Are E-ink devices still a thing?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Similar feature set? Not likely. The Libra has many more features and very good Calibre integration.

Not everyone cares about Calibre integration. Some people use Calibre to store, sanitize, convert, and catalogue their books on their computer. The only device I have that I use Calibre with is my Kobo, and that's only because it's easier than the alternative. For all of my other devices I use some sort of remote (cloud) solution. If Kobos supported an easy remote solution for sideloading and syncing books, I would use that rather than connecting the device physically to my computer.

Shari

[Quoth]

How well do those work when you've no internet, the service is down, or you are travelling etc.?

I know a lot of these are convenient, but not one is as cheap and reliable as your own laptop and none are backup solutions. Most people have no idea of the uptime, how to back them up, security or privacy either.

The Sony PSR350, Kindles (DXG, Paperwhite 3, Keyboard) and Kobos are almost never separately charged. After sorting out the fetching of annotations (Kobo) or deleting or sending of books I leave it connected till it's charged. They all still charge after Eject Device on Calibre or the Desktop. I also backup the Kobo database, not possible on Kindles, Nook, Binatone or Sony I've had.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Quoth

How well do those work when you've no internet, the service is down, or you are travelling etc.?

I know a lot of these are convenient, but not one is as cheap and reliable as your own laptop and none are backup solutions. Most people have no idea of the uptime, how to back them up, security or privacy either.

The Sony PSR350, Kindles (DXG, Paperwhite 3, Keyboard) and Kobos are almost never separately charged. After sorting out the fetching of annotations (Kobo) or deleting or sending of books I leave it connected till it's charged. They all still charge after Eject Device on Calibre or the Desktop. I also backup the Kobo database, not possible on Kindles, Nook, Binatone or Sony I've had.

Did you miss the part where I said that I use Calibre? My books are stored on my desktop computer in Calibre, in the Amazon cloud, in the cloud backup service that I use, on an external hard drive to which my entire desktop is backed up weekly, on One Drive, and, of course on my various readers. Storing them all in the cloud just means that I don't have to plug my readers into my computer (except for my Kobo, of course).

As for charging them? My Oasis 3 is plugged in right next to me...I just got home after being out all day, and I had my Voyage with me, where I was able to sync up my reading position with my Oasis and just keep reading the book that I bought from Baen and uploaded to my Kindle cloud. When I unplug my Oasis in a little while, I will sync it so that I will again be able seamlessly start reading where I left off.

This is why I store my books in the cloud.

Shari

[Luffy]

For someone who doesn't have a budget for cloud, is a backup hard disk, plus a current disk connected to the laptop enough?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Luffy

For someone who doesn't have a budget for cloud, is a backup hard disk, plus a current disk connected to the laptop enough?

I think so.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Luffy

For someone who doesn't have a budget for cloud, is a backup hard disk, plus a current disk connected to the laptop enough?

Hard disks fail occasionally. While it's unlikely both of them will fail at the same time, the best option would be to have two external backup disks, from different manufacturers or batches (i.e. not to buy the same models at the same time), to avoid a possible faulty batch.

[Luffy]

Thank you, JSWolf and Sirtel. Maybe hard disks fail in cold countries only? Not equatorial islands like my country.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Thank you, JSWolf and Sirtel. Maybe hard disks fail in cold countries only? Not equatorial islands like my country.

All hard disks will fail. The only question is when.

Data kept on one hard disk or in one place is data you must be happy to lose.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Luffy

For someone who doesn't have a budget for cloud, is a backup hard disk, plus a current disk connected to the laptop enough?

If you can keep a backup hard disk off premises, yes. I have a trio that I use with the weekend backup taken to work for storage on Monday at which time I bring the old one from work back home.

[Deskisamess]

With usb thumb drives having large storage capacities now, it's easy to have several locations to keep important data.

My Quicken data is kept on the cloud, and also on a thumb drive. There is no personal financial info in that backup, so I can keep the thumb drive on my keys with no worry about someone getting my bank or credit card info. But if Quicken crashes, it's easy to restore the most current backup. I back it up every month after I pay bills.

The same with Calibre...I export the data every 2 weeks or so, and have it on 2 different thumb drives.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

All hard disks will fail. The only question is when.

Data kept on one hard disk or in one place is data you must be happy to lose.

But I'm not willing to lose my books. Also, ever since I got a PC for the first time in 1998, no hard disk of mine has failed. I will have, nevertheless, to change the devices each 3 or 4 years. I can't afford cloud.

[theducks]

Multi-terabyte USB3 (they should work on USB2, just slower) Hard drives are available for (well) under US$100
They are way faster than common pen drives (flash)

The down side, is some laptops can not supply enough power ( use a powered USB hub)
Flash also does not give warning when they are about to fail. Works, then it does not.

[Luffy]

My books are on multi terabyte disks.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Luffy

But I'm not willing to lose my books. Also, ever since I got a PC for the first time in 1998, no hard disk of mine has failed. I will have, nevertheless, to change the devices each 3 or 4 years. I can't afford cloud.

There's also a chance of fire to think of, even if it's a small one. So one of your back-ups should be offsite, but still updated regularly.

[tomsem]

Alternatively newer DVD and BD burners support M-DISC, which provide greater archival media longevity (up to 1000 years). Of course, you’ll still need some sort of disc reader to extract the data in 1000 years.