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davidfor · 06-03-2017, 11:41 PM

I don't think that the save-to-disk will help. Based on what you have said, you are covering two conditions: sideloaded and downloaded.

For downloaded from Kobo, the only way to handle this is to update the metadata in the calibre library to match the book from Kobo. Each time you do a factory reset, or otherwise download books, calibre will attempt to match the books the first time it is seen. If it can't automatically match the book, you will need to do the manual match. You could update the metadata in calibre to more match what Kobo sends and hence the match will happen all the time. I don't like this option as I don't like the way series and subtitles can be in the titles from Kobo or most of the other shops.

Sideloaded books are roughly the same. But, in that case the main problem I have seen is with multiple authors. As I stated, the way calibre populates the author in the book isn't the way that Kobo expects it. Someone has done a metadata plugboard to fix this and a search here should find it.

If the purpose is to recover from a factory reset, then what you probably need it to backup the database on the device, the "metadata.calibre" and know what books are on the device. My Kobo Utilities plugin can automatically backup the database and some other files. Adding the "metadata.calibre" to this probably make sense. Then knowing what books to put back is the question. For this, I suggest the Reading List plugin. With this you can create a list that is automatically updated each time you connect the device. If you need to put all the books back, you can use this list. Personally, I don't do this. I do use a reading list for each device that automatically sends any book on it to the device when connected. When I get a new book, I add it to the lists for the device I want it on. I also take the rare factory reset as an opportunity to cleanup and remove finished books from the device.

If you are really worried, you can backup the complete user partition from the device and restore it later. I do this frequently if I need to test something with an older firmware version or want to be able to rollback after some other test.

I am always curious about the need for frequent factory resets. I can't think of the last time I was forced to do one. I don't think it was this year, and it definitely wasn't for my Glo HD which is the device I normally read on. The others have had factory resets done, but all of them were while testing something such as the behaviour of older firmware. If you are having problems, you might want to look at signing out of the Kobo account first. This will rebuild the database but won't remove any sideloaded files. The "metadata.calibre" will still be there to match the books on the device with the calibre library. And of course, the account repair function is there to trigger a redownload of all books from Kobo.

06-03-2017, 11:41 PM	#12
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	I don't think that the save-to-disk will help. Based on what you have said, you are covering two conditions: sideloaded and downloaded. For downloaded from Kobo, the only way to handle this is to update the metadata in the calibre library to match the book from Kobo. Each time you do a factory reset, or otherwise download books, calibre will attempt to match the books the first time it is seen. If it can't automatically match the book, you will need to do the manual match. You could update the metadata in calibre to more match what Kobo sends and hence the match will happen all the time. I don't like this option as I don't like the way series and subtitles can be in the titles from Kobo or most of the other shops. Sideloaded books are roughly the same. But, in that case the main problem I have seen is with multiple authors. As I stated, the way calibre populates the author in the book isn't the way that Kobo expects it. Someone has done a metadata plugboard to fix this and a search here should find it. If the purpose is to recover from a factory reset, then what you probably need it to backup the database on the device, the "metadata.calibre" and know what books are on the device. My Kobo Utilities plugin can automatically backup the database and some other files. Adding the "metadata.calibre" to this probably make sense. Then knowing what books to put back is the question. For this, I suggest the Reading List plugin. With this you can create a list that is automatically updated each time you connect the device. If you need to put all the books back, you can use this list. Personally, I don't do this. I do use a reading list for each device that automatically sends any book on it to the device when connected. When I get a new book, I add it to the lists for the device I want it on. I also take the rare factory reset as an opportunity to cleanup and remove finished books from the device. If you are really worried, you can backup the complete user partition from the device and restore it later. I do this frequently if I need to test something with an older firmware version or want to be able to rollback after some other test. I am always curious about the need for frequent factory resets. I can't think of the last time I was forced to do one. I don't think it was this year, and it definitely wasn't for my Glo HD which is the device I normally read on. The others have had factory resets done, but all of them were while testing something such as the behaviour of older firmware. If you are having problems, you might want to look at signing out of the Kobo account first. This will rebuild the database but won't remove any sideloaded files. The "metadata.calibre" will still be there to match the books on the device with the calibre library. And of course, the account repair function is there to trigger a redownload of all books from Kobo.