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polly · 08-27-2009, 02:15 PM

Hi. I've read the Calibre FAQ twice and all of this thread once without noticing the answers to these questions, so I may be asking new questions. I'm hoping that some kind and patient soul will help.

I've been reading ebooks for several years on my Palm, resulting in multiple copies of the same book in a variety of formats. I'm planning to use Calibre to help me organize these books. Also, borrowing a friend's 505 firmly demonstrated the importance of correct metadata when putting books on a reader. My problem is that I'm holding out for the new 600 before I purchase my reader. I'm going on a series of long trips starting in mid-September and it's very likely that I'll have a day or two at most to load books before I go. I have time right now to load books into Calibre, but no reader to play with to make sure I get it right. Experience has taught me that a clean database is a thing of beauty while dirty data is a tedious nightmare, so I want to do it right the first time. Being on an 18 hour flight with no more books to read because they weren't loaded right would also be a bad thing. In no particular order, here are some questions.

When I do a backup, which files do I need to grab? I'm assuming everything in the Calibre folder and the Calibre library, but are there any other files that I need to worry about?
Do I understand correctly that the easiest way to move Calibre from one computer to the next is to save to disk?
If Calibre is currently on an external hard drive, will it throw a fit if it ends up with a different drive letter on a different computer, or is it OK with that?
Is there any way to merge different Calibre libraries. Right now, I'm confining myself to working on my laptop, but at some point I'm going to want to move this to my server computer.
I noticed that when I convert a book from input format to e-pub format, I end up with two copies of the book in the Calibre library, with one copy showing up in the list. I'm assuming that when I send that book to the device, the e-pub version will be the one to go?
What about books that are in non-reader compatible formats like Lit and Pdb. Do they get converted on the fly? Is it better to be converting now because it will take a long time? Did I mention that I'm not going to have a lot of time with the reader to get everything loaded properly?
What's the best way to manage series? I've accumulated quiet a few Star Trek books. They all have different authors, but I really want them to all be together, preferably on one SD card so they don't gum up the works too badly. Does Calibre have a gracefull way to handle that? I almost want to have two Calibre libraries-one for the fanfic and one for the normal stuff. Is this possible on the same computer?
If the answer to that last one was yes, how do I pull this off?
Am I correct in assuming that the Sony will gracefully handle the Series section and arrange those books under Category? How exactly does that work? I'm guessing that it's, say, Category, CS Lewis, Narnia, and then a list of books starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
Is there any way to track which books are on the reader and which are not? It's easy enough now, with 54 books in Calibre and no reader, but what happens when I have 500 in Calibre and 100 on the reader. Do I have to do side by side comparisons to see what's already there? Will the reader reject an identical book if I try to reload it? Do people use tags for this sort of thing so they can easily see what's on the reader. Will this become an area that I can sort by when a reader is attached, the way that I can by format and publisher now?

Have I asked too many questions now?

Thanks to all of you who take a shot at any of these.

08-27-2009, 02:15 PM	#176
polly Evangelist Posts: 454 Karma: 270240 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS 650, PocketBook 360, Astak PocketPro (RIP), Tungsten T3	Hi. I've read the Calibre FAQ twice and all of this thread once without noticing the answers to these questions, so I may be asking new questions. I'm hoping that some kind and patient soul will help. I've been reading ebooks for several years on my Palm, resulting in multiple copies of the same book in a variety of formats. I'm planning to use Calibre to help me organize these books. Also, borrowing a friend's 505 firmly demonstrated the importance of correct metadata when putting books on a reader. My problem is that I'm holding out for the new 600 before I purchase my reader. I'm going on a series of long trips starting in mid-September and it's very likely that I'll have a day or two at most to load books before I go. I have time right now to load books into Calibre, but no reader to play with to make sure I get it right. Experience has taught me that a clean database is a thing of beauty while dirty data is a tedious nightmare, so I want to do it right the first time. Being on an 18 hour flight with no more books to read because they weren't loaded right would also be a bad thing. In no particular order, here are some questions. When I do a backup, which files do I need to grab? I'm assuming everything in the Calibre folder and the Calibre library, but are there any other files that I need to worry about? Do I understand correctly that the easiest way to move Calibre from one computer to the next is to save to disk? If Calibre is currently on an external hard drive, will it throw a fit if it ends up with a different drive letter on a different computer, or is it OK with that? Is there any way to merge different Calibre libraries. Right now, I'm confining myself to working on my laptop, but at some point I'm going to want to move this to my server computer. I noticed that when I convert a book from input format to e-pub format, I end up with two copies of the book in the Calibre library, with one copy showing up in the list. I'm assuming that when I send that book to the device, the e-pub version will be the one to go? What about books that are in non-reader compatible formats like Lit and Pdb. Do they get converted on the fly? Is it better to be converting now because it will take a long time? Did I mention that I'm not going to have a lot of time with the reader to get everything loaded properly? What's the best way to manage series? I've accumulated quiet a few Star Trek books. They all have different authors, but I really want them to all be together, preferably on one SD card so they don't gum up the works too badly. Does Calibre have a gracefull way to handle that? I almost want to have two Calibre libraries-one for the fanfic and one for the normal stuff. Is this possible on the same computer? If the answer to that last one was yes, how do I pull this off? Am I correct in assuming that the Sony will gracefully handle the Series section and arrange those books under Category? How exactly does that work? I'm guessing that it's, say, Category, CS Lewis, Narnia, and then a list of books starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Is there any way to track which books are on the reader and which are not? It's easy enough now, with 54 books in Calibre and no reader, but what happens when I have 500 in Calibre and 100 on the reader. Do I have to do side by side comparisons to see what's already there? Will the reader reject an identical book if I try to reload it? Do people use tags for this sort of thing so they can easily see what's on the reader. Will this become an area that I can sort by when a reader is attached, the way that I can by format and publisher now? Have I asked too many questions now? Thanks to all of you who take a shot at any of these.