Missing Books in Library, but shoeing in Win Explorer

[NicolasT]

First off, I have tried searching here and in the manual, but no luck, so there is hoping.
I have a library with two thousand books. I ran a library maint. Check and had about a dozen “Extra Titles”, so I checked the author/titles side by side the folder/files in c:\users\username\caliber library in windows explorer.
I was surprised to find a lot more than what the check showed as missing. I then tried Adding books in those missing folders from within Calibre, but… you guessed, now I have the book inside the library, but twice in explorer. I then tried Restore_Database in CLI (yes I “really-did-it” ). No luck.
I moved the metadata.db, uninstalled caliber and did a “clean” install. No luck, the wizard did not come on and I got a blank library. And NO, I did not mess with the folder structure. If Kovid says leave it alone, well folks, LEAVE IT ALONE!
Could someone tell me how I can "force" Calibre to re-read the database from the folders, so I can get all my books back!
Thank you,
Nicolas
Win 7 home premium 64, iCore 7, 8gb RrAM, 1 TB HD, Calibre 2.39, Nook HD Plus

[eschwartz]

Clean install only affects the program binaries, not your library or settings.

When you moved the metadata.db, that made calibre recreate an empty one -- restore database would fix that. See the FAQ: The list of books in calibre is blank!

But regenerating the database would only get you the same metadata.db as the one you moved after the previous restore.



I am guessing the duplicate copies are slightly-differently-named ebook.FMT files in each book folder?
calibre won't add two of the same format.

If you have two different folders with the same books (means: has same id number at the end), then Restore Database should have showed a warning that some folders were ignored since they were duplicates

Restore will never delete duplicates!

---

If calibre knows about everything it should, and you merely want to rid yourself of extra (duplicate) files cluttering and taking up space, then use:
Library dropdown ==> Switch/create library ==> Move current library to new location

calibre will move all files it knows about to the new location, creating a pristine, healthy library and leaving behind untracked junk.
You can then add or delete the leftovers as you see fit.

[NicolasT]

Thank you eschwartz for the response. I know what happens when the metadata.db is moved. I did it in conjunction with an uninstall/install to "force" Calibre to start the wizard and read from the folders. It did not happen. The missing books have different folder numbers (ID's), not similar at all, no dublicate fmts.
I will try the Move Library bit; It sounds promising. Let you all know how it worked.
Thanks again.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by NicolasT

Thank you eschwartz for the response. I know what happens when the metadata.db is moved. I did it in conjunction with an uninstall/install to "force" Calibre to start the wizard and read from the folders. It did not happen. The missing books have different folder numbers (ID's), not similar at all, no dublicate fmts.

Hey, over-explaining never hurt anyone.
Half the reason I say stuff is for the sake of future readers. We get a lot of visitors here, and often people find solutions in old posts.

I will try the Move Library bit; It sounds promising. Let you all know how it worked.
Thanks again.

Hopefully. Thanks for keeping us posted.

[NicolasT]

eschwartz hi;
Sorry this so late, been out of touch. Hope this finds you. Anyway...
I moved the library and re-posted all the "extra" books from the remaining in the old library. Everything looked good...for a while.
Now I get them again. Not sure why it is happening. I checked spelling, formats etc. they all look good. I have no freezes or restarts with Calibre running. The only thing that happened was upgrade from Win 7 to win 10. I NEVER make changes in Win Explorer!!! I am a retired IT guy and if you want an app to work, you do it right!
I wish Kovid would look into an update/upgrade: When adding an EXISTING folder in the library (Add, Folder etc. in the GUI) the books are added correctly, but... a NEW folder is added in the library, with the old one remaining. It would be great to have the app check/recognize the path being in the Library and update the data base only. Here is hoping.
Thanks again for your help.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by NicolasT

eschwartz hi;
Sorry this so late, been out of touch. Hope this finds you. Anyway...
I moved the library and re-posted all the "extra" books from the remaining in the old library. Everything looked good...for a while.
Now I get them again. Not sure why it is happening. I checked spelling, formats etc. they all look good. I have no freezes or restarts with Calibre running. The only thing that happened was upgrade from Win 7 to win 10. I NEVER make changes in Win Explorer!!! I am a retired IT guy and if you want an app to work, you do it right!
I wish Kovid would look into an update/upgrade: When adding an EXISTING folder in the library (Add, Folder etc. in the GUI) the books are added correctly, but... a NEW folder is added in the library, with the old one remaining. It would be great to have the app check/recognize the path being in the Library and update the data base only. Here is hoping.
Thanks again for your help.

It appears from your words, you are trying to add from within a working Library.

All Adds need to be from elsewhere. 'Add' computes the folder using the current rules (book metadata or filename template)