Clara BW New files missing; Doesn't recharge

[Shohreh]

Hello,

Recently, I experienced the following issues with my Kobo Clara BW I bought 18 months ago:

1. Sometimes, files I copied don't show up on the Kobo: I must move them back to the computer, and move them once again to the Kobo — yes, I eject the device from Windows before unplugging it

2. The battery drains way faster than it should, and even after leaving it plugged in the whole night, it's only ~1/3 recharged — I tried two different chargers — Anker 5V 1A and Sologic 5V 2,4A.

Rebooting by long-pressing the button didn't solve it.

Upgrading today from 4.44.23552 (11/13/25) to 4.45.23464 (3/6/26) and trying a third charger (Asus 5,2V 1,35A) for one and half-hour seems to at least solved the charging issue.

Have others experienced those problems?

Thank you.

[Hasdrubal_Lector]

Batteries as they go through recharge cycles hold less of a charge. Your battery will apppear to drain faster because its maximum charge level is lower than it was when you bought the device. You can turn off wifi and bluetooth and only turn them on when you actively need them. Reduce screen brightness to the minimum you need for a pleasant reading experience. If you rely on a sleep cover to put your kobo to sleep, go to Settings>Energy Savings and Privacy and set the 'automatically go to sleep' setting to 5 minutes. Sometimes the sleep cover does not work. Never let the battery go below 20% if you can help it, and stop charging it when it is between 80%-90% full.

It sounds like a corrupted database. You can search this forum for possible solutions. There are many, so please forgive me for not listing them. The easiest is to log out of your kobo account, then log back in. That creates a new database. If you use Calibre, it can detect database corruption. It sounds like you are manually adding books to the Kobo.

[kaden.haz]

Your SD card may also be on its way out. The SD card in my KCHD fully gave out a while back and now I'm replacing it with a new SD card with the firmware added.

[DNSB]

1. I would also suspect a corrupt database. If you are not using calibre, you are not likely to notice unless you run a SQLite utility to check the database.
2. There is no µSD card in the Clara BW. It uses a eMMC chip soldered to the motherboard.

[PHughes]

Originally Posted by Hasdrubal_Lector

Batteries as they go through recharge cycles hold less of a charge. Your battery will apppear to drain faster because its maximum charge level is lower than it was when you bought the device. You can turn off wifi and bluetooth and only turn them on when you actively need them. Reduce screen brightness to the minimum you need for a pleasant

<SNIP>

easiest is to log out of your kobo account, then log back in. That creates a new database. If you use Calibre, it can detect database corruption. It sounds like you are manually adding books to the Kobo.

The battery should not be exhibiting that behavior at this point. I have had my Clara BW for 21 months and it still charges normally and lasts weeks, reading daily. The only thing that drains the battery faster is using the remote, and even than I can get a couple of weeks out of it, using the remote only at night in bed.

I know that you should only charge to around 80% for maximum battery longevity, but I charge to 100% since I want the charge to last as long as possible. I never had a battery on a Kobo lose any capacity to make a noticeable difference. I charge my phones that way as well, and my three year old phone still works fine and the battery life is the same as when new. No noticeable difference. My old Sony ereader still works well, ad does my olf Kobo Mini.

The point is, there is something truly wrong with the OP's device, or it would not be exhibiting this behavior, and it wasn't due to charging to full.

[PeterT]

I believe people have experienced issues like this with a corrupted ebook being transferred that causes the scanning for new content to get stuck processing the damaged content. This results in scans never passing this particular file and possibly consuming lots of resources in trying to process the book

[Shohreh]

Thanks for the infos.

I simply copy files through Windows Explorer (Total Commander, really), as it's easier and faster than bothering with Calibre.

I never use Bluetooth, very rarely wifi (just to update the firmware), and don't have a Kobo account as I only read books I get for free on the Net. I left Settings > Energy Savings and Privacy > 'automatically go to sleep' to its default 5 minutes

As an alternative to opening CMD window and running SQLite to check and fix the DB, is there a simpler utility?

Turns out it recharges OK when using the 1,35A charger. I have an older camera that exhibited the same behavior: Wouldn't charge with a 2A charger. Guess the amps the charger can send does make a difference, although it shouldn't since it's the device that decides how much current to pull.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Shohreh

Thanks for the infos.

I simply copy files through Windows Explorer (Total Commander, really), as it's easier and faster than bothering with Calibre.

I never use Bluetooth, very rarely wifi (just to update the firmware), and don't have a Kobo account as I only read books I get for free on the Net. I left Settings > Energy Savings and Privacy > 'automatically go to sleep' to its default 5 minutes

As an alternative to opening CMD window and running SQLite to check and fix the DB, is there a simpler utility?

Turns out it recharges OK when using the 1,35A charger. I have an older camera that exhibited the same behavior: Wouldn't charge with a 2A charger. Guess the amps the charger can send does make a difference, although it shouldn't since it's the device that decides how much current to pull.

Easier then calibre? I just use the Reading List plugin. I mark which books I want on my Libra 2. When I'm ready to add the books, I just plug in my Libra 2 and Reading List does the work for me. It's the easiest way to do it.

[Shohreh]

I only run the fat and ugly Calibre when I need to remove a DRM.

The rest of the time, I use TC that I always have open, and…

1. select books with INS key or first+last+SHIFT+mouse
2. e:\
3. TAB
4. F5

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Shohreh

I only run the fat and ugly Calibre when I need to remove a DRM.

The rest of the time, I use TC that I always have opened, and…

1. select books with INS key or first+last+SHIFT+mouse
2. e:\
3. TAB
4. F5

But you also have to remember which books you want to put on your Kobo.

[Shohreh]

I keep unread books + articles in a directory, and move them all in one go.