How do you maintain and backup your ebook library? - Page 6

Timoleon · 06-18-2012, 12:30 PM

I liberate my purchased books in Calibre if need be, make updated mobi, epub, htmlz, lrf, and azw3 files, and then save them to dropbox and also box.net. I managed to pick up an HP Touchpad --- one of the perks of doing so was getting a 50gB account on box.net.

cromag · 06-20-2012, 02:39 AM

Aside from my hard drive and an SD card, every so often I burn them to a CD-R.

pidgeon92 · 06-20-2012, 09:29 AM

An anecdote:

I have a friend - Mary - who just last week helped someone purchase a new laptop. Mary's friend has recently begun a photography business, and has all of the photos she has taken on her desktop computer. She wants to put all of these pics on her new laptop, and Mary was trying to assist her. Mary called me and asked me for help with the migration. I suggested that she use whatever backup her friend has to load the pics on the new laptop. Her friend, taking photos for clients, has no backup. No hard drive, no DVDs, not even a thumb drive.

Tome Keeper · 06-21-2012, 08:10 AM

I back up onto an external hard drive every few months.

Lynx-lynx · 06-22-2012, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

An anecdote:

I have a friend - Mary - who just last week helped someone purchase a new laptop. Mary's friend has recently begun a photography business, and has all of the photos she has taken on her desktop computer. She wants to put all of these pics on her new laptop, and Mary was trying to assist her. Mary called me and asked me for help with the migration. I suggested that she use whatever backup her friend has to load the pics on the new laptop. Her friend, taking photos for clients, has no backup. No hard drive, no DVDs, not even a thumb drive.

Let's hope that after your chat with Mary that the photographer now identifies the need!!

booklover6 · 06-23-2012, 08:58 AM

I use Carbonite online backup. It is automatic. I have accounts with box.net, boxdrop, sugarsync, skydrive....but all of those require me to make decisions and manually input files. Carbonite doesn't require me to do anything, but de-select folders or files I don't want backed up. For $5.00 a month, I love it. I can log into my Carbonite account on any computer and download any backed up file.

Shykat · 06-24-2012, 11:58 AM

Wow, so many different ways to backup ebooks!!

Currently, I have SugarSync and it is set up to automatically backup/update the specific folders I have told it to: Ebooks, machine embroidery, quilt and counted cross stitch patterns that I have downloaded, my resumes and pictures of my dogs from the time they were puppies (my four legged kids).

I just started using DropBox free account for the ebooks that I want to transfer onto my phone for reading. I had tried Sugar Sync for this and it worked the first time I tried it but not the next and I can't figure out why. With DropBox being free, I decided to try it and it works very well and is fast.

I used to use external HD's but, after TWO of them failed with no warning and I lost everything on them, I no longer use them.

I have backups on Thumb drives and I'm thinking of burning my ebooks onto a cd/dvd.

Does anyone want to help me get more DropBox space? Use http://db.tt/L135c2pO to sign up for your new account and we both will get an additional 500 megs of space! Thank you!

stop__dreaming · 06-25-2012, 05:02 PM

Stored on Calibre and on my external hard drive.

Pinecone · 06-28-2012, 11:33 AM

I add them to Calibre. Correct metadata, gather metadata and cover, convert if needed.

Then I copy the library to an external hard drive and my laptop. So 3 copies.

I also keep all the original book files on my computer, and that is backed up to an external hard drive every so often.

MCSmarties · 06-28-2012, 12:29 PM

I must say that I don't find Calibre's "save to disk" feature all that useful. Why? Because it's a real PITA to import books back into calibre from such a folder.
It's much better to just make a manual copy of the calibre library altogether (copy-paste the entire folder) as a backup.

For me, the "save to disk" feature is only useful if you want to move to a different ebook manager, or to have some peace of mind if you fear that calibre will dissappear sometime...

Hence, I only do a "save to disk" backup once in a blue moon, whereas I manually copy my calibre library folder quite often.

ilovejedd · 06-28-2012, 02:28 PM

I haven't used Dropbox for this yet but now that I've upgraded to a 50GB plan, I might (only had 5GB before which I decided to dedicate to family photos/videos and personal documents). Recently been considering using CrashPlan.

