Is it safe to allow calibre scan my entire device?

[drmadhupk]

I use cc on my android device to connect to calibre as content server/wireless device to transfer books and metadata. But when I connect my device with usb cable to pc running calibre, calibre starts scanning my device in its entirety. it doesn't allow anything to be done on calibre till it finishes its "job". it never finishes scanning the device. I have waited for nearly 4 hours, but it was still doing its job.
I found many old threads here about the issue. I opted to ignore my device under preferences> plugins> device drivers> mtp plugin. now calibre ignores my device and doesn't scan through it. good for me.
But now I am left with only wireless/content server option to connect to my device.
My doubts are,
1. what is calibre looking for on the device?
2. if it was for books or metadata file, I know where they are and I can guide calibre to look for them only in the folders specified by me.
3. why should it scan through whole of the device? doesn't it know where to look for?
4. it keeps doing its "job" endlessly. why can't calibre do it any faster?
5. how do I add book to my device if I don't have access to wifi? as I have asked calibre to ignore my device due to endless scanning job running in the background and not allowing me to access device through cable.
6. IS IT SAFE TO ALLOW CALIBRE LOOK IN TO EVERY NOOK AND CORNER OF MY DEVICE?

[theducks]

What (or where) are you running Calibre on that has no WiFi available?
does the OS support MTP devices (I think it does from what you say)

The scan needs to complete once, to leave the configuration and found-list (metadata.calibre <don't delete or it all happens again)

Once it completes (and still the device is still connected), You should now be able to set a folder level to maintain in the device driver.
This CAN take quite a while the first time, especially with large, well stocked storage )

You can still Add Books to Calibre, maintain metadata... You just can't send anything or change a setting (the change might conflict with what is going on )

[drmadhupk]

Originally Posted by theducks

What (or where) are you running Calibre on that has no WiFi available?
does the OS support MTP devices (I think it does from what you say)

The scan needs to complete once, to leave the configuration and found-list (metadata.calibre <don't delete or it all happens again)

Once it completes (and still the device is still connected), You should now be able to set a folder level to maintain in the device driver.
This CAN take quite a while the first time, especially with large, well stocked storage )

You can still Add Books to Calibre, maintain metadata... You just can't send anything or change a setting (the change might conflict with what is going on )

@theducks, I have wifi at home, but when I go to work (some times I will be away from home for more than 24 hours at a streach) there is no wifi available. I am running calibre on a laptop running windows 8.1 (it has MTP support I guess).

I agree that it takes a lot of time to scan first time. but how long for a 64gb+16gb android device on which I have added about 700 books (12gb)?

I will leave it overnight to see if it finishes the first scan. but after that will it be fast enough for me to access device within few minutes?

[cybmole]

I have never noticed any long scan when connecting either of my android devices via USB, maybe the 1st time I did that they were mostly empty though ?

can you not click on calibre jobs & get a progress indicator ?

could it be that you have an intrusive AV or anti spyware program which is demanding to check every result & is slowing the whole process down ?

[drmadhupk]

If you go through old threads, you will find many regarding this issue. I am using the least intrusive av (windows defender). I don't have any third party av on board. the progress bar on jobs doesn't move and I cant stop the job.
my device is not empty though. I had already transferred books via cc content server using wifi.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by drmadhupk

If you go through old threads, you will find many regarding this issue. I am using the least intrusive av (windows defender). I don't have any third party av on board. the progress bar on jobs doesn't move and I cant stop the job.
my device is not empty though. I had already transferred books via cc content server using wifi.

I just did a 1st time USB connect to calibre.
4K books on the 16G SDcard

The scan found every document on my device (>6K), then I set the driver to just use the folder on the SDcard that I use with CC

I just reconnected via USB and the job wheel spins (well the job finished in a few minutes, but I can't see the actual time because beta 205 task manager is wierding out

[drmadhupk]

its been 108m 59s and mine is only 42% done. but this time it's faster than before.
Unfortunately now I need the phone. got to disconnect now. I have to attend to a emergency. will try complete scan after that.

@theducks you said that second time job finished in a few minutes. how much is that few minutes?

edit: sorry, you mentioned that you can't see the actual time.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by drmadhupk

its been 108m 59s and mine is only 42% done. but this time it's faster than before.
Unfortunately now I need the phone. got to disconnect now. I have to attend to a emergency. will try complete scan after that.

@theducks you said that second time job finished in a few minutes. how much is that few minutes?

edit: sorry, you mentioned that you can't see the actual time.

Less than 1/2 hour. Probably closer to 15 Minutes

on a 7" Tab 2.0

[chaley]

It is worth noting that CC and cable connections are not compatible. If you send a document over the cable, CC won't know about it and won't include it in its library.

[drmadhupk]

@chaley thanks. I just found that out the hard way. waited 220min for calibre to finish scan, configured the device, sent 2 books to cc folder only to find that cc doesn't recognise them. just came in here to tell that and I find you have already commented about it.

[drmadhupk]

@theducks thanks for the help. it took a long time for the first scan (220min). then I configured to make calibre scan only one folder (cc) for books and data. then on it takes less than a minute for calibre to scan and get the device ready. but this didn't help my cause as cc wont recognise books sent over wire and shows only books sent wirelessly.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by drmadhupk

@theducks thanks for the help. it took a long time for the first scan (220min). then I configured to make calibre scan only one folder (cc) for books and data. then on it takes less than a minute for calibre to scan and get the device ready. but this didn't help my cause as cc wont recognise books sent over wire and shows only books sent wirelessly.

I was reading this and thought I had just foot shot myself as I had deleted a bunch of books using the USB link.

Chaley must have had me in mind as there is a menu item to check for missing books, and allow you to make CC recognize they have been deleted.

Thanks Charles and the rest of the CC crew

[drmadhupk]

@theducks as I was experimenting I too deleted only one book and added 2 new books on wire to see what cc does. as you mentioned, cc did show the deleted book under "books with missing files". I was expecting cc to show the added books in that list. all these days I thought it was about books with missing metadata but it is the other way. it shows "metadata with missing books".

[cybmole]

that very long intiial scan , is it with USB2 or could you be on USB1 - which is much slower?
if it is an older laptop maybe it only has USB1 on some/all ports ?