Calibre portable and OSX

aceflor · 11-04-2016, 07:44 AM

I have used for some time the portable version of Calibre and love it, as it allows me to use Calibre on any PC I have to work with.

But my last PC has died on me and I am now on a Mac. I will soon have a PC again, but will also keep the Mac and would like to know how to use the same library on both without screwing things up.

The new PC is obviously no problem at all, I'll use my dedicated Calibre USB Stick.
But can I install the OSX version of Calibre on my new Mac and have it use the Library that's on the stick, without messing things up on the stick ? I really do not want to end up with 2 libraries. If worse comes to worst, I'd rather not use Calibre on my mac at all than lose the portable version.

kovidgoyal · 11-04-2016, 08:28 AM

Sharing a library folder between os x and windows is problematic. They have different filesystem semantics, so you can end up losing data if you are not careful. However, if you keep backups and are careful, you should be fine sharing a library. By careful I mean, run the calibre check library tool periodically and fix any errors it reports. Dont use very long titles/authors (as these become filenames).

aceflor · 11-04-2016, 08:40 AM

Thanks Kovid for your answer. My library should be ok, but I guess I'll run a check on a PC first before opening it on Calibre OSX.

11-04-2016, 07:44 AM	#1
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,470 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	Calibre portable and OSX I have used for some time the portable version of Calibre and love it, as it allows me to use Calibre on any PC I have to work with. But my last PC has died on me and I am now on a Mac. I will soon have a PC again, but will also keep the Mac and would like to know how to use the same library on both without screwing things up. The new PC is obviously no problem at all, I'll use my dedicated Calibre USB Stick. But can I install the OSX version of Calibre on my new Mac and have it use the Library that's on the stick, without messing things up on the stick ? I really do not want to end up with 2 libraries. If worse comes to worst, I'd rather not use Calibre on my mac at all than lose the portable version.

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11-04-2016, 08:28 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,866 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Sharing a library folder between os x and windows is problematic. They have different filesystem semantics, so you can end up losing data if you are not careful. However, if you keep backups and are careful, you should be fine sharing a library. By careful I mean, run the calibre check library tool periodically and fix any errors it reports. Dont use very long titles/authors (as these become filenames).

11-04-2016, 08:40 AM	#3
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,470 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	Thanks Kovid for your answer. My library should be ok, but I guess I'll run a check on a PC first before opening it on Calibre OSX.

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