For now, a nightly scheduled task for copying my entire calibrePortable install (using robocopy) to the home file server works. The nice thing about it is it's all self-contained. If the HDD in my computer crashes, I can just copy the calibrePortable install backup and I'll have all my settings, plugins, templates, libraries, etc.

Lynx-lynx · 06-28-2012, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCSmarties

I must say that I don't find Calibre's "save to disk" feature all that useful. Why? Because it's a real PITA to import books back into calibre from such a folder.
It's much better to just make a manual copy of the calibre library altogether (copy-paste the entire folder) as a backup.

For me, the "save to disk" feature is only useful if you want to move to a different ebook manager, or to have some peace of mind if you fear that calibre will dissappear sometime...

Hence, I only do a "save to disk" backup once in a blue moon, whereas I manually copy my calibre library folder quite often.

What an excellent idea!!!

I've found that when I highlight all the books in Calibre (over 350 + growing) and use the 'save to disk' function to save to my USB stick that it takes up to 3 hours for the save to finish.

I know - isn't that darn odd!!!

And I don't know why it takes that long, I can't work it out because I've tested saving other material like CDs to the same USB stick and they save in no time.

Next time I'll try saving the directory folder and see how I go.

Blossom · 06-29-2012, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCSmarties

I must say that I don't find Calibre's "save to disk" feature all that useful.

It is for me. I use Calibre's Save to Disk option all the time. I do a Save to Disk to my Dropbox the ereader ready versions of the books in mobi and epub. I also use plugboards to add the series to the title of the books which works with Save to Disk. I then use the Send to Kindle to upload the books to my Personal Cloud Archive. This way I have access to the books I need from Dropbox on any of my eReaders or phone.

If I want to back up Calibre I do a sync to my other External drive of my libraries folders. I just lost a hard drive last Friday. It was brand new not even 4 months old and died without warning. This is why I keep my Calibre libraries on my external instead of my PC's drive then back it up on another external drive each week using sync software. If it wasn't so big I would back it up on Discs too. I lost alot of stuff last Friday but my books were safe!

Oh you need to backup Calibre settings folder too that way you don't have to configure everything again.

avantman42 · 06-29-2012, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCSmarties

I must say that I don't find Calibre's "save to disk" feature all that useful. Why? Because it's a real PITA to import books back into calibre from such a folder.
It's much better to just make a manual copy of the calibre library altogether (copy-paste the entire folder) as a backup.

The Save to Disk functionality isn't intended to be used to create backups. The Calibre FAQ states that to backup calibre, you should make a copy of the calibre library folder.

Shykat · 06-29-2012, 10:01 AM

The Save to Disk might not be intended to be used to create backups but I use it for that in addition to saving the Calibre library folder. After having lost 2 external HD's with no warning and loosing ALL of the backups stored there, I'm a bit paranoid... and store my important files in several ways.. probably more than necessary but I hate not having the security.

Plus, I much prefer having all of my ebooks in a "list" format and not in the directory format of the Calibre library where you have to search for the author and then the book title in the author's directory. Save to Disk gives me that feature so it does make me happy.

I have both the Calibre library AND my Save to Disk directory saved to the Cloud as well as burned on dvd and on usb drives along with all the other files I feel are important to me

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06-18-2012, 12:30 PM	#76
Timoleon Time Enough at Last Posts: 387 Karma: 1151316 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New England Device: iPad 3, iPhone 5, Kindle 3, Fire, Sony PRS-350	I liberate my purchased books in Calibre if need be, make updated mobi, epub, htmlz, lrf, and azw3 files, and then save them to dropbox and also box.net. I managed to pick up an HP Touchpad --- one of the perks of doing so was getting a 50gB account on box.net.

06-20-2012, 02:39 AM	#77
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 26,318 Karma: 459765791 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	Aside from my hard drive and an SD card, every so often I burn them to a CD-R.

06-20-2012, 09:29 AM	#78
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	An anecdote: I have a friend - Mary - who just last week helped someone purchase a new laptop. Mary's friend has recently begun a photography business, and has all of the photos she has taken on her desktop computer. She wants to put all of these pics on her new laptop, and Mary was trying to assist her. Mary called me and asked me for help with the migration. I suggested that she use whatever backup her friend has to load the pics on the new laptop. Her friend, taking photos for clients, has no backup. No hard drive, no DVDs, not even a thumb drive.

