#3
Kaetrin Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 9402 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Thx. After I posted I read the FAQ and tried the suggestions there as well. The previous library was just pointing to "my documents". I copied everything from there and pasted into a new folder I called "calibre library". However, when I tried to point Calibre there, I receive an error message saying that there is no Calibre library at that location. What am I doing wrong? Any clues? Thx

02-20-2012, 02:34 AM	#5
Kaetrin Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 9402 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O	thank you - problem solvered! It's all back now.