How do I replace my Library?

[wcott]

OK...I've somehow lost all my books (1000+) from Calibre - but I've all got those books in a "Calibre Library" file on my iMac.
My question is - how do I transfer all those books from my "Calibre Library" file into Calibre itself? Surely to god there's gotta be a way to take all 1000 book records and they'll end up on the Calibre page.
Should I take those books out of that file...put them in another file, and try loading them that way?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by wcott

OK...I've somehow lost all my books (1000+) from Calibre - but I've all got those books in a "Calibre Library" file on my iMac.
My question is - how do I transfer all those books from my "Calibre Library" file into Calibre itself? Surely to god there's gotta be a way to take all 1000 book records and they'll end up on the Calibre page.
Should I take those books out of that file...put them in another file, and try loading them that way?

If that folder has a metadata.db.

Just point calibre at the folder: Right-click the Library Icon: Create/switch: Use existing: (browse to it)

[wcott]

I'm going to Calibre Library, right-clicking to create/switch...and an error message comes up - DatabaseException: disk I/O error
RemoteTraceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/library/sqlite.py", line 272, in run
OperationalError: disk I/O error

Exactly how fugged am I?

[wcott]

I see the metadata.db file in my Calibre Library file.
It's a document, with 131 KB of data in it.
But that error message above keeps coming up.

I just want to move those 1000 titles from my drive...so when I call up Calibre, they show up.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by wcott

I'm going to Calibre Library, right-clicking to create/switch...and an error message comes up - DatabaseException: disk I/O error
RemoteTraceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/library/sqlite.py", line 272, in run
OperationalError: disk I/O error

Exactly how fugged am I?

If this is an internal disk, It might be failing. (do not Defrag or do any drive intensive operation until you have backed up the important stuff)

Just copy the Calibre Library folder and ALL its contents to a safe place.

That is it. Books and metadata backed up

[wcott]

OK...backed up onto a USB stick.
Still don't know how to get those 1000 books back into Calibre.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by wcott

OK...backed up onto a USB stick.
Still don't know how to get those 1000 books back into Calibre.

Once you get the HD settled, just copy them (the folder) back
The folder IS the Library.
You can even use it on the USB stick (it will be slow)
I keep 3 USB sticks as staggered backups. sometimes I recover a oops by simply switching to the Stick: select the title(s): Copy to Library: <main one>

[wcott]

OK...managed to get it back, albeit with hardly any covers or metadata on the books. I thought the metadata.db file was supposed to contain all that. I had copied My Calibre Library onto a USB, so I at least had multiple backups of my titles.
Now that I've completed putting most of the covers, metadata, and series, etc...back onto the Calibre page...if I so something like SAVE TO DISK, will I save EVERYTHING - including all the covers/writeups/series?
In case this weirdness happens again...I'd like to be able to restore everything without spending umpteen hours downloaded covers and metadata?

[itimpi]

Save to Disk will export the files from Calibre with all the info intact.

However if you simply want a backup you can copy the Calibre library folder and all of its contents.

[Adoby]

The easiest way to backup is to simply copy the entire calibre library folder to some other place. As has already been said, that folder is the library.

You can also use the save to disk feature, but then you will have to create a new library and add the books to the new library in order to restore everything. And you may loose custom columns and other stuff.

Create a small library with a few books and make a backup. Delete the library and restore it, to make sure it works. If you have a large library then some sync utility can make it faster, so you just have to save changes to update the backup, not the entire library.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by wcott

OK...managed to get it back, albeit with hardly any covers or metadata on the books. I thought the metadata.db file was supposed to contain all that. I had copied My Calibre Library onto a USB, so I at least had multiple backups of my titles.
Now that I've completed putting most of the covers, metadata, and series, etc...back onto the Calibre page...if I so something like SAVE TO DISK, will I save EVERYTHING - including all the covers/writeups/series?
In case this weirdness happens again...I'd like to be able to restore everything without spending umpteen hours downloaded covers and metadata?

If you had saved the Library Folder using the OS COPY:
Each 'Book' folder contains:
1 or More Formats of the book bookname.format
The 'cover' as shown in Calibre :cover.jpeg
the backup of the metadata, less cover image, as shown in calibre metadata.opf

If thease are intact a full recovery should have been possible, even with a damaged metadata.db

Once you do other types of restores, calibre starts backing up the metadata, overwriting what existed in the backup

[wcott]

So if I Save to Disk (using the first option in the dropdown menu) to an external drive - will I have created merely a copy of the Calibre Library, or will Calibre now think that my Library is elsewhere other than on my hard drive - thereby giving me a headache for the future?

What is frustrating is that I could see the files containing the metadate.db folder...and pointed Calibre to it, and all it would say is that it KNEW that my library was at that location, and wouldn't do anything with it. Was my whole methodology flawed for getting my Calibre library back onto Calibre?

[itimpi]

No - the Save to Disk option is effectively an export from the Calibre library - not the library itself.

What is not clear is why you were originally not able to switch to a copy of the Calibre library folder - this should work! Is there any chance your copy did not have full read/write access allowed or the user running Calibre?

[Adoby]

You should use the save to disk feature if you wish to access the books without using the GUI, and without a reader device. When you save to disk you can specify how you want the books to be saved. What folder tree structure to use and how the books should be named. Very flexible. You can even modify the metadata inside the books on the fly, using plugboards. But perhaps this is not suitable for import back to calibre, since calibre only can read metadata from inside the files or from the filenames, not from the folder names used.

Some users dislike how calibre store the books and only use calibre to update their own idea of the perfect book storage file structure. They only use calibre to convert and fix the books and then save them to disk. After that they can delete the books from calibre, or keep them in calibre as a backup.

If you want a backup of the calibre library, backup the calibre library directly, as it is. That allows you to quickly restore the library if something bad should happen. Like the computer being stolen or a hd crash. But make sure you try to use the backup. Make a small test library. Make a backup. Pretend that the computer is stolen and restore the calibre library to another computer, or to another folder on the current computer.

More information here: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....ary-management

[wcott]

Originally Posted by itimpi

No - the Save to Disk option is effectively an export from the Calibre library - not the library itself.

What is not clear is why you were originally not able to switch to a copy of the Calibre library folder - this should work! Is there any chance your copy did not have full read/write access allowed or the user running Calibre?

Honestly, I used ADD BOOKS, then found my Calibre Library on my hard drive - and all it would say is "Calibre Library is already at that location" or something to that effect. That's why I was asking if I was somehow doing something incorrect in trying to import my library back onto Calibre.