Forma Bug as soon as I try to read more than one book

[ClosedCaptions]

I have been trying to figure this out for hours to no avail.

I have a Kobo Forma that I basically exclusively use to read sideloaded books. I have been trying to organize my library and streamline my book transfer process by using KoboUtilities and Kobo Touch Extended.

Everything seems to work fine; I send a book to my Kobo using Calibre, read a bit, and then everything is fine when I plug it back into my computer. However, the problem starts as soon as I try to read a second book on my Kobo; I plug it back into my computer and Calibre suddenly doesn't recognize the second book as being on the device. This problem also causes my Kobo database to corrupt fairly often.

This only happens when I try to read two or more books; I can download as many as I please without issue as long as their status all remain as unread. As soon as I have more than one of them set as "reading", the problems start.

I don't understand; I feel like there is some small setting in one of these plugins that I'm overlooking. Could it be a metadata problem? I have tried a variety of books (some with tidier metadata than others), and they all cause this same issue. I have also tried using different USB cables in case that was causing the corrupt database. Any help is appreciated!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ClosedCaptions

This only happens when I try to read two or more books; I can download as many as I please without issue as long as their status all remain as unread. As soon as I have more than one of them set as "reading", the problems start.

I don't understand; I feel like there is some small setting in one of these plugins that I'm overlooking. Could it be a metadata problem? I have tried a variety of books (some with tidier metadata than others), and they all cause this same issue. I have also tried using different USB cables in case that was causing the corrupt database. Any help is appreciated!

One quick question: when you connect your Forma to your computer and get the database issue, can you open a file explorer and look at the .kobo directory on your Forma. If you see files such as KoboReader.sqlite-wal and KoboReader.sqlite-shm or BookReader.sqlite-wal and BookReader.sqlite-shm, the database is not being properly closed before the USB connection. See the attached image for what I see on one of my Kobos when the problem shows up.

My workaround for this has been to use NickelMenu to trigger a reboot before the USB connection for ensure that the database files are closed.

I wouldn't bother looking for issues due to metadata, etc. on your computer.

[ClosedCaptions]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One quick question: when you connect your Forma to your computer and get the database issue, can you open a file explorer and look at the .kobo directory on your Forma. If you see files such as KoboReader.sqlite-wal and KoboReader.sqlite-shm or BookReader.sqlite-wal and BookReader.sqlite-shm, the database is not being properly closed before the USB connection. See the attached image for what I see on one of my Kobos when the problem shows up.

My workaround for this has been to use NickelMenu to trigger a reboot before the USB connection for ensure that the database files are closed.

I wouldn't bother looking for issues due to metadata, etc. on your computer.

Tried rebooting and worked like a charm; thank you so much! I was looking through the most recent firmware update thread and thought it could be because of the USB files not closing bug, but I wasn't sure how to fix it until now.

[kyrilson]

Yeah, I do the same thing DNSB does, I start the reboot (I have it on my nickelmenu) and then plug in the usb. Seems to work flawlessly when I do that.

[JSWolf]

I don't reboot. I go to the Home screen before I connect my Libra 2 to the computer.

[HLS]

Why don't you just load your whole library on the device all at once? Then you don't need to keep going back.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by HLS

Why don't you just load your whole library on the device all at once? Then you don't need to keep going back.

Hahahahahaha,. Is that like "can I download the internet" or "what time does the internet close?"

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HLS

Why don't you just load your whole library on the device all at once? Then you don't need to keep going back.

Sadly, my Sage only has 32GB of storage part of which is used by the system and restore partitions. So loading my whole library is not an option. On my Clara HD which has 128GB of storage, the main SQLite database is over 1GB which makes access slower since it can not be loaded into memory but it does let me cart my whole library around.

[JSWolf]

My Libra 2 has 32GB of storage and I have more books on it then I need.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by compurandom

Hahahahahaha,. Is that like "can I download the internet" or "what time does the internet close?"

Gutenberg explains how to download their entire 70K+ ebooks and it's now possible in a reasonable fashion even on 500Mbps domestic fibre to the home.

Archive dot org does appear to be downloading the entire Internet in case it closes.

An offline copy of Wikipedia on a handheld device is possible.

However if you have mainly novels a 32G Kobo would be nearly 60 years of reading at two to four novellas a day or 1 long novel a day.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Gutenberg explains how to download their entire 70K+ ebooks and it's now possible in a reasonable fashion even on 500Mbps domestic fibre to the home.

*shudder* I have enough trouble weeding through gutenberg books without downloading all of them.

Good luck putting that on your kobo. It'd be even worse to weed through there.

An offline copy of Wikipedia on a handheld device is possible.

Yes, I have it on my phone. Had to format a microsd as ext4 to make it fit.
I think this year's copy is 90G with downres images.