A new year, 2026! Any safe (or relatively safe) Calibre options for cloud sync?

[anoukaimee]

TL;DR: Any updates on safety of using a cloud service with Calibre to sync/backup files (exiting entirely out of Calibre when using the sync function)?

I am running Calibre on Windows 11 and I sync my libraries with OneDrive. I know it's been common wisdom forever that syncing with cloud drives is verboten (other than Dropbox? Not sure which--I know one is considered safe). I do take the precaution of exiting entirely out of OneDrive when I'm in one of my libraries and vice versa; OneDrive just makes the most sense given that it comes with the entire Microsoft suite. So I'm assuming a risk, I know--so far, lucky (and I do back up periodically to an external hard drive).

So as I consider renewing my Microsoft subscription for another year, wanted to check in and see whether any advances have been made--is it any safer now to use OneDrive? Alternatively, what safe tools, if any, are there to use cloud or other remote storage in 2026?

I'm running out of actual hard drive space now, and was thinking of moving all of my photos to one of my "family" 1TB OneDrive addresses and mapping them as a virtual drive using a tool like RCloneview (a GUI for Rclone). The other alternative--the safest, but the biggest PITA and most costly--is putting in an additional hard drive.

Please keep in mind I'm a beginner to intermediate in terms of knowledge of networking, home or cloud. And I understand from just reading over previous inquiries on this topic that this seems to rub ppl in a seriously wrong way; apologies if that's the case. Thanks in advance!

[Sirtel]

OneDrive and Dropbox are both relatively safe, as long as you

1. Stop syncing while calibre is open
2. Access your libraries from one computer only
3. Run library check regularly

If you break any of these rules, you may expect something going wrong.

The absolutely safe way is to have your libraries on a strictly local drive, with no cloud syncing, and use FreeFileSync to create and update a mirror copy in the cloud (one-way sync only, mirror mode - not two-way!).

Google Drive is not safe in any way.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by anoukaimee

TL;DR: Any updates on safety of using a cloud service with Calibre to sync/backup files (exiting entirely out of Calibre when using the sync function)?

I am running Calibre on Windows 11 and I sync my libraries with OneDrive. I know it's been common wisdom forever that syncing with cloud drives is verboten (other than Dropbox? Not sure which--I know one is considered safe). I do take the precaution of exiting entirely out of OneDrive when I'm in one of my libraries and vice versa; OneDrive just makes the most sense given that it comes with the entire Microsoft suite. So I'm assuming a risk, I know--so far, lucky (and I do back up periodically to an external hard drive).

So as I consider renewing my Microsoft subscription for another year, wanted to check in and see whether any advances have been made--is it any safer now to use OneDrive? Alternatively, what safe tools, if any, are there to use cloud or other remote storage in 2026?

I'm running out of actual hard drive space now, and was thinking of moving all of my photos to one of my "family" 1TB OneDrive addresses and mapping them as a virtual drive using a tool like RCloneview (a GUI for Rclone). The other alternative--the safest, but the biggest PITA and most costly--is putting in an additional hard drive.

Please keep in mind I'm a beginner to intermediate in terms of knowledge of networking, home or cloud. And I understand from just reading over previous inquiries on this topic that this seems to rub ppl in a seriously wrong way; apologies if that's the case. Thanks in advance!

What you can do is configure OneDrive to work as an external drive with a drive letter. Then you can use FreeFileSync to backup your library. This means you'll never have to have the OneDrive software touch your library. I don't run the OneDrive software. It can cause too many problems.