MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Transferring settings between versions and computers

DaySleeper · 02-15-2023, 06:07 AM

I copied it over, but want to put the library in a different location. The new computer has a 1TB SSD drive, but I am only putting portable programs (not data) on its 2nd partition; data (which gets written & re-written a lot, which shortens the life of an SSD) goes elsewhere to the extent possible (in this case, a larger, regular hard drive). Non-portable programs go on the C: partition of the SSD drive. I keep that as small as possible to keep disk-image backups smaller. Everything else can be backed up with file-backups, incrementals, etc.

As to why portable on a desktop, I just find portable installations easier to manage when they are available and when I don't lose any important features by doing so. I can also copy everything to a truly portable location if I decide to travel with it. In that regard, maybe it would be better to put everything - program and library - on the hard drive instead of the SSD, which would make the portability more straightforward.

Anyway, I also want the newer Calibre on the newer computer (old one only supports up to 5). Copying just the settings folder over didn't take care of the GUI configuration. I surmise that the newer version wasn't fully compatible with the settings in the older version's setting folder. I ended up - but still haven't finalized - copying over the old computer's version, then telling it to update to the latest version. The update install seemed to know how to use/convert the older version's settings folder. The UI still doesn't look the same (for example, custom columns are missing), but I haven't copied over the library yet because I'm still working on it on the old computer. I don't know if that will make any difference or I'll have to do the custom columns and anything else left over manually. My intent is to cut over to mainly using the new computer soon - but I'm not quite there yet. I don't plan to add books to Calibre on the old computer once I have it all set up on the new one.

So any insights on why the column customizations (and possibly some other things, as I haven't checked everything) didn't survive?

02-15-2023, 06:07 AM	#5
DaySleeper Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 5532 Join Date: Jul 2017 Device: MoonReader+ Android app on Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite and otherst	I copied it over, but want to put the library in a different location. The new computer has a 1TB SSD drive, but I am only putting portable programs (not data) on its 2nd partition; data (which gets written & re-written a lot, which shortens the life of an SSD) goes elsewhere to the extent possible (in this case, a larger, regular hard drive). Non-portable programs go on the C: partition of the SSD drive. I keep that as small as possible to keep disk-image backups smaller. Everything else can be backed up with file-backups, incrementals, etc. As to why portable on a desktop, I just find portable installations easier to manage when they are available and when I don't lose any important features by doing so. I can also copy everything to a truly portable location if I decide to travel with it. In that regard, maybe it would be better to put everything - program and library - on the hard drive instead of the SSD, which would make the portability more straightforward. Anyway, I also want the newer Calibre on the newer computer (old one only supports up to 5). Copying just the settings folder over didn't take care of the GUI configuration. I surmise that the newer version wasn't fully compatible with the settings in the older version's setting folder. I ended up - but still haven't finalized - copying over the old computer's version, then telling it to update to the latest version. The update install seemed to know how to use/convert the older version's settings folder. The UI still doesn't look the same (for example, custom columns are missing), but I haven't copied over the library yet because I'm still working on it on the old computer. I don't know if that will make any difference or I'll have to do the custom columns and anything else left over manually. My intent is to cut over to mainly using the new computer soon - but I'm not quite there yet. I don't plan to add books to Calibre on the old computer once I have it all set up on the new one. So any insights on why the column customizations (and possibly some other things, as I haven't checked everything) didn't survive?