[davidfor]

Originally Posted by franklekens

Things that suck about the Kobo environment.

Just bought a new Ellipsa. Sideloaded 1000+ books, but now it starts giving me the “database disk image is malformed” error repeatedly. Logging out and back in is a slog. Besides, the shelves are beyond repair it seems anyway.

So maybe I’ll just remove all books and try again. I’m thinking part of the problem might be that in the past I’ve been stupid enough to buy books from Kobo. And since I don’t turn wifi off all the time (I need it for Pocket, for instance), I get those books via the Kobo environment. But I also always sideload them. Maybe the Kobo is getting confused somehow by the double titles. I don't know how else to explain this database problem with a brand new Ellipsa that I haven't even had time to do weird things with -- other than sideloading books with Calibre.

Sideloaded and downloaded books have no impact on each other. The device in no way attempts to connect them. I have multiple copies of a lot of books on my devices with exactly the same title and author.

So I thought: maybe before I reformat the device now Ill just archive *all* of my books on the Kobo website. So none will be downloaded via the Kobo environment, and I can sideload them without them being doubled.

That is not how it works, or how it has ever worked. It doesn't download all the books after a factory reset or signing out. It downloads details of the books and the five most recent books (last five being read or purchased). You can then download individual books by tapping on them, or use the menu to download them all.

(Why bother, why not just go with the flow and download via the Kobo environment, you say? Because that environment has a mind of its own. It will not automatically download all the books you bought. So if you’re somewhere where you don’t have wifi and happen to want to read book X, although you’ve bought it, it’s tough luck for you. It’s not on the device. Sometimes the software even decides on its own that you no longer need a book you already downloaded, and deletes it. Same problem if suddenly you want to read it.)

Problem: try archiving all your books in one go. You have to bloody select each of them and give the command for every separate title. And note that archiving one title takes about 5 clicks, what with all the confirmation windows. What lunatic designs this kind of interface? Clearly my plan is unfeasible, I can't go archiving hundreds of titles one by one before trying a clean re-install and "sideload only" policy. I'll be stuck with those double items.

Why not use the "Manage books" option in the book list? For what you want to do, in the books list, select "Purchased" in the filter, then "Manage books" from the menu in the top right of the list. Then use the "Select all" in the menu and press the "Remove" button, select the appropriate option and then press the "Remove" button.

And as for the “database disk image” problem: why isn’t there a repair database function in the device interface that you can select?

Because a database isn't supposed to get broken. And there is no meaningful way to repair the database if it is corrupted. The only thing you can do is to rebuild which is basically what happens when you sign out of the account.