Duplicate Kindle content to another Kindle

prometheus44 · 12-15-2011, 08:49 PM

Hi,

I have had a Kindle 3 3G for a while now, and for christmas I'm getting one for someone.

Is there anyway to duplicate the entire content of a kindle to another kindle? I've tried Mac's Carbon Copy Cloner (copying every single files, including hidden ones), no luck.

Through Calibre? MY Kindle somehow doesn't communicate with "Kindle Collections" (it comes back saying it cannot read some random byte) so no luck with that either.

Any idea? No way I'm going to manually organize 1000 books...

theducks · 12-15-2011, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prometheus44

Hi,

I have had a Kindle 3 3G for a while now, and for christmas I'm getting one for someone.

Is there anyway to duplicate the entire content of a kindle to another kindle? I've tried Mac's Carbon Copy Cloner (copying every single files, including hidden ones), no luck.

Through Calibre? MY Kindle somehow doesn't communicate with "Kindle Collections" (it comes back saying it cannot read some random byte) so no luck with that either.

Any idea? No way I'm going to manually organize 1000 books...

Create a New (blank) Calibre Library (K3Lib) using the arrow next to the Library icon.
Now switch to Device view. Select what you want to copy and right click: Add to Library
(wait

) Until done
Switch to Library View.
Eject the K3
Connect the New K3.
Select books and Save to Device (using your standard method)

prometheus44 · 12-15-2011, 09:45 PM

Hey,

It does work to copy the books, but is there any way to also transfer the collections playlist?

Again, for some reason I can't get my Kindle to communicate with Calibre's "Kindle Collections"...

If I have to, I'll just re-create the Collections from scratch on the new Kindle... But 1000 books is going to be a huge pain...

Isn't there a hidden database file somewhere that indexes all the books and their assigned collections?

theducks · 12-15-2011, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prometheus44

Hey,

It does work to copy the books, but is there any way to also transfer the collections playlist?

Again, for some reason I can't get my Kindle to communicate with Calibre's "Kindle Collections"...

If I have to, I'll just re-create the Collections from scratch on the new Kindle... But 1000 books is going to be a huge pain...

Isn't there a hidden database file somewhere that indexes all the books and their assigned collections?

Meme or some other K expert will have to step in.
The error sounds like there is damage to the collections file on your K3. I have no clue if that is recoverable.

prometheus44 · 12-15-2011, 09:57 PM

That's what I get...

calibre, version 0.8.27
ERROR: Failed to view collections: <b>Failed</b>: View Kindle Collections

'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 46, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 79, in generate_existing_kindle_collections_report
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

hmf · 12-16-2011, 04:57 PM

pro..just copy over the contents of your kindle's documents folder as well as the collections.json in the Kindle's system folder. Reboot and books should be in Collections. I would also recommend copying over the Search Indexes folder in the systems folder to avoid the new Kindle indexing the already indexed books.

prometheus44 · 12-16-2011, 05:13 PM

HMF, thanks for your reply.

Here's what I've done altogether:

- Create new Calibre library
- Calibre, Device view (original kindle), select all books, copy to library
- Calibre, Device view (new kindle), send all books to device

- Carbon Copy every single file of original kindle to my computer
- Copy-Paste "collection.json" " "Search Indexes" from backup to new kindle

I do get all the books on the new kindle, obviously, but the strange thing is that I get collections that are either complete, missing books, or empty altogether. Apparently some books that were in several collections are also either in none, or only one.

Could it be because of discrepancies in file names between original/new? Folders?

hmf · 12-16-2011, 05:56 PM

While I'm an ardent Calibre fan I would leave Calibre out of the equation when trying to duplicate one Kindle's content to another. I just got a new Kindle after breaking the screen and did what I outlined above. Came out perfect. (altho I've done it before and had about 20 books out of 1000 not put in their proper collection.)

12-15-2011, 08:49 PM	#1
prometheus44 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Duplicate Kindle content to another Kindle Hi, I have had a Kindle 3 3G for a while now, and for christmas I'm getting one for someone. Is there anyway to duplicate the entire content of a kindle to another kindle? I've tried Mac's Carbon Copy Cloner (copying every single files, including hidden ones), no luck. Through Calibre? MY Kindle somehow doesn't communicate with "Kindle Collections" (it comes back saying it cannot read some random byte) so no luck with that either. Any idea? No way I'm going to manually organize 1000 books...

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12-15-2011, 09:45 PM	#3
prometheus44 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Hey, It does work to copy the books, but is there any way to also transfer the collections playlist? Again, for some reason I can't get my Kindle to communicate with Calibre's "Kindle Collections"... If I have to, I'll just re-create the Collections from scratch on the new Kindle... But 1000 books is going to be a huge pain... Isn't there a hidden database file somewhere that indexes all the books and their assigned collections?

12-15-2011, 09:57 PM	#5
prometheus44 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	That's what I get... calibre, version 0.8.27 ERROR: Failed to view collections: <b>Failed</b>: View Kindle Collections 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte Traceback (most recent call last): File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 46, in run File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 79, in generate_existing_kindle_collections_report UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

12-16-2011, 04:57 PM	#6
hmf Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 108 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle	pro..just copy over the contents of your kindle's documents folder as well as the collections.json in the Kindle's system folder. Reboot and books should be in Collections. I would also recommend copying over the Search Indexes folder in the systems folder to avoid the new Kindle indexing the already indexed books.

12-16-2011, 05:13 PM	#7
prometheus44 Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	HMF, thanks for your reply. Here's what I've done altogether: - Create new Calibre library - Calibre, Device view (original kindle), select all books, copy to library - Calibre, Device view (new kindle), send all books to device - Carbon Copy every single file of original kindle to my computer - Copy-Paste "collection.json" " "Search Indexes" from backup to new kindle I do get all the books on the new kindle, obviously, but the strange thing is that I get collections that are either complete, missing books, or empty altogether. Apparently some books that were in several collections are also either in none, or only one. Could it be because of discrepancies in file names between original/new? Folders?

12-16-2011, 05:56 PM	#8
hmf Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 108 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle	While I'm an ardent Calibre fan I would leave Calibre out of the equation when trying to duplicate one Kindle's content to another. I just got a new Kindle after breaking the screen and did what I outlined above. Came out perfect. (altho I've done it before and had about 20 books out of 1000 not put in their proper collection.)

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