My Calibre Library complete disappeared... any help? - Page 2

kovidgoyal · 07-21-2016, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Fair enough - any plans to make it incremental; allow selective restore; provide a standalone 'unpack' utility ?

BR

No, it is not a backup mechanism, it is a migration mechanism.

BetterRed · 07-21-2016, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No, it is not a backup mechanism, it is a migration mechanism.

Precisely!

DoodleBird · 07-22-2016, 03:32 AM

Out of nowhere my calibre library is suddenly back and fully intact

... what the heck is that... how... should I be concerned that my external HDD is about to crap out on me? How is this possible? And what is more, it is exactly where it was supposed to be... I searched and searched... what in the heck...

I don't know what to make of this... definitely going to make a back up though...

HarryT · 07-22-2016, 04:14 AM

The second thing I would do (the first obviously being to back up your library folder!) is to do a scan of the external drive to look for errors. External drives can and do fail. Always, always have copies of your Calibre library on at least two different drives.

BetterRed · 07-22-2016, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoodleBird

Out of nowhere my calibre library is suddenly back and fully intact

... what the heck is that... how... should I be concerned that my external HDD is about to crap out on me? How is this possible? And what is more, it is exactly where it was supposed to be... I searched and searched... what in the heck...

I don't know what to make of this... definitely going to make a back up though...

That suggests to me that the disks 'index' was tampered with. And you you did something that 'untampered' it. If its an NTFS drive the index is known as the Master File Table (MFT), if its HFS+ I think it's known as the the Index.

My suspicion is that the Dual Boot configuration has something to do with it.

Run chkdsk and manufacturer tests on the drive, the latter can take a while - best run overnight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoodleBird

TWell so if I cannot use Calibre between my OSx and windows boots, is there another program that can? Any suggestions? Or should I just keep my ebooks in some logically sorted system in my files?

Some of the 'ebook reader programs' incorporate rudimentary library facilities, e.g. ePubReader.

Curious, why do you need to run calibre library manager on Windows and OSX? Could you get away with using calibre server (read only) on OSX , and the library manager on Windows - or vice versa?

Do a backup toot sweet

BR

kazbates · 04-07-2017, 04:28 PM

Help! For some reason, I had a problem with my OneDrive Calibre Library. Calibre opened as usual but, all of my books did not appear and Calibre showed a content of 0 books, even though the directory showed all of the folders. I tried to add a couple of books anyway but, it seemed as if this overrode the entire library. I deleted my OneDrive Library and tried to restore from my backup directly on my hard disk, but Calibre is still showing only the 2 books I added (and thought I deleted). I am thinking that a pointer has gone astray somehow. How do I get Calibre to recognize all of my content?

BetterRed · 04-07-2017, 04:41 PM

To all intents and purposes Onedrive is a network drive.

So you should read this I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS?

The bottom line is that you should pause Onedrive whilst you're using calibre. There's an option to do that in OD's tray icon context menu - careful, it's time limited <sigh>

Calibre uses a database (metdatadata.db) to manage the library rather than the file system, the author and book folders are the equivalent of the stacks in a bricks and mortar library.

BR

TWHanson1 · 07-14-2022, 05:35 AM

I have a similar problem. After updating to 6.00, my Calibre does not display my library nor any other information. I checked my library in Windows10 File Explorer and it looks OK. I double-clicked on a book file and it comes up on Caliber View. Also it lists on my library display. Otherwise the Calibre app does not seem to be connected to my library. What to do?

TWHanson1 · 07-14-2022, 05:40 AM

I should add that this problem occurred the day after I attempted to (unsuccessfully) backup my library to Google Drive.

BetterRed · 07-14-2022, 06:42 AM

See Calibre User Manual ==>> Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive.

Quote:

In particular, be aware that Google Drive is incompatible with calibre, if you put your calibre library in Google Drive, you will suffer data loss. See this thread for details.

BR

JSWolf · 07-14-2022, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWHanson1

I should add that this problem occurred the day after I attempted to (unsuccessfully) backup my library to Google Drive.

You broke your library. Google Drive breaks Calibre libraries. Also, any other cloud storage is not a good idea as they could also break your library.

If you want your library on cloud storage without risking it's integrity. make a copy of your library and use that copy to send your library to the cloud storage. If you run Windows, you can use FreeFileSync to copy your library to your copy so after the first time you only have to copy what's changed since the last copy.

theducks · 07-14-2022, 11:39 AM

To reinforce what others said.
Google drive will NUKE your Library (it changes file names in ways that no longer match what is in the DB)

The others may randomly introduce errors. Those can take a long time to show that they happened.

