General questions!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also you can filter the GUI by Author, Collection, Tag, Format, Title, custom column etc so that you only see one Genre or Author or kind of thing (such as Comic).
See also Virtual Libraries, which I know nothing about.

You can use a USB drive but not a networked drive with Calibre.

I'm disagreeing with not using a networked drive. As long as the networked drive looks like another drive letter to the system, it works.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Thanks, I don't know what Virtual Libraries are either, but I'm going to search about it. I know I can search with tags etc. and make lists and whatnot, I just wanted to have the original files in their categories and not just by author, which is great for books, but I think it's going to be a mess with comics.

A virtual library allows you to do a search and a virtual library treats the results like it was a regular library.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm disagreeing with not using a networked drive. As long as the networked drive looks like another drive letter to the system, it works.

Your last phrase should have read: "it works—for a while".

I've seen too many issues with people trying to use calibre on a networked drive whether it be a local NAS, cloud storage or mapped drive from another local computer, to feel safe using that configuration. It's not a question of if it will break, rather the question is when it will break.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Your last phrase should have read: "it works—for a while".

I've seen too many issues with people trying to use calibre on a networked drive whether it be a local NAS, cloud storage or mapped drive from another local computer, to feel safe using that configuration. It's not a question of if it will break, rather the question is when it will break.

Yes, even if a Windows share and a drive letter, which ONLY applies to Windows, though almost all other OSes can mount a Windows share as a sub-directory. Windows too can mount objects in a subdirectory instead of using up drive letters, which is better as local device drive letters can change!

I've seen issues also with MS Office using Windows Shares on Windows.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Your last phrase should have read: "it works—for a while".

I've seen too many issues with people trying to use calibre on a networked drive whether it be a local NAS, cloud storage or mapped drive from another local computer, to feel safe using that configuration. It's not a question of if it will break, rather the question is when it will break.

I've been doing this for more then 10 years without a single hitch. The problem comes when the network drive is a NAS.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, even if a Windows share and a drive letter, which ONLY applies to Windows, though almost all other OSes can mount a Windows share as a sub-directory. Windows too can mount objects in a subdirectory instead of using up drive letters, which is better as local device drive letters can change!

I've seen issues also with MS Office using Windows Shares on Windows.

You can drive letters in Windows so if you install another data drive and it ends up using one of your network letters, you assign it a different letter and go back to your network drive letter. It's really easy to deal with. Or you could make your network drive Z if you prefer. And another thing you can do is just point Calibre to the new shared drive letter to find the libraries.

Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, & Windows 11 all with no problem with Calibre's libraries on a network share.

[ownedbycats]

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...rked-drive-nas

Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive.

It says "networked drive." Calibre is designed to run from a local drive, and that's that.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've been doing this for more then 10 years without a single hitch. The problem comes when the network drive is a NAS.

Yeah, and I've used Dropbox with my Calibre library for 10 years. The thing is, I'm careful and know what I'm doing. I assume the same goes for you. But it's irresponsible to recommend both Dropbox and a network drive to other people, who aren't that familiar with Calibre or so careful and may mess up their libraries.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, and I've used Dropbox with my Calibre library for 10 years. The thing is, I'm careful and know what I'm doing. I assume the same goes for you. But it's irresponsible to recommend both Dropbox and a network drive to other people, who aren't that familiar with Calibre or so careful and may mess up their libraries.

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔ ✔ ✔

And I bet you have a robust backup and recovery plan.

If 'it' can happen to @chaley, it can happen to anyone.

BR

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔ ✔ ✔

And I bet you have a robust backup and recovery plan.

If 'it' can happen to @chaley, it can happen to anyone.

BR

Yes, I keep back-ups. They work; I've used them when moving my stuff to a new computer.

[DNSB]

The best way not to need a backup is by having a tested backup.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The best way not to need a backup is by having a tested backup.

Oh so true!
I showed up at a job one morning to find the server for the Point of sale had a hard hard disk crash (Ya know, where you head grindy sounds). Ran down to Fry's (when they were around) and grabbed a new drive, installed it, added the O/S, waited forever for all the updates. Then attached the backup drive The last successful one was almost a year old.

Never trust AUTO
(I was just an employee that knew computers. This was the owners setup that I did not normally touch as part of my job)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

Oh so true!
I showed up at a job one morning to find the server for the Point of sale had a hard hard disk crash (Ya know, where you head grindy sounds). Ran down to Fry's (when they were around) and grabbed a new drive…

A Chocolatey Mint drive I assume

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...rked-drive-nas



It says "networked drive." Calibre is designed to run from a local drive, and that's that.

I know what it says. But I know what works.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah, and I've used Dropbox with my Calibre library for 10 years. The thing is, I'm careful and know what I'm doing. I assume the same goes for you. But it's irresponsible to recommend both Dropbox and a network drive to other people, who aren't that familiar with Calibre or so careful and may mess up their libraries.

The only way I would recommend cloud storage would be to use FreeFileSync to make a copy of the library to be synced to the cloud. So the cloud storage never ever touches the working library.

But yes, I do know what I am doing. I never run Calibre more then once at a time. I make sure that after the laptop reboots that it's connected correctly. After that, it works.

The reason I started doing this is because it's not easy to have an external hard drive on a laptop when the laptop is on your lap.