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Originally Posted by the_Pan
Damn, I was afraid of that!
I have now found a ~1 year old backup of the database, which is definitely better than nothing.
But of course this database is missing all since then added books.
Could I copy the old .db file into the newer library and run restore function?
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The restore function will replace the old (good) database, so no.
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Or would it be easier to edit the database itself with sqlite browser?
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I can't imagine you being successful with this approach. The problem: you must get *everything* right when hacking the database to add books, including all of the row ids and data formats.
One approach suggested by others on this forum is to:
- Backup the existing library! It might take a couple of runs through this process to get it right.
- Restore the metadata.db file.
- Open calibre
- Run Library maintenance / Check Library. This will tell you about books that are "missing" because you changed the title or the authors in the last year. Make a note of them and then delete them. It will also tell you about "extra books", which are the book folders made when you renamed something that calibre no longer knows about. Keep them!
- Use "Library Maintenance / Switch/Create library" to make a new library. Check the "Copy structure from the current library" option.
- Still in the original library, use "Copy to library" to *move* (not copy) the books calibre knows about to the new library. This will leave behind all the books calibre doesn't know about, presumably the books you added in the last year.
- Switch to the new library.
- Use "Add books from folders and subfolders". Say "Yes" to "Assume all e-book files in a single folder are multiple formats of the same book?" Select the old library. Personally I wouldn't use any merge option at this step, instead manually merging later if needed. At the end of this calibre should know about all your books.
- For extra certainty, while still in the new library, run Library maintenance / check library, including the second pass.
- Delete the old library when you are satisfied.
I haven't personally followed these steps, but the technique has been suggested many times and I see no reason why it shouldn't work.