Quote:
Originally Posted by Quuzuu
I'm not trying to set up some fancy workflow, what I do is very basic - I put my portable calibre folder (containing the Library folder) in my Dropbox, then I may launch it from either my laptop PC or my desktop PC, which will show the same library.
My use of calibre is also very basic - drag books in, convert, edit metadata, etc.
My question is, do I need to be very careful and always make sure calibre is closed on one computer before launching on another computer? My optimistic assumption is that the database of every book is be standalone, and having 2 calibres running won't cause any trouble unless I open the "edit" window of the same book simultaneously and overwrite each other when hitting "ok" - which I won't do, but even if I did it's not a huge deal.
What I absolutely don't want is to somehow corrupt the whole library. Is there a chance that could happen?
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Your optimistic assumption is wrong, calibre does not maintain a separate database for every book, it maintains a separate database for every library.
The metadata.db file in the library directory is an SQLite database that contains tables for books, authors, tags etc - one row in the books table is one book, ditto authors, tags etc.
The scenario you describe is likely to lead to a corrupt database. The metadata.opf files you see in the book folders are there to restore the database if it gets corrupted by misuse.
In almost a decade of using calibre, on several libraries, one with 180,000+ 'books', I have never had to restore a library database.
BR