Backing Up Calibre Library

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by cybmole

it is no big deal to re-install plug-ins, and can act as a reminder to check that you have latest updates.

This is true. Of course Kiwidudes latest thought is a plugin updater plugin.

[cybmole]

do plug-ins ever evolve into core program features, or are they doomed to be plug-ins forever ?

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by cybmole

do plug-ins ever evolve into core program features, or are they doomed to be plug-ins forever ?

That is really up to Kovid I think. Any he adds to Calibre means he inherits the support of them as users will see any issue as a Calibre problem rather than a plugin one. Plus if he changes an API then he has to fix all the plugins himself before shipping Calibre. Undoubtedly his toes would curl at the way we as newbie/amateur Python/Calibre developers write our code in places and he would feel compelled to rewrite them to make it easier for him to maintain. So that means a lot of potential extra work for him.

I don't know about you, but I would much rather see the new PDF converter engine come to light, or the new metadata download infrastructure, than have Kovid spend a few days rewriting say my Search the Internet and Open With plugins. As much as I would love every Calibre user to have them available!

Not every plugin is "doomed" if the idea is less niche than some of our plugins are. Kovid has said for instance that if we write the Duplicate Finder plugin that he would consider adding that into Calibre. The Plugin Updater which is next on my list (after a few other new ones I am about to release) I also took from his response as something he would be willing to include.

At least with that updater in place it would make the update process a lot less painful than it is now. Of course new users will still have to find Preferences->Plugins and click the right buttons, which I can guarantee a very high percentage will never do. If it doesn't appear on their menus when they install Calibre, most users will likely never discover it. However you can't bombard users menus with every single feature we plugin developers come up with. Judging by the daily posts of people not working out how to put a plugin in their toolbar or menu even that customisation is something that is not an intuitive thing.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

...Judging by the daily posts of people not working out how to put a plugin in their toolbar or menu even that customisation is something that is not an intuitive thing.

Thank you!

[kovidgoyal]

I have no objection to some plugins (the more widely useful ones) making it into the codebase,but as kiwidude points out, I have higher priorities, like working on parts of the core infrastructure that only I maintain.

That said, if any plugin developer feels like having their plugin become builtin, you need to

1) Convince me that it should be builtin

2) Convert it into a patch against the calibre code base.

3) Accept responsibility for maintaining that patch

A huge number of features developed by people other than me have made it into calibre that way

[ackleybj]

Came looking for the best way to backup the library & found all this debate on plug-ins. Kind of lost here, I haven't installed any plug-ins so am probably missing out on a lot of great features. But the discussion of drop boxes caught my eye.

My daughter bought a pogo-plug thinking that would be the best way for me to share the library with her. I have the library on an external hard drive, as I was running out of space on my laptop hard drive. Pogo-plug was at her house & was way too slow for me to copy the library to it remotely. Maybe we should just pay for a drop box, if I am understanding the technology correctly.

Still have the backup library question. Guess I will try the Save to Disk feature in Calibre & hope it doesn't take longer than overnight. Windows copy & paste of the directory folders keeps failing every few folders, even though I had Calibre closed.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by ackleybj

Windows copy & paste of the directory folders keeps failing every few folders, even though I had Calibre closed.

no way that should happen on a properly set up PC - unless there's an acute disc space shortage.
I can copy /paste an entire 500+book library in a couple of minutes with one windows operation. save to disc is probably slower!

most drop box style services are free for a small amount of data, so unless you have thousands of books .....

you can also copy to memory sticks, burn to blank CD/DVD, copy onto a mp3 player ( will not "play" the books but it's another portable media device that may already have to hand )

what's your operating system and how many books do you want to back up / transfer to your daughter.

you can also email individual books to her

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by ackleybj

Came looking for the best way to backup the library & found all this debate on plug-ins. Kind of lost here, I haven't installed any plug-ins so am probably missing out on a lot of great features.

When you get your backup sorted, feel free to pay a visit to the plugins sub-forum. Read the Introduction to Plugins sticky thread. If there are any that sound of interest, I suggest starting with the "Plugin Updater" plugin, and then using that to install any others that interest you. Any further discussion of plugins should be in that forum.

[Noughty]

I read this topic and wanted to clarify about backing up. I plan to reinstall my computer. As I understand I can save all books, metadata and configuration. I'm not sure about plug ins and this is a little old topic. Some say you need to reinstall them. If I reinstall them won't I loose all settings (for example in goodreads sync I have 100 of sync options etc) or are they stored somewhere and I have nothing to worry about?

So to have completely the same library as I have now, with all settings, plug ins I need to copy:
1. my books folder (won't where be a problem since the path will change?)
2. roaming/calibre folder for configuration

After copying how do I restore?
1. Install calibre
2. Configuration - I need to go to roaming/calibre and replace all content with the one I copied before from my old library?
3. Books. I should show calibre new path to books?

I hate reinstalling windows

[itimpi]

I think if you copy both the Calibre library folder and the configuration folder back to the new machine and the paths to the folders are the same as the previous machine then Calibre will pick up both your library and settings.

[DoctorOhh]

If you follow itimpi's suggestions even if the paths are different and the plugin has to be reinstalled your customizations for those plugins will still be there.

[Noughty]

Thanks for answering if possible I'll keep the path the same.

I understand how to back up, now how about restoring.
Does it works as I written?

1. Install calibre
2. Configuration - I need to go to roaming/calibre and replace all content with the one I copied before from my old library? Not in programs folder which has calibre2 folder as far as I remember but in app data?
3. Books. I should show calibre new path to books?

[itimpi]

I thought we had covered what was required?

1) Is just installing the latest version of Calibre - this will be required
2) & 3) Are what was discussed about copying back the library and settings using same paths as previously.

Once you have done that it should just be a case of launching Calibre and using it like you did before.

[Noughty]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I thought we had covered what was required?

1) Is just installing the latest version of Calibre - this will be required
2) & 3) Are what was discussed about copying back the library and settings using same paths as previously.

Once you have done that it should just be a case of launching Calibre and using it like you did before.

That's was how I understood but wanted to make sure. Sorry to be such a bother . I'm paranoid about messing up my library

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by Noughty

That's was how I understood but wanted to make sure. Sorry to be such a bother . I'm paranoid about messing up my library

OK.

Make sure that you keep the backup until you are happy everything is functioning exactly as expected as that is your fallback if anything unexpected happens.