Using calibre on 2 computers at the same time

[BadAngel]

I have Calibre installed on my laptop and desktop. Win7 on both. I have opened one library on both systems over my network. My question is can I change info on one system and have it reflect on both without having to shut down and restart Calibre? I have tried playing around and received a "library locked" message a few times. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BadAngel

I have Calibre installed on my laptop and desktop. Win7 on both. I have opened one library on both systems over my network. My question is can I change info on one system and have it reflect on both without having to shut down and restart Calibre? I have tried playing around and received a "library locked" message a few times. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Danger,
Calibre is a Single (Library) instance program. You risk damage to the Library structure.

If you need to VIEW a library from other locations, use the included content server, It is read only connection.

[BadAngel]

Thank you theDucks! So if I only use the library on one system at a time, any changes would be reflected on either machine the next time I open it? The content server option involves port forwarding on my router right?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BadAngel

Thank you theDucks! So if I only use the library on one system at a time, any changes would be reflected on either machine the next time I open it? The content server option involves port forwarding on my router right?

Right, but networked drives can also problematical. Keep backups current.


Port forward is only needed IF you allow access from outside your LAN.

10X the above caution if you were using Calibre (main GUI) to access the Library from off premises.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

Right, but networked drives can also problematical. Keep backups current.

I have no problems accessing my Calibre libraries over the network. I just make sure that I do not try to access the same library on two different systems at the same time.

[BadAngel]

I have a NookHD and use Calibre Companion to access my library there. I will access the library on one machine at a time from now on, it's just not worth messing it up. Thank you so much for the info, it was exactly what I was looking for!!

[eschwartz]

You could consider storing your library in Dropbox or using BitTorrentSync or something to duplicate your calibre library across multiple machines. The important thing is, you must makes sure to sync all changes before opening calibre or you can have edit clashes which move things around randomly. Also, never sync while calibre is running.

BitTorrentSync is an interesting option, because you can make a one-way clone of your files on another computer, thus freeing you to do whatever you want -- even if both computers access at once, all changes or breakage on PC#2 will be overwritten by the canonical library on PC#1.

[BadAngel]

eschwartz, Thank you for the info. Unfortunately, cloud storage isn't going to work for me unless I want to spend a bit of money. My library consists of over 27,00 books and counting! I looked at the BitTorrent Sync and may try that out to make an extra backup as I am rebuilding my library after it was corrupted beyond salvage.

[eschwartz]

Yeah, BTSync is nice because you can set up your own sync system -- and even host it on a server if necessary -- so all limits are imposed by you and you alone.

You *can* also use rsync with a remote connection but that might be needlessly complicated. Especially on Windows.


Anyway, best not to rely on networked drives which may fail in interesting ways.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Anyway, best not to rely on networked drives which may fail in interesting ways.

How is a networked drive any different from a non-networked drive? The drive I use for my working Calibre libraries is no different from a non-networked drive. The only difference is I can access from other computers on the network. It's not a NAS drive. Just a regular SATA drive plugged into a desktop computer inside the computer case.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How is a networked drive any different from a non-networked drive? The drive I use for my working Calibre libraries is no different from a non-networked drive. The only difference is I can access from other computers on the network. It's not a NAS drive. Just a regular SATA drive plugged into a desktop computer inside the computer case.

Principally, the fact that it isn't plugged into the second computer. That would be the whole "networked" thing.

Congratulations, you have hit on the magic combo to make it work. MR is full of threads where people didn't duplicate your unpredictable success...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Principally, the fact that it isn't plugged into the second computer. That would be the whole "networked" thing.

Congratulations, you have hit on the magic combo to make it work. MR is full of threads where people didn't duplicate your unpredictable success...

That's because most are trying to use a NAS drive. This is just a regular hard drive.

[BetterRed]

@JSWolf - Works for me too Jon, has been since I starting using calibre 3 years ago - along with all the other data on the shared drives - including the MySQL based software I use to manage a library of 3.5M images.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's because most are trying to use a NAS drive. This is just a regular hard drive.

I confess to confusion. What exactly do you mean by "NAS drive"? Every NAS device I have ever seen uses bog-standard drives, all SATA in the last several years.

A networked drive is any drive that a) one accesses that is plugged into a computer other than the one I am now using and b) that other computer is visible to mine over a network of some kind. The other computer could be a NAS device, a "cloud drive", another PC of the same type as the one in front of you, or computer of a different type/OS/what-have-you. If your library is on a networked drive then calibre may or may not work. It may work for a long time then stop working, perhaps eating your library. It may work as long as you don't do operation X. It may look like it is working but not be, quietly tossing your books into a bit bucket.

I am glad that whatever you are doing works for you. However, do not generalize that into working for everyone. We have a *lot* of experience with calibre failing when using networked drives, sometimes catastrophically.

[JSWolf]

One thing I am doing is using a mapped network drive. Maybe most of the problems are trying to use a network drive not mapped as a standard drive letter and trying to use the network name.