MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Tips for creating/maintening a robust and OS-independent book library

uli · 01-05-2020, 01:10 PM

• Only one main Calibre database for fiction and nonfiction.

Programming or books with supplemental data/source code are zipped and added alongside.

Used to keep comics separately >100mb per file as not to bloat the library, have so few I finally imported them.

Audiobooks are still separate, I make "backup" with InAudible into individual mp3 chapters. The one filetype limit per book in Calibre means I create a m3u playlist and link it up. If I started today I'd create single m4b instead...

• Epubs, etc are already compressed. I was sorting by Author/Book before and if I ever wanted to abandon Calibre I'd just strip the Ids and be done. 10 years later still using Calibre!

• Filename when imported already avoid characters/symbols/lengths incompatibilities with other filesystems.

• Column and other customization can be backed-up. Title, Tags, Description are saved in both the metadata.db and individual opf files.

• It's recommended to use a local hard drive, networks drives at your own risk.

I have Calibre running on a server that takes regular snapshots (ZFS) and sent offsite, most modern OS can do similar. Although OneDrive, DropBox, etc might lock files and create a mess.

My server has a GUI, but you can also manage remotely with Calibre's server or something like calibre-web.

01-05-2020, 01:10 PM	#3
uli Zealot Posts: 109 Karma: 194274 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Montreal Device: Kobo, Calibre	• Only one main Calibre database for fiction and nonfiction. Programming or books with supplemental data/source code are zipped and added alongside. Used to keep comics separately >100mb per file as not to bloat the library, have so few I finally imported them. Audiobooks are still separate, I make "backup" with InAudible into individual mp3 chapters. The one filetype limit per book in Calibre means I create a m3u playlist and link it up. If I started today I'd create single m4b instead... • Epubs, etc are already compressed. I was sorting by Author/Book before and if I ever wanted to abandon Calibre I'd just strip the Ids and be done. 10 years later still using Calibre! • Filename when imported already avoid characters/symbols/lengths incompatibilities with other filesystems. • Column and other customization can be backed-up. Title, Tags, Description are saved in both the metadata.db and individual opf files. • It's recommended to use a local hard drive, networks drives at your own risk. I have Calibre running on a server that takes regular snapshots (ZFS) and sent offsite, most modern OS can do similar. Although OneDrive, DropBox, etc might lock files and create a mess. My server has a GUI, but you can also manage remotely with Calibre's server or something like calibre-web.