Sony PRS-900 error message

[yobar]

I've been running calibre with my Sony since Oct '10 with no problems. Today I decided to transfer my books off my SD card and into the Sony's internal memory. I plug the reader into my comp and fire up calibre. Sony is detected, but then I get the following error message:

[Errno 22] invalid mode ('wb') or filename: u'J:\\metadata.calibre'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 64, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 315, in _books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\prs505\driver.py", line 146, in books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\usbms\driver.py", line 160, in books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\prs505\driver.py", line 174, in sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\usbms\driver.py", line 307, in sync_booklists
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\usbms\driver.py", line 303, in write_prefix
IOError: [Errno 22] invalid mode ('wb') or filename: u'J:\\metadata.calibre'

J: is the 16GB SD card in the Sony. This error occurred before I updated calibre, so I updated. Same error message. I then followed the steps in your "Device" sticky to see if that would help. Sony plugin is green and the info from the debug is:

Version: 0.7.45
USB devices on system:
[u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid24d2&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid24de&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid24d4&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub20&vid8086&pid24dd&rev0002',
u'usb\\vid_046d&pid_c509&rev_1904',
u'usb\\vid_046d&pid_c509&rev_1904&mi_00',
u'usb\\vid_046d&pid_c509&rev_1904&mi_01',
u'usb\\vid_054c&pid_031e&rev_031:',
u'usb\\vid_413c&pid_5111&rev_0001',
u'usb\\vid_413c&pid_5111&rev_0001&mi_00',
u'usb\\vid_413c&pid_5111&rev_0001&mi_01',
u'usb\\vid_413c&pid_5111&rev_0001&mi_02',
u'usb\\vid_413c&pid_5111&rev_0001&mi_03']
Drives detected:
(0) H:\ ~ USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_SONY&PROD_PRS-900&REV_1.00\0800461000D59607&0
(2) J:\ ~ USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_SONY&PROD_PRS-900_SD&REV_1.00\0800461000D59607&2
(3) K:\ ~ USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_SONY&PROD_PRS-900_LAUNCHER&REV_1.00\0800461000D59607&3
Available plugins: ALEX ALURATEK_COLOR ANDROID ARCHOS7O AVANT AZBOOKA BAMBOOK BLACKBERRY
BOOQ BOOX COOL_ER CYBOOK DBOOK E52 E71X EB511 EB600 EBK52 ECLICTO EDGE
EEEREADER ELONEX ESLICK FOLDER_DEVICE_FOR_CONFIG GEMEI GER2 HANLINV3
HANLINV5 ILIAD INVESBOOK IPAPYRUS IREXDR1000 IREXDR800 IRIVER_STORY
ITALICA ITUNES JETBOOK JETBOOK_MINI KINDLE KINDLE2 KINDLE_DX KOBO
KOGAN LUMIREAD MENTOR MIBUK N516 N770 N810 NEWSMY NEXTBOOK NOOK
NOOK_COLOR NUUT2 ORIZON PALMPRE PDNOVEL PDNOVEL_KOBO PICO
POCKETBOOK301 POCKETBOOK360 POCKETBOOK602 POCKETBOOK701 PRS505 Q600
README S60 SHINEBOOK SNE SOVOS SPECTRA STASH SUNSTECH_EB700 SWEEX
TECLAST_K3 THEBOOK TREKSTOR VELOCITYMICRO

Looking for devices...
u'usb\\vid_054c&pid_031e&rev_031:'
Detected possible device PRS505

Devices possibly connected: SONY Device Interface,
Trying to open SONY Device Interface ... OK
Main memory: 'H:\\'
Total space: (1799884800, 0, 16012804096L)


Thanks in advance!
Go raibh míle maith agat roimh ré!

[itimpi]

That error message suggests that Calibre is unable to get write access to the J:\metadata.calibre file. This could be because there is a problem with the SD card - it might be worth doing a CHKDSK on it in case there is some format/corruption error at the file system level.

You could probably also simply remove that file and let calibre recreate it if required as another way around the problem.

[yobar]

I removed the metadata.calibre file, but it kept reappearing as the same file with 0kb. I finally thought to rename it to metadatas.calibre. That worked. A new file was generated and is on the SD card with original name, but 110kb. Thanks!

[yobar]

BTW, what does the "wb" mean for an invalid mode?

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by yobar

BTW, what does the "wb" mean for an invalid mode?

Write, Binary mode

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by yobar

I removed the metadata.calibre file, but it kept reappearing as the same file with 0kb. I finally thought to rename it to metadatas.calibre. That worked. A new file was generated and is on the SD card with original name, but 110kb. Thanks!

This suggest that there was a problem with the file system on the J: drive. If you go into a DOS Command Window and run
CHKDSK /F J:
this should fix any errors.
Alternatively you could do this via the Properties of the drive and the option on the Tools tab.

[yobar]

Ran the CHKDSK and found a small problem. Fixed and formatted. Damn card is only a couple months in use! Thanks for the heads-up, itimpi!

[itimpi]

You can always get small issues if you remove the device without doing a clean eject.