Copy to library error

[adv_dp_fan]

I maintain my library on my desktop and after I edit a book, use the Copy to Library function to copy it to a library that resides on my NAS. Everything has worked fine until today. When I copy to the NAS library, I get an error that looks like it is saying it can't open the database. If I do a quick switch to the NAS library it loads up and shows me an entry for the book I tried to copy with title and author but nothing else, the folders are created on the NAS but nothing is copied into them. Everything else about each library, desktop and NAS seems to be working fine. Now what changed between yesterday and today? Well I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10. Anyone having issues with Windows 10 and Calibre? Any ideas on why Calibre suddenly can't read the NAS database to copy a file to it but can read it for anything else?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[theducks]

NAS and other network shares are not supported (it is in the Calibre FAQ)

Some get away with it, but they understand it is fragile.

Safer to use you NAS as a Library backup device, running the real Library on a local drive

[eschwartz]

Your luck finally ran out.

Do NOT use a NAS with calibre: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....rked-drive-nas

[PeterT]

Any disk space issues on the NAS?

[adv_dp_fan]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Any disk space issues on the NAS?

No, plenty of disc space available.

[adv_dp_fan]

Originally Posted by theducks

NAS and other network shares are not supported (it is in the Calibre FAQ)

Some get away with it, but they understand it is fragile.

Safer to use you NAS as a Library backup device, running the real Library on a local drive

Never seen that. How is using an SMB share under Windows different than using a non-shared Windows drive? If the network drive is a Windows file system, just shared over the network, why wouldn't that work? Especially if only one person ever accesses it at any time. We just want to share a subset of each of our libraries with other systems here so I created another library on a shared drive we can all copy to. I know just enough networking to be dangerous but not enough to understand why it might not work.

Oh well, if Calibre doesn't support that then it doesn't. I'll just have to figure out some other solution.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by adv_dp_fan

Never seen that. How is using an SMB share under Windows different than using a non-shared Windows drive?

Well, mainly the "networked filesystem" part, but there's also the part where the file system is networked.

Oh, fine.
Your computer doesn't "own" the filesystem.
And the underlying protocol used to communicate with the filesystem is totally different.
As the FAQ link I posted warns, networked filesystems might have issues hardlinking, or locking files, or they might just be flaky. For a program that has to synchronize numerous files, there is no automatic guarantee that things will work.

If the network drive is a Windows file system, just shared over the network, why wouldn't that work? Especially if only one person ever accesses it at any time. We just want to share a subset of each of our libraries with other systems here so I created another library on a shared drive we can all copy to. I know just enough networking to be dangerous but not enough to understand why it might not work.

It has nothing to do with how many people access the NAS at a time -- that only matters in terms of clobbering the database. You can do the same thing if two users try starting the same calibre library running on the local disk.

Oh well, if Calibre doesn't support that then it doesn't. I'll just have to figure out some other solution.

Just use Synctoy or something to mirror-sync the library onto the NAS.



Or you can try a NAS anyway. calibre does not officially support it, and you will get no help from the developer, but some people say they've gotten it to work. Maybe they will find this thread and offer a suggestion.
But then you really are on your own.

Much easier to simply sync a copy to the NAS.

[cybmole]

if you only just upgraded, then it is most likely a windows 10 glitch or timeoout on network sharing.

i see this a lot - after upgrading all pcs in house & sorting all shareing settings & permissions I will often see w10 take a few seconds to look for a PC on the LAN, then come back with an error message saying " cannot access it", but then when I retry or run the troubleshooter it works after all.
it is intermittent and because retry always works I just live with it. it may be a w10 bug that shows only after sleep/wake or after non use of that network link for many hours

so I am guessing that in your fail case, calibre said let me write to the NAS & W10 said "huh - I can't see any NAS"

test by trying at random times to access that NAS via windows outside of calibre & see how well behaved the share is

[adv_dp_fan]

Originally Posted by cybmole

if you only just upgraded, then it is most likely a windows 10 glitch or timeoout on network sharing.

i see this a lot - after upgrading all pcs in house & sorting all shareing settings & permissions I will often see w10 take a few seconds to look for a PC on the LAN, then come back with an error message saying " cannot access it", but then when I retry or run the troubleshooter it works after all.
it is intermittent and because retry always works I just live with it. it may be a w10 bug that shows only after sleep/wake or after non use of that network link for many hours

so I am guessing that in your fail case, calibre said let me write to the NAS & W10 said "huh - I can't see any NAS"

test by trying at random times to access that NAS via windows outside of calibre & see how well behaved the share is

Well I have noticed that going back and trying again often succeeds. So it may be something like that but it is kind of odd as when it does fail, Calibre creates the folders for the book but just doesn't copy and book into the folder. It does add an entry to the database as it shows the book in the catalog afterwards but without all the book's data. Deleting the partial book from the database clears that out but leaves the folders there. Adding again sometimes works fine and other times just creates new folders and repeats the fail so you end up with multiple empty folders for the book.

As it is still working without any problems from the Windows 7 systems and worked fine the day before the upgrade, I'm sure it is some issue with Win 10. But as it has been pointed out there isn't any support for what I'm trying to do, I'll just have to figure out a different solution for sharing that particular catalog.

Thanks everyone for suggestions, pointers to FAQs, etc.

[cybmole]

That sounds more like the final writes being cached but never completed. Can you turn off write caching ?

[PeterT]

Maybe some change in SMB protocols from Win 7 to Win 10, and the NAS does not handle the new protocol properly?