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Old 11-29-2012, 10:01 AM   #1
csg1964
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Question Newbie with hopefully not stupid questions

I am trying to organize a really large - and growing - collection of eBooks in a lot of different formats.

First - please explain if Calibre makes another copy of my eBooks - I'm running out of disk space! (A current project is organizing my hard drive, with regard to all the 'stuff' I've saved over the years - eBooks, music, pictures - stored on my laptop and 3 externals right now! Anyone have a system for this?)

.. and if yes, it does make a copy, can I delete the copy I have in an "eBooks" folder that I'm having Calibre read from once they are copied?

I am wondering if it's easier to keep my Kindle for PC books separate from my Calibre library - since I have no desire to convert them individually. While I do have multiple formats of some books, I don't for all.

In essence - I have multiple formats of books in multiple folders, and I really just want ONE copy of each.

I also have a Cruz eBook reader, and a smartphone, that I'd eventually like to transfer some of my eBooks to, to carry around. I haven't the slightest clue how to begin syncing this. I'd like to copy some books to these devices, and then delete them when I'm done, keeping the original eBook on an external device to hold my collection.

I'd also like to be able to add any acquired eBooks to the storage on the external, without duplicates.

Would anyone like to take on the project of explaining solutions to me? I'd SO appreciate it!!
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Old 11-29-2012, 10:04 AM   #2
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Welcome to MobileRead, csg1964.........

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Old 11-29-2012, 10:06 AM   #3
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Yes Calibre make and manages the copy.
Yes you can delete or ARCHIVE (hint ) the copy as soon as the BOOK import has completed.
I did small Batches (20-30), verified the Main metadata (looked correct. If the titles<-> authors are wrong, you can get really confused. fix and continue while the original is handy)
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Old 11-29-2012, 10:49 AM   #4
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Thanks for the response!

What about the books that are NOT in my Kindle for PC? You know, the ones I've downloaded and keep in just "my eBooks" folder.

What about the multiple formats? Do I need them? Do I separate them out, or does Kindle find them? I'm really clueless....
Thanks again!

__________________________________________________ __________



Quote:
Originally Posted by theducks View Post
Yes Calibre make and manages the copy.
Yes you can delete or ARCHIVE (hint ) the copy as soon as the BOOK import has completed.
I did small Batches (20-30), verified the Main metadata (looked correct. If the titles<-> authors are wrong, you can get really confused. fix and continue while the original is handy)
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Old 11-29-2012, 10:57 AM   #5
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Thanks!!!!





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Welcome to MobileRead, csg1964.........

I cannot answer your questions, but I'm sure one or more of our helpful members will be along shortly........Enjoy the forums.......
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Old 11-29-2012, 11:31 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by csg1964 View Post
First - please explain if Calibre makes another copy of my eBooks

.. and if yes, it does make a copy, can I delete the copy I have in an "eBooks" folder that I'm having Calibre read from once they are copied?
Yes, Calibre uses it's own database, with an accompanying folderstructure which holds the content.

Quote:
Originally Posted by csg1964 View Post
I am wondering if it's easier to keep my Kindle for PC books separate from my Calibre library - since I have no desire to convert them individually. While I do have multiple formats of some books, I don't for all.
Why should you?

Quote:
Originally Posted by csg1964 View Post
In essence - I have multiple formats of books in multiple folders, and I really just want ONE copy of each.
Just use Calibre, and structurize the books in it. Merge double books, and, if wanted, delete the double formats.

Quote:
Originally Posted by csg1964 View Post
I also have a Cruz eBook reader, and a smartphone, that I'd eventually like to transfer some of my eBooks to, to carry around. I haven't the slightest clue how to begin syncing this. I'd like to copy some books to these devices, and then delete them when I'm done, keeping the original eBook on an external device to hold my collection.

I'd also like to be able to add any acquired eBooks to the storage on the external, without duplicates.
And, if the device is stolen, or damaged or... loose your content? I think you should see Calibre as a central database. From there you fill your devices with whatever content you like. Yes, you do have at least double copies, but you also have a more redundant storage system.
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Old 12-21-2012, 09:51 PM   #7
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I have hundreds of books... maybe closer to a thousand.

I don't mind having a Kindle for PC for my Kindle format, and Calibre for all the rest.

I'm just not sure why having multiple formats is desirable for a personal collection, and I'm not really wanting to convert books I've downloaded in the Kindle format into a format for my Calibre.

By organizing, I'm hoping to not only save hd space but making things a bit simpler.

Thanks again for all the responses!!

__________________________________________________ ________


And, if the device is stolen, or damaged or... loose your content? I think you should see Calibre as a central database. From there you fill your devices with whatever content you like. Yes, you do have at least double copies, but you also have a more redundant storage system.[/QUOTE]
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Old 12-22-2012, 03:23 PM   #8
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That answers that :)

Thanks OP for asking this, I was curious as well.

So calibre is a tool used to produce a nice organized library from whatever you dump into it. Kinda like iTunes, as opposed to foobar.

It's good to know I can just copy everything into calibre and then delete the original folder once I'm satisfied with the calibre library and have it backed up somewhere. (I use portable so this is a simple matter of copy/paste.)
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Old 12-22-2012, 06:01 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by csg1964 View Post
I have hundreds of books... maybe closer to a thousand.

I don't mind having a Kindle for PC for my Kindle format, and Calibre for all the rest.

I'm just not sure why having multiple formats is desirable for a personal collection, and I'm not really wanting to convert books I've downloaded in the Kindle format into a format for my Calibre.
Hi csg! I'm also pretty new, and I think you may be under some of the same false assumptions that I was originally. I hope all the following info is correct (since I'm also pretty new). If it isn't, hopefully one of the gurus will correct any wrong info.

First, Calibre is not primarily an ereader, but an ebook ORGANIZER. As such, there is really nothing akin to a "Calibre format". What happens with Calibre, is that it creates a library of any books that you import into it. When you look at an individual book, it tells you how many formats of that book that you have (and which formats they are). You can then use various tags and categories to organize what you have.

I have a situation similar to what you have. I have a Nook Color that I have sideloaded a number of books onto from various sites, as well as having books on it that I bought from B&N. However, it has gotten really tough to organize everything, and I actually bought duplicates a couple of times. Therefore, I loaded everything into Calibre in order to have a database of everything that I read. I have everything organized into series (and even "sub-series"), and have created a custom column that gives me a read/unread toggle.

Hopefully this helps.
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Old 12-26-2012, 07:17 AM   #10
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Needlehawk is correct. There is no "calibre format" ebook. The calibre software simply acts like a file management system and a card catalog, combined together. There are lots of extra features, but when you simplify it all down that is calibre's real function.

When you add a book to calibre, it keeps the book in the original file format - it just makes a copy. If you need a different format, calibre can covert the book on demand. As to the "best" format to keep books in (and possibly deleting all others)... all of the existing ebook formats have slightly differing features and implementations. So there are substantial differences between ebook formats of what features are allowed. Some cannot handle images at all. Others don't allow drop caps, margins, alignment (centered, justified, etc), font faces, font size, etc while others do. Basically ebook formats are like HTML v2.00 - it's pretty good, but woefully short of being able to mimic what can be done with full-color printing and professional layout.

Having put all your books into calibre, you can delete them, but it is suggested that you always keep two back-up copies of any and all computer data in case of catastrophic failure. Disks (cd, dvd, blu-ray) are not always viable over time; HDD are actually a safer option. But for safety this means having at least two off-line copies (1 disk and 1 HDD copy) just in case. Overkill, but better safe than sorry.
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