Quote:
Originally Posted by slm
I don't like to contradict the experts but my experience is that the advice is overly restrictive.
My extensive experience with Dropbox is that if you store your Calibre library in a Dropbox folder on your local machine but NEVER make changes to the folder other than through the local machine copy of Calibre, everything works fine--the Dropbox folder acts as a mirror in that case. I've done this for years.
I also used Calibre Companion and several alternatives this way for a while without trouble. (I think some of them may have added a file or two to the Dropbox folder, but the added file didn't affect Calibre's operation)
In this set up, I have had no trouble accessing the Dropbox files to download to my Android devices. Similarly, opening the "Path" from Calibre and using the "Send" options in the Windows shell does not seem to cause any issues.
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You are right. If the only place you update the files from is within calibre running in only one location, then it will most likely work. But, the moment you forget this and fiddle elsewhere, you will run into trouble. And at that point you will remember the above post and realise why the advice is overly restrictive.
It is the same for storing library on a LAN connected device. It works. And in all honesty, it should work. But, there are enough things going on that if there is a single hiccough (another calibre session started, an error on the network device, the network connection interrupted, the network running a bit slow) you will suddenly be in trouble.
The recommendation is "don't" because it is known to fail and fail catastrophically. And it has probably gotten "overly restrictive" because there have been far to many posts which begin with "I have had my library on <non-local storage> and it has been working for years, but, I have just lost my library".