Error communicating with device

[AlexBell]

I am using calibre version 3.42.0

A few days ago I suddenly began to have catastrophic problems when trying to upload new ebooks to calibre, or when trying to download ebooks from calibre to my Sony PRS T3 and my Kobo Glo in that calibre refuses to accept the files or to download ebooks I already have to the reader. And I do not understand the error message it gives:

'Failed to access files on the SD card in your device. This can happen for many reasons. The SD card may be corrupted, it may be too large for your device, it may be write-protected, etc. Try a different SD card, or reformat your SD card using the FAT32 filesystem. Also make sure there are not too many files in the root of your SD card. Underlying error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'K:\\driveinfo.calibre'

But I can still download ebooks to my Sony PRS 2. My readers are certainly not write-protected, and I do not use an SD card, just the readers.

I have recently deleted ebooks from the ereaders without going through calibre, but I'm sure I've done that before without any problems.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? And how to fix the problem so I can go back to using calibre?

[kovidgoyal]

SD card is generic it could refer to the main memory of your readers as well. The error is a permission denied error trying to write to the file driveinfo.calibre on the device. You can deelte the file and see if the error goes away.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

SD card is generic it could refer to the main memory of your readers as well. The error is a permission denied error trying to write to the file driveinfo.calibre on the device. You can deelte the file and see if the error goes away.

Thanks. I'm sorry to be so ignorant, but could you tell me please how to find the driveinfo.calibre file so I can delete it? When I've found it and deleted it what should I see?

And could you tell me why I can still use the Sony PRS 2 reader, but can't use the Sony PRS 3 reader and the Kobo Glo? And presuming I can get the readers to work again is there anything I should do to prevent the error happening again?

Regards, Alex

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks. I'm sorry to be so ignorant, but could you tell me please how to find the driveinfo.calibre file so I can delete it? When I've found it and deleted it what should I see?

It will be in the root directory of the device when it is connected.

And could you tell me why I can still use the Sony PRS 2 reader, but can't use the Sony PRS 3 reader and the Kobo Glo? And presuming I can get the readers to work again is there anything I should do to prevent the error happening again?

Are you getting the same error on the Kobo Glo as the Sony? If not, you what is it?

The error makes me think the device has been mounted read-only. Can you write to it from Windows? Or delete a file on it? If it is read-only, then you need to find out why. Restarting the device would be the first thing that I would try.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It will be in the root directory of the device when it is connected.


Are you getting the same error on the Kobo Glo as the Sony? If not, you what is it?

The error makes me think the device has been mounted read-only. Can you write to it from Windows? Or delete a file on it? If it is read-only, then you need to find out why. Restarting the device would be the first thing that I would try.

Thanks so much for your help. Simply restarting the Sony PRS T3 fixed all problems; I was able to connect the reader to calibre, did not get any error message, and was able to download an ebook from calibre without any problems.

It wasn't as complete an improvement with the Kobo glo. When I attached it to calibre after restarting the read I got the following error message:

'Your Kobo is running an updated firmware/database version. As calibre does not know about this updated firmware, database editing is disabled, to prevent corruption. You can still send books to your Kobo with calibre, but deleting books and managing collections is disabled. If you are willing to experiment and know how to reset your Kobo to Factory defaults, you can override this check by right clicking the device icon in calibre and selecting "Configure this device" and then the "Attempt to support newer firmware" option. Doing so may require you to perform a factory reset of your Kobo.
Device database version: 152.
Device firmware version: (4, 14, 12777)'

I followed these instructions (I didn't see any requirement to do a factory reset) and was able to download an ebook from calibre on to the Kobo. And I can read that ebook and the others already on the reader.

So I'm a lot happier than I was a few days ago. I guess the real test for both readers will be in a day or so when I when I try to upload or download ebooks from calibre again.

[AlexBell]

I've had another recurrence of the initial problem with which I started this thread on my Sony T3. I can't think of anything I did which might have caused the problem again.

Closing the reader down and restarting did not help. What did work was to connect the reader to my computer, and only then open calibre. I've done this successfully several times now.

But I have no idea why the problem came back, or whether the routine mentioned above fixed the problem or was just a coincidence.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I've had another recurrence of the initial problem with which I started this thread on my Sony T3. I can't think of anything I did which might have caused the problem again.

Closing the reader down and restarting did not help. What did work was to connect the reader to my computer, and only then open calibre. I've done this successfully several times now.

But I have no idea why the problem came back, or whether the routine mentioned above fixed the problem or was just a coincidence.

That sounds like the readers file system had corruption and when you connected it to Windows (PC), Windows did a scan/fix (I never have seen it do that silently, but then, I make my system 'always ask' when given the choice. (I still have most of my toes left, because of this avoiding shooting my self in the foot eyeball checks )

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by theducks

That sounds like the readers file system had corruption and when you connected it to Windows (PC), Windows did a scan/fix (I never have seen it do that silently, but then, I make my system 'always ask' when given the choice. (I still have most of my toes left, because of this avoiding shooting my self in the foot eyeball checks )

Thanks for your reply. In case I get the problem again could you tell me please how I could find out whether the reader's file system has a corruption? And how the corruption could occur? And (most important of all) how I could prevent file corruptions happening?

[theducks]

File system corruption can happen for many reasons (some you can not do anything about in advance except have a GOOD backup handy to recover with)
1)Interruption during writes (Power fail, cable pulled, program crash or forced app or computer quit)

2) Malware/ Virus interferes with normal functions

3)Hardware going bad (some give hints, like corruptions where none were expected, because something on #1 happened). Some fails just happen. Bam! your SD card is dead.

Some thing, you can take additional preventive steps.
Current Anti-virus. A UPS in areas with glitchey power (and your device does not have a GOOD battery). better placement of devices cables to avois accidental removal.
Preventative cleaning of fins and fans (lint and cat hair...) to prevent overheating.


Each OS has tools for checking and repairing some file system errors.
On windows: you right click on the drive (icon) in explored: Properties: Tools (a tab): Check (some may require you select the drive from a list. The letter may be a 'logical' partition on a physical drive. the test usually only does 1 partition per selection.) In some cases (typ the system drive, you need to schedule so it runs at boot time (before the OS actually uses the drive)

[AlexBell]

Thanks, that's most helpful.