Old Calibre IDs stop me "Adding to Device"

[frankst237]

Hello,

I recently did 2 things - moved my Calbibre Library to OneDrive and then re-added a collection of books to the library and cleaned up several folders to make one (for the new OneDrive library location) to make my life easier - BIG MISTAKE.

See attachment for images but I have a single entry for a book in the Calibre Library but when I try to Send to Device, it tells me that there is no compatible data and concurrently it creates a new item (with a different ID number) in my OneDrive Calibre library with no content. This happens for many items but I am only sending one example.

I have COMPLETELY (as far as I know) removed Calibre and all associated files / folders from my computer (Windows 10 desktop) and reinstalled Calibre pointing the library at the OneDrive folder. Same result. From where is the empty folder 1170 appearing?????? (And is there any way of getting rid of it before my wife strangles me for messing up her birthday gift).

Can anyone help please? This is driving me crazy with none of my attempts to solve actually working. Please see the attachment.

Thank you, Frank

[gbm]

Originally Posted by frankst237

Hello,

I recently did 2 things - moved my Calbibre Library to OneDrive and then re-added a collection of books to the library and cleaned up several folders to make one (for the new OneDrive library location) to make my life easier - BIG MISTAKE.

See attachment for images but I have a single entry for a book in the Calibre Library but when I try to Send to Device, it tells me that there is no compatible data and concurrently it creates a new item (with a different ID number) in my OneDrive Calibre library with no content. This happens for many items but I am only sending one example.

I have COMPLETELY (as far as I know) removed Calibre and all associated files / folders from my computer (Windows 10 desktop) and reinstalled Calibre pointing the library at the OneDrive folder. Same result. From where is the empty folder 1170 appearing?????? (And is there any way of getting rid of it before my wife strangles me for messing up her birthday gift).

Can anyone help please? This is driving me crazy with none of my attempts to solve actually working. Please see the attachment.

Thank you, Frank

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...rked-drive-nas

Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive.

A filesystem is a complex beast. Most network filesystems lack various filesystem features that calibre uses. Some don’t support file locking, some don’t support hardlinking, some are just flaky. Additionally, calibre is a single user application, if you accidentally run two copies of calibre on the same networked library, bad things will happen. Finally, different OSes impose different limitations on filesystems, so if you share your networked drive across OSes, once again, bad things will happen.

Good luck
bernie

[Sirtel]

OneDrive is not compatible with Calibre and using it messes up your library. I'm speaking from personal experience. So the first thing to do is to move your library out of OneDrive.

About the only cloud service that can be used for an active Calibre library without major issues is Dropbox, but even then you must be very careful and always pause syncing while Calibre is open.

[frankst237]

Well, thank you GBM and Sirtel.

Out of courtesy to GBM, I am running a single user environment on a single, stand alone desktop machine. I am not a 'techy' so don't know how much more to say / tell. Sirtel's next response perhaps kills the whole idea of using OneDrive.

Sirtel, thank you for that bad news. I thought I had been quite ingenious but now seems to clever for my own good!!

I will remove Calibre yet again and re-install once more in a HDD location on the computer and see if that makes life sweet again.

THank you again both, Regards, Frank

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

OneDrive is not compatible with Calibre and using it messes up your library. I'm speaking from personal experience. So the first thing to do is to move your library out of OneDrive.

About the only cloud service that can be used for an active Calibre library without major issues is Dropbox, but even then you must be very careful and always pause syncing while Calibre is open.

You should NEVER EVER have cloud storage software pointing to any active Calibre library. You forget just once to stop the syncing and you are screwed. You could be screwed anyway even if you never forget.

The way to handle cloud storage is to use FreeFileSync to sync your Calibre library with a copy that can be synced to cloud storage and if it gets messed up, your active library is still in tact.

[frankst237]

Hello again,

I am trying to follow the advice given. I deleted the Calibre Library from OneDrive and waited for it to sync with the cloud hence nothing either on my machine or in the cloud via OneDrive.

I had kept a back up copy on a different HDD (the D drive) in my machine just as a back up of the library.

I uninstalled Calibre using RevoUninstaller Pro which scans for leftover files / folders after the normal Calibre uninstall finishes. This removes left over stragglers.

I reinstalled Clibre and let it set its library on the C drive. I then tried to add about 20 books from one folder in the Backup copy on the D drive and got the error shown on the attachment. As I hope you can see, the error pops up and there are 5 books shown as being duplicated with only the Calibre User guide as the one author / book existing in the library. The error was screen printed before the newly added books were shown on the Calibre basic linrary screen.

WHERE ARE THE DUPLICATE RECORDS SO THAT I CAN FINALLY CLEANSE WHAT I ASSUME ARE LEFT OVERS FROM THE UNINSTALL OR MAYBE SOMETHING ELSE?????

As I said in one of my previous messages, I am not an in depth techy so if anyone can offer some advice to completely cleans my machine of Calibre and left overs so that I can basically start from zero again I would be very grateful.

Thanks, Frank

[theducks]

Also: MIRROR only (Active >> backup ), never 2 way or you can end up with
the sync putting back stuff that was changed.
FWIW The Calibre DB is in lockstep with the Library files and folders. Break the cadence (net/cache delays) and the garbage builds up.

Freefilesync Takes about 2 min to scan for changes and another min to do the copy phase (drive on local wired LAN)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You should NEVER EVER have cloud storage software pointing to any active Calibre library. You forget just once to stop the syncing and you are screwed. You could be screwed anyway even if you never forget.

The way to handle cloud storage is to use FreeFileSync to sync your Calibre library with a copy that can be synced to cloud storage and if it gets messed up, your active library is still in tact.

We've spoken about this before. No, you're not screwed when you forget just once. You can repair the damage if there is any. Besides, I don't have Dropbox running in the background at all, or starting with Windows. I have to specifically start Dropbox when I want to sync. Which I do once a day or so. Afterwards I quit Dropbox again.

FreeFileSync doesn't help in my case because I need to use Calibre on two different computers and sync the changes from both. Not just to keep a copy on another computer.

I've never been screwed with Dropbox and I've used it for many years. It's no more dangerous than your using a mapped drive is. Of course one needs to be careful and check the library integrity in both cases.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by theducks

Also: MIRROR only (Active >> backup ), never 2 way or you can end up with
the sync putting back stuff that was changed.
FWIW The Calibre DB is in lockstep with the Library files and folders. Break the cadence (net/cache delays) and the garbage builds up.

Freefilesync Takes about 2 min to scan for changes and another min to do the copy phase (drive on local wired LAN)

FreeFilesync is fine for making a backup copy. Not so much if you need to use your library (i.e. edit books and metadata) on two different computers. But yes, of course you need to stop syncing while Calibre is in use.