MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Restore Library from Device to Calibre

theducks · 10-25-2026, 05:24 PM

Devices have their own idea of what is important metadata and some do not use the books (internal) OPF. Also this is format dependent.

A Calibre Library stores way more metadata than Dublin Core calls out.

So back to the question. Nothing is better for a Calibre restore than from a recent backup.

Use hard core types keep more than 1. The more extreme of us keep a Few Generations, archived , not just the latest.

Your backup does not have to be a drive stuck away. I sometimes make a copy to a USB stick that has Calibre Portable. Another copy on my Laptop (The master is my desktop)

MAIN RULE These are COPIES of the Main. DO NOT MAKE CHANGES (Add, Edit, Update) books. The real main is the only place to do all that because a Restore from backup will stomp the Master (and lose any changes not on the copy)

Freefile sync (MIRROR MODE) does an incremental backup. What it does is scan and only copies over changed files, saving time and wear on the storage.

10-25-2026, 05:24 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 32,044 Karma: 65700000 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Devices have their own idea of what is important metadata and some do not use the books (internal) OPF. Also this is format dependent. A Calibre Library stores way more metadata than Dublin Core calls out. So back to the question. Nothing is better for a Calibre restore than from a recent backup. Use hard core types keep more than 1. The more extreme of us keep a Few Generations, archived , not just the latest. Your backup does not have to be a drive stuck away. I sometimes make a copy to a USB stick that has Calibre Portable. Another copy on my Laptop (The master is my desktop) MAIN RULE These are COPIES of the Main. DO NOT MAKE CHANGES (Add, Edit, Update) books. The real main is the only place to do all that because a Restore from backup will stomp the Master (and lose any changes not on the copy) Freefile sync (MIRROR MODE) does an incremental backup. What it does is scan and only copies over changed files, saving time and wear on the storage.