06-21-2012, 08:10 AM	#79
Tome Keeper Addict Posts: 355 Karma: 1001201 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle 3 Keyboard, Surface Tablet, Android Smartphone, Laptop, Netbook	I back up onto an external hard drive every few months.

06-23-2012, 08:58 AM	#81
booklover6 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,545 Karma: 14008730 Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA (USA) Device: Kobo Clara, 2E, Libre 1, PW4, PW5, 2022 Kindle, Kobo Libre Colour	I use Carbonite online backup. It is automatic. I have accounts with box.net, boxdrop, sugarsync, skydrive....but all of those require me to make decisions and manually input files. Carbonite doesn't require me to do anything, but de-select folders or files I don't want backed up. For $5.00 a month, I love it. I can log into my Carbonite account on any computer and download any backed up file.

06-24-2012, 11:58 AM	#82
Shykat Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 494052 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: iPhone, iPad Mini, my PC and Galaxy Tab A :)	Wow, so many different ways to backup ebooks!! Currently, I have SugarSync and it is set up to automatically backup/update the specific folders I have told it to: Ebooks, machine embroidery, quilt and counted cross stitch patterns that I have downloaded, my resumes and pictures of my dogs from the time they were puppies (my four legged kids). I just started using DropBox free account for the ebooks that I want to transfer onto my phone for reading. I had tried Sugar Sync for this and it worked the first time I tried it but not the next and I can't figure out why. With DropBox being free, I decided to try it and it works very well and is fast. I used to use external HD's but, after TWO of them failed with no warning and I lost everything on them, I no longer use them. I have backups on Thumb drives and I'm thinking of burning my ebooks onto a cd/dvd. Does anyone want to help me get more DropBox space? Use http://db.tt/L135c2pO to sign up for your new account and we both will get an additional 500 megs of space! Thank you!

06-25-2012, 05:02 PM	#83
stop__dreaming Addict Posts: 202 Karma: 1211098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Bristol, England Device: Kindle 3	Stored on Calibre and on my external hard drive.

06-28-2012, 11:33 AM	#84
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	I add them to Calibre. Correct metadata, gather metadata and cover, convert if needed. Then I copy the library to an external hard drive and my laptop. So 3 copies. I also keep all the original book files on my computer, and that is backed up to an external hard drive every so often.

06-28-2012, 12:29 PM	#85
MCSmarties Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 27066 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: Sony PRS-T1	I must say that I don't find Calibre's "save to disk" feature all that useful. Why? Because it's a real PITA to import books back into calibre from such a folder. It's much better to just make a manual copy of the calibre library altogether (copy-paste the entire folder) as a backup. For me, the "save to disk" feature is only useful if you want to move to a different ebook manager, or to have some peace of mind if you fear that calibre will dissappear sometime... Hence, I only do a "save to disk" backup once in a blue moon, whereas I manually copy my calibre library folder quite often.

06-28-2012, 02:28 PM	#86
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,110 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	I haven't used Dropbox for this yet but now that I've upgraded to a 50GB plan, I might (only had 5GB before which I decided to dedicate to family photos/videos and personal documents). Recently been considering using CrashPlan. For now, a nightly scheduled task for copying my entire calibrePortable install (using robocopy) to the home file server works. The nice thing about it is it's all self-contained. If the HDD in my computer crashes, I can just copy the calibrePortable install backup and I'll have all my settings, plugins, templates, libraries, etc.

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06-29-2012, 10:01 AM	#90
Shykat Addict Posts: 205 Karma: 494052 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: iPhone, iPad Mini, my PC and Galaxy Tab A :)	The Save to Disk might not be intended to be used to create backups but I use it for that in addition to saving the Calibre library folder. After having lost 2 external HD's with no warning and loosing ALL of the backups stored there, I'm a bit paranoid... and store my important files in several ways.. probably more than necessary but I hate not having the security. Plus, I much prefer having all of my ebooks in a "list" format and not in the directory format of the Calibre library where you have to search for the author and then the book title in the author's directory. Save to Disk gives me that feature so it does make me happy. I have both the Calibre library AND my Save to Disk directory saved to the Cloud as well as burned on dvd and on usb drives along with all the other files I feel are important to me