Calibre

[iceman00]

Hello

I've justed registred on this site to ask a question regarding Calibre. I hope someone can help. I have a couple of thousands books in calibre and it is useful, but is the fact I have so many books the reason for it to be very slow when starting up, editing Meta data etc.

It painfully slow and was wondering if there is any way to improve the response other than removed several hundred books.

Thanks in advance

[Knipfty]

ice,

We need more info? What kind of computer are you using? CPU? RAM?

Was it slow when there was only a couple of hundred books? Or was it always slow?

What version of calibre? and what OS are you using?

[iceman00]

Sorry should know better.

Windows 7 PC with 4gb RAM. INtel Core 2 Duo CPU 3GHZ. Have the latest version of Calibre 0.6.43.

Never had only a couple of books in Calibre so can't see if it was okay before.

All software is up to date with the latest updates.

Is there an easy way of removing books and then putting them back again? I have done a lot of work updating the meta data so don't want to do anything that will lose all that work.

Thanks

[itimpi]

In terms of performance - are you using network drives or USB drives? If so these impact performance although there are steps you can take to minimise the effect.

When you talk about removing books but retaining metadata I presume you mean you want to remove a particular book file but retain the Calibre entry? If so you can do this via the Edit Metadata dialog which provides for adding/removing particular book formats.

[iceman00]

I'm using internal Sata drives.

If I delete books from Calibre, when I import them back will they retain their manually updated meta data?

Thanks

[cvkemp]

the updates you have made are only in the database you have to save the books to harddrive or another location for the ebook file itsself to be updated.

[iceman00]

Can you tell me where the DB is stored with all the meta data?

One last question as I'm getting off topic. The size of the files and folders I imported into Calibre are 40.8GB. When I look at the calibre folder where it stores the files at the following location C:Users\Mike\MyDocuments\Library the folder size is 69.7GB. Can anyone explain this please?

Thanks

[cvkemp]

the database should be in the library folder. I am not sure about why the size what it is. Guess that you have converted ebooks from on version to another this will make copies of the files in the library that calibre is using. Also you said that you have made lots of changes to the metadata that is also stored. And I believe that it also stores images of the book covers separately.
I hope someone else has a better explaination.
chuck

[iceman00]

I'm getting the book covers too so that would explain the size.

I'm comparing the files of one of the books I imported to see what Calibre has created. One book as an example, which I only have as a pdf, has 2 pdf versions in the Calibre library along with 2 folders, which also have another pdf version of the book along with mutiple copies of the cover. So from 1 pdf it has created 4 copies of the pdf and 4 covers. If it's done that with all the books that would explain the size. Is that normally what happens when you import a book? I wouldn't think so.

When you scan the books in to Calibre, does it just accept the version they are in, or will it will convert to a deafult version on top, therefore increased duplication and size?

Thanks

[itimpi]

Something is going wrong if there are multiple folders. There should only be one folder per book as listed at the bottom of the page for the book in Calibre. Within that folder there should only eb a single file per book format and a single cover image.

How do the names of these additional ones compare to the one that is mentioned by Calibre? It almost sounds as if some of the files have ben manually copied into the calibre library folders rather than letting Calibre itself do it.

[iceman00]

Apologies there are only 2 not 4 copies.

Each pdf is called exactly the same but are in different folders. One folder ends with (15875) and the other ends in (15878). Calibre is pointing to the folder ending in (15878).

I haven't manually created the other one though. This looks like it's Calibre and how it creates the file structure adding the numbers on the end of the folder when adding books.

Does Calibre create a default book format when adding books? Therefore it's maybe created a pdf of the one that's already there causing the duplicate.

Appreciate your help with this.

[Knipfty]

Iceman00,

I just had (what I consider) and interesting thought:

Was this a new install of Calibre? You 1st install?

When you installed the software, did you already have a directory structure in place where you stored your ebooks? IF so, did you tell Calibre to create its library in the same place? (This could account for the duplicate directories).

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by iceman00

Each pdf is called exactly the same but are in different folders. One folder ends with (15875) and the other ends in (15878). Calibre is pointing to the folder ending in (15878).

When mass importing of books it does what you choose it to do. In this case treat each file as a separate book.

Starson17 is attempting to help with the importing of mass books, read this thread or this enhancement request for info.

[iceman00]

Knipfty

I've had Calibre for a month now. Everytime there is a new version I install into the same folder leaving the same default location for the library.

dwanthny

I agree with what you are saying about treating each file as a seperate book but the book mentioned above where there are 2 copies in the Calibre library, I only have one copy of it, yet in the calibre library there are 2 copies of the PDF and the cover jpg. I haven't manually done anything to the folder. Do you thnik it's because I've only ever imported twice, which could be why there are 2 copies. I can't recall when I imported if I was specific about what in import. I' guessing I just selected the whole library each time. This would explain Calibre creating a second version of the files.

I've just looked at more of the folder structures and it seems that 90% have 2 identical folders the the number change at the end to seperate them. I wonder if this is because

I've an idea. If I install Calibre on my laptop and scan the library in I could see if it has created 1 or 2 copies of the files. If it's 1 then it must've been when I imported for the second time. I'm going to try it.

Thanks guys.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by iceman00

I agree with what you are saying about treating each file as a seperate book but the book mentioned above where there are 2 copies in the Calibre library, I only have one copy of it, yet in the calibre library there are 2 copies of the PDF and the cover jpg. I haven't manually done anything to the folder. Do you thnik it's because I've only ever imported twice, which could be why there are 2 copies. I can't recall when I imported if I was specific about what in import. I' guessing I just selected the whole library each time. This would explain Calibre creating a second version of the files.

Importing or adding twice would be my guess.

Originally Posted by iceman00

I've just looked at more of the folder structures and it seems that 90% have 2 identical folders the the number change at the end to seperate them.

Do both sets of folders have books in them? 90% duplicate folders seems to be something you may have accidentally done. Are you sure when you search your source directories that you only have one copy?

Originally Posted by iceman00

I've an idea. If I install Calibre on my laptop and scan the library in I could see if it has created 1 or 2 copies of the files. If it's 1 then it must've been when I imported for the second time. I'm going to try it.

It will only create what you tell it. The good news though is if it only creates one on your laptop then you can delete the other and transfer this new structure to your PC.