Entire Library Deleted After Update to 2.83

[automatthew]

Hello Everyone,

So, I just updated Calibre to 2.83, and on restarting I see that the entire library is gone. I have gone here:

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...libre-is-blank

But it does not appear to address the issue I'm facing. I had more than 10,000 books in my library, and the "Calibre Library" folder, which previously contained hundreds of folders and was several gigabytes in size, is now empty except for metadata.db etc.

If I do a search for all epub files on my hard drive, it returns nothing. My books are gone.

I am pretty certain that I am SOL, but I would like to know what went wrong, and how I can stop it from happening in the future.

Any ideas?

I'm on a PC using Windows 10.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by automatthew

Hello Everyone,

So, I just updated Calibre to 2.83, and on restarting I see that the entire library is gone. I have gone here:

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...libre-is-blank

But it does not appear to address the issue I'm facing. I had more than 10,000 books in my library, and the "Calibre Library" folder, which previously contained hundreds of folders and was several gigabytes in size, is now empty except for metadata.db etc.

If I do a search for all epub files on my hard drive, it returns nothing. My books are gone.

I am pretty certain that I am SOL, but I would like to know what went wrong, and how I can stop it from happening in the future.

Any ideas?

I'm on a PC using Windows 10.

No idea what could have gone wrong. Which version of Windows 10, I'm on 1511 and have had no problems.

Are you sure the library was there immediately prior to installing 2.83? Did you do any other software updates around that time e.g. Windows Creator Update. Perhaps your libraries are in another user account.

There are almost 2 million active calibre users, more than 20% of them are using version 2.83, and 80+% of calibre users are on Windows something, see ==>> calibre - Usage Statistics. If your problem was widespread this forum would be swamped with 'complaints' - thankfully its not

How to prevent in future? Regular backups is the only way I know of. I do daily incremental backups to a USB3.0 connected drive of all my 'regular' data (documents, books, images, video clips, email etc) and selected 'system' data (e.g. calibre config, browser profiles etc). It usually takes about five minutes, longer if I downloaded/created something huge.

What did you use to do the search for epubs?

BR

[theducks]

search for Metadata.db (that is what you see presented in the GUI)

Updates can't DELETE a Library's BOOKS. in rare cases, an update will lose track of where they are (if in a non-default location). Create/Switch: Use existing reattaches to the proper location (the folder where metadata.db is)

Did you have Hard drive issues? ( that is MANY FOLDERS to still be a usable drive)

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by automatthew

Hello Everyone,

So, I just updated Calibre to 2.83, and on restarting I see that the entire library is gone. I have gone here:

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...libre-is-blank

But it does not appear to address the issue I'm facing. I had more than 10,000 books in my library, and the "Calibre Library" folder, which previously contained hundreds of folders and was several gigabytes in size, is now empty except for metadata.db etc.

If I do a search for all epub files on my hard drive, it returns nothing. My books are gone.

What you describe has nothing to do with running a calibre update. If you have searched your drive and have been unable to find any epubs then it would seem that your library is on a different drive than the one you are searching. Is it possible you previously were using the calibre portable version on an external USB drive or could your library be on a different local drive?

Originally Posted by automatthew

I am pretty certain that I am SOL, but I would like to know what went wrong

Books / folders being deleted en mass from your device has absolutely nothing to do with running a calibre update. Also failing hard drives are rarely this surgical. Have you looked in the trash for your library's folder? Is it possible you moved the library during a backup instead of syncing/copying a library during a backup? Could a sync program be set for two way update and cleared the library? Is it possible your library has always been on a different drive than the one you searched? Bottom line is only you can tell us how this happened.

Originally Posted by automatthew

and how I can stop it from happening in the future.

You can protect yourself in the future by having a good backup of your calibre library.

[pdurrant]

Post hoc ergo propter hoc is a logical fallacy. It's unlikely that the update has anything to do with your problem.

But I'm sorry for your missing library. It must be distressing. I hope your library turns up.

[automatthew]

Well, it's good to be reassured that it can't have been the update. That's one less thing to worry about.

I can't be sure that the library was present immediately prior to the update no, I hadn't checked it in a while. I definitely didn't do anything deliberately to move or delete it. I have two hard drives in my computer, it's always been on the same one of them. The Calibre Library folder and metadata.db file are in the same place they've always been. It's just that the 10,000+ books that used to be there aren't now.

I can't imagine what it could have been.

I'm just using the Windows search function to search for epubs. Is there a better way or a reason that wouldn't work? I've run the search on both of my hard drives. No dice.

[stumped]

Maybe think this through differently. What sequence of calibre selections, commands would be needed to remove all books but leave behind the .db and the outer folder, but remove all the subfolders, if they are in fact gone
Is the need to confirm a delete turned off in preferences.
With that off,then select all, delete would wipe all books in just two actions. Could it have been user error e.g. set out to delete one book, accidentally delete all... or look at what is either side of "delete" in the right click menus..