Transfering backup libraries from multiple flash drives

[inkyichi]

Hello there, I was wondering if it is possible to transfer Calibre libraries from different flashdrives into one library? I lost my main computer and external drive during hurricane Harvey. I have been using a old laptop that had Calibre 3.6 on it. I have to admit I am not great with computers and hate to update to the newest version in fear of lose everthing. Thank you in advance for you help.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by inkyichi

Hello there, I was wondering if it is possible to transfer Calibre libraries from different flashdrives into one library? I lost my main computer and external drive during hurricane Harvey. I have been using a old laptop that had Calibre 3.6 on it. I have to admit I am not great with computers and hate to update to the newest version in fear of lose everthing. Thank you in advance for you help.

If you export the library from your old computer, it'll export the library in ~1GB chunks. If you copy all those chunks over to the destination computer, you should be able to restore your library.

If you have your working libraries on the flash drives, you could mount those libraries on your new computer and copy them into a library on that computer.

Now if you were using calibre portable, that may be an issue though I think you could still mount that library on your new computer and copy the contents over.

Hurricane Harvey??? Wasn't that back in the summer of 2017?

[inkyichi]

I just found my old flash drives inside of a old keepsake box. I still lost tons of books that were on my external drive and my old desktop. I rarely used my laptop since I have a iPad.
The last time I was in this forum was back in 2013. I used to back up my books on flash drives, before I bought a external drive. I was able to save the laptop, so I started over in 2017. So this is my chance to recover some of my books.

Ok what do you mean by mounting? If there is a tutorial I can watch or some place where it is explained step by step I will have no problem following your instructions. Can I just try to drag and drop my old library into the one on my laptop?

[theducks]

Mount is mostly a Linux term for 'make the OS (explorer) see the drive'. In most case USB drive auto-mount.
Windows just does it (they don't call it Mount)

If this is a real Calibre Library (folder). things got easy.
Make Calibre see the Library (on the drive).
Right click the Library icon: Create/Switch: USE EXISTING: <point the dialog to where it is>: OK

Select books from the flash Library: right click COPY TO LIBRARY: select the target. Since this is a backup, I would NOT delete.

Duplicates are handled by the Setting in Preferences: Adding Books:Adding Actions

[inkyichi]

Well I must have done something wrong because I can see my old books in the library but my new ones are gone��

It didn’t combine the libraries.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by inkyichi

Well I must have done something wrong because I can see my old books in the library but my new ones are gone��

It didn’t combine the libraries.

did you do the steps I outlined?
Then did you switch back to your Main (that should be on the quick list of the Library Icon.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by inkyichi

Ok what do you mean by mounting? If there is a tutorial I can watch or some place where it is explained step by step I will have no problem following your instructions. Can I just try to drag and drop my old library into the one on my laptop?

At times, I revert back to the terminology of my youth back when the hard drive cabinet was bigger than a washing machine.

If it is an actual calibre library on the flash drive, plug it in and then in calibre, click on the library icon, select Switch/create library and make sure the Use previously existing library at the new location radio button is selected. Browse to the location of the library on your flash drive using the folder icon at the end of the New location: field. Once the library is selected, switch to it, select all the books and copy them to your new computer's library.

If the flash drive backup is not a calibre library, do not try dragging and dropping the library files from the OS. You can use calibre's Add books and select Add books from directories and sub-directories to copy the books to your calibre library.

[inkyichi]

I skipped the highlighting part. I tried it again and it is copying now. It will take awhile since one of my flash drives was the backup of the all the books from 2011 to 2016. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you for being patient with me.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by inkyichi

I skipped the highlighting part. I tried it again and it is copying now. It will take awhile since one of my flash drives was the backup of the all the books from 2011 to 2016. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you for being patient with me.

No problem. Hope it all works out with recovering as much of your book collection as possible.

[inkyichi]

It worked beautifully, but it took 3 hours to add the books. It didn’t show any duplicates at all. I have another flash drive but I am sure it has a lot of duplicates in it. Where do you ask it to check for dupes when combining libraries?

Thanks again for your help.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by inkyichi

It worked beautifully, but it took 3 hours to add the books. It didn’t show any duplicates at all. I have another flash drive but I am sure it has a lot of duplicates in it. Where do you ask it to check for dupes when combining libraries?

Thanks again for your help.

AFAIR, the default settings for adding books should do it automatically. Check the second tab of Adding books under calibre's preferences.

[ownedbycats]

There's also Find Duplicates. It has Fuzzy Matching, which is useful for when the title/author isn't spelled exactly the same way.