Calibre Library folder not showing all the included folders.

[Shant]

Greetings.

I use Calibre portable on an External 3Tb Hard Drive. Recently my Calibre metadata got crashed, while I was adding some metadata for bunch of books, and I had to try recovering it, but almost near 84% recovery it stopped. The recovery wasn't successful.

So I renamed the Calibre Library folder, and created a new library folder. Then closed Calibre and added to this new library folder a copy of the file metadata_db_prefs_backup.json.

Then I started Calibre and did Library Maintenance==>Restore Database.

Then started to import the books from the renamed folder by using the "Add Books". I didn't have time at that time so for a test I tried to add small quantity of books and checked that it is working.

Now that I had time I wanted to move and recover all my books from that folder but the folder is showing only part of my files, around maybe 80Gb, while my total files are above 1Tb of size. The used size of the External Hard drive that I use is still the same, so the files must be there somewhere, but they are not showing in the original Library Folder that I renamed it when it was corrupted. Also if I try to copy and paste the file metadata_db_prefs_backup.json from the new folder that I created to the old folder that contains all the files, I am getting the message that the file i am trying to paste already exists and I can replace it or keep both files. But visually I can't see the file in that folder.

Is there a way for me to get all my files back? I did not delete any files from the main folder, neither did Cut-Paste elsewhere.

Thank you.

[kite]

Till someone more knowledgeable contributes I suggest not using your external HDD. That way you lessen the chance of overwriting data you want that is currently hidden.

[BetterRed]

@Shant - I assume you have no backup <sigh>

Make sure you're logged in as an administrator. Turn UAC off, in control Panel Folder Options->View select Show Hidden drives, folders and files, and uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

In windows explorer navigate to your 3TB drive. In search enter "metadata.db", theoretically that will tell you where all all your libraries are - also search for an author eg "Daniel Defoe" and for a book name "Moll Flanders" that might lead you to where they're hiding.

If you don't want to use Windows Search you could use this ==>> Search For Folders and Files -- it does not have to be installed just unzip it.

But I suspect something is broken - you could try a System Restore or running chkdsk, see ==>> The How-To Geek Guide to Using Check Disk in Windows 7

BR

[Shant]

Thank you everyone. The problem is solved. I did the disk check but did not complete it as it was taking a lot of time, that is why my answer is late as today. Then I tried to use the drive on another PC and after it finished reading the drive content I found the books in the Library Folder. Then I tried it on my PC and everything was there. So I believe the problem was fixed.

Now this Library is corrupted, and I would like to move the whole library to another external hard disk, to use it with a portable Calibre there. So I need to recover the books and move them PARTIALLY to the new drive, because moving them all at once will take days in Calibre. Can someone guide me to the steps necessary to accomplish my plan?

I am thinking to copy the "metadata_db_prefs_backup.json" to the new library in the new hard disk and then run the Calibre there and do the recovery by using the "Restore Database" option. Then making several folders in the old hard disk, each containing specific amount of books. Then Adding the books to the Calibre in the new hard disk from the old one, each folder at a time.

Is that a proper way to do it?

Thank you

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Shant

Thank you everyone. The problem is solved. I did the disk check but did not complete it as it was taking a lot of time, that is why my answer is late as today. Then I tried to use the drive on another PC and after it finished reading the drive content I found the books in the Library Folder. Then I tried it on my PC and everything was there. So I believe the problem was fixed.

Now this Library is corrupted, and I would like to move the whole library to another external hard disk, to use it with a portable Calibre there. So I need to recover the books and move them PARTIALLY to the new drive, because moving them all at once will take days in Calibre. Can someone guide me to the steps necessary to accomplish my plan?

I am thinking to copy the "metadata_db_prefs_backup.json" to the new library in the new hard disk and then run the Calibre there and do the recovery by using the "Restore Database" option. Then making several folders in the old hard disk, each containing specific amount of books. Then Adding the books to the Calibre in the new hard disk from the old one, each folder at a time.

Is that a proper way to do it?

Thank you

In that How To link I gave you there is this

You should keep in mind that running through a full check disk takes quite a while, sometimes hours depending on how big the drive is and how many files you have.

If you had let it complete you may have had a less corrupt library, maybe even an uncorrupted library. If you rerun chkdsk and let it complete - on a 3TB drive I'd run it overnight - you might be lucky and end up with a more usable database that you can recover via Database Restore and using Check Library to sort out the errors.

If that works then install portable calibre on the drive, either move the library or put a symlink into the Calibre Portable folder, then tell calibre about that library via the Switch/Create library function.

Think about using the other drive to hold a backup of your library, you might want to consider using Free File Synch (using its Mirror configuration) first time you run it it will copy everything - if your drives are on USB 2.0 that will take some time - possibly hours. But after that it should only take a few minutes a day because it will only copy changes.

If all else fails build a new library from what you have.

And try to figure out what happened to get that disk into a corrupt state. Given its a 3TB drive its unlikely to be old enough to be wear and tear, something must have happened - power out, something crashed Windows.

But whatever you do - implement a backup process that secures all your data... not just your books... your photos, music, tax returns, emails, blog posts, correspondence, electronic receipts etc etc.

BR