+1 of freefilesync. It takes longer to determine what changed than do the actual file copy phase. Fast drive recommended on both sides (flash drive are not fast, but will work. Just takes longer)

chaley · 07-14-2022, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWHanson1

Otherwise the Calibre app does not seem to be connected to my library. What to do?

It seems you can start calibre but you don't see your library. It is possible that in your experiments some component of the library path changed. Try starting calibre, clicking on the Library toolbar, then Switch/create library. Ensure that the "Use the previously existing library at the new location" radio button is selected, then navigate to the folder that contains your library. That folder must contain the file "metadata.db", which you can confirm using a Windows file explorer

If this gets your library back then I strongly suggest that you run Library maintenance / Check library to see what (if any) damage was done.

JSWolf · 07-14-2022, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

To reinforce what others said.
Google drive will NUKE your Library (it changes file names in ways that no longer match what is in the DB)

The others may randomly introduce errors. Those can take a long time to show that they happened.

+1 of freefilesync. It takes longer to determine what changed than do the actual file copy phase. Fast drive recommended on both sides (flash drive are not fast, but will work. Just takes longer)

The newer A2 microSD cards are a lot faster then the A1 cards.

theducks · 07-14-2022, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The newer A2 microSD cards are a lot faster then the A1 cards.

I was thinking 'pen drive' models.

I have obviously not kept up with the latest.

I am still stuck with 12 bit core-memory (PDP-8L) and paper tape for storage

04-07-2017, 04:41 PM	#22
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,570 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	To all intents and purposes Onedrive is a network drive. So you should read this I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS? The bottom line is that you should pause Onedrive whilst you're using calibre. There's an option to do that in OD's tray icon context menu - careful, it's time limited <sigh> Calibre uses a database (metdatadata.db) to manage the library rather than the file system, the author and book folders are the equivalent of the stacks in a bricks and mortar library. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 04-07-2017 at 04:44 PM.

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07-22-2016, 03:32 AM	#18
DoodleBird Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: USA Device: none	Out of nowhere my calibre library is suddenly back and fully intact ... what the heck is that... how... should I be concerned that my external HDD is about to crap out on me? How is this possible? And what is more, it is exactly where it was supposed to be... I searched and searched... what in the heck... I don't know what to make of this... definitely going to make a back up though...

07-22-2016, 04:14 AM	#19
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The second thing I would do (the first obviously being to back up your library folder!) is to do a scan of the external drive to look for errors. External drives can and do fail. Always, always have copies of your Calibre library on at least two different drives.

04-07-2017, 04:28 PM	#21
kazbates Wizard Posts: 2,627 Karma: 406616 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Northern Virginia Device: SurfacePro, SurfaceBook 2	Help! For some reason, I had a problem with my OneDrive Calibre Library. Calibre opened as usual but, all of my books did not appear and Calibre showed a content of 0 books, even though the directory showed all of the folders. I tried to add a couple of books anyway but, it seemed as if this overrode the entire library. I deleted my OneDrive Library and tried to restore from my backup directly on my hard disk, but Calibre is still showing only the 2 books I added (and thought I deleted). I am thinking that a pointer has gone astray somehow. How do I get Calibre to recognize all of my content?

07-14-2022, 05:35 AM	#23
TWHanson1 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 120648 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: PC	I have a similar problem. After updating to 6.00, my Calibre does not display my library nor any other information. I checked my library in Windows10 File Explorer and it looks OK. I double-clicked on a book file and it comes up on Caliber View. Also it lists on my library display. Otherwise the Calibre app does not seem to be connected to my library. What to do?

07-14-2022, 05:40 AM	#24
TWHanson1 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 120648 Join Date: Jan 2015 Device: PC	I should add that this problem occurred the day after I attempted to (unsuccessfully) backup my library to Google Drive.

07-14-2022, 11:39 AM	#27
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,803 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	To reinforce what others said. Google drive will NUKE your Library (it changes file names in ways that no longer match what is in the DB) The others may randomly introduce errors. Those can take a long time to show that they happened. +1 of freefilesync. It takes longer to determine what changed than do the actual file copy phase. Fast drive recommended on both sides (flash drive are not fast, but will work. Just takes longer)