Calibre with Synology NAS

[Johan1974]

Hello,

I have added the Calibre library to my Synology NAS to have a central space for my eBooks. At first this seems to work fine but now Claibre is having dificulty to start and when i want to change something i get the following error:

calibre, version 1.2.0
FOUT: Niet afgehandelde fout: <b>IOError</b>:IOError: disk I/O error

calibre 1.2 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True
Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601')
Python 2.7.4
Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\preferences\main.py", line 334, in commit
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\preferences\look_feel.py", line 383, in commit
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\preferences\look_feel.py", line 85, in commit
File "site-packages\calibre\db\backend.py", line 112, in __setitem__
File "site-packages\calibre\db\backend.py", line 287, in execute
File "c:\cygwin\home\kovid\sw\build\apsw-3.7.14.1-r1\src\cursor.c", line 231, in resetcursor
IOError: IOError: disk I/O error

When i use windows i can reach the location, add files , delete files without any trouble so there should be no trouble about rights i guess.

What can be the problem?

Thanks!

Johan

[chaley]

Calibre does not support networked file systems. See I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS? in calibre's FAQ.

[Johan1974]

Damn,

Did not see that. What is the point in having a libray if you can not place it somewhere central?

Are there any other ebook manager that deal with this much better?

Thanks!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Johan1974

Did not see that. What is the point in having a libray if you can not place it somewhere central?

When it started 7 years back, it was for one person to keep track of his books. I think the newly updated database backend has the potential to move toward a multi-user reliable network solution.

Until then go to the Related Tools forum and check out the sticky posts. I'm sure you'll find something suitable for your situation.

Originally Posted by Johan1974

Are there any other ebook manager that deal with this much better?

Not that I am aware of.

[Adoby]

Originally Posted by Johan1974

Damn,

Did not see that. What is the point in having a libray if you can not place it somewhere central?

Are there any other ebook manager that deal with this much better?

Thanks!

The library has to be in one place on a local filesystem, but there is nothing to stop you from sending the books to different locations in the the network, including the NAS, using save to disk, or even to access the whole library from any place in the network using the built in calibre OPDS server.

And you can use calibre on your local network in other ways:

You could share the desktop of the "master librarian" computer that run calibre, on the network, using some form of remote desktop software. I usually use VNC.

You could also automatically replicate copies of the calibre library to other computers, perhaps using some sync software. This is also a good idea for backup purposes. Make sure not to sync while calibre is running. One way is to add the sync commands to the script that start calibre. That way you can sync a central copy of the library on the NAS every time you run calibre. For instance just before and/or after calibre is run. Since only changes has to be synced, this is usually very fast.

Will work like your local cloud, only faster. But still you have to make sure to only run calibre on one computer at a time if you allow changes/additions/updates to the library from any computer. If you only allow and sync changes to the central library from one "master" computer, then you can run as many clones of the calibre library as you wish. On the master computer sync to the central library on the NAS after calibre has been run. On the slave computers sync from the central library on the NAS before calibre is run, never to.

I actually have my calibre library on a Synology NAS without any problems. But I don't use Windows. Instead I use Ubuntu Linux and share the library on the NAS using NFS. This has worked fine for several years. But I only use the library on one computer. And I have automatic backups in several generations. And I tested carefully to make sure there was no problems. I actually have the metadata.db on a local SSD-drive for performance reasons. Calibre worked fine when metadata.db was on the NAS as well, but it was slower.

There are two problems with having the library on a network drive. Some network filesystem has limitations that calibre is not built to handle. I have seen this to be true for Linux NAS, like Synology, that are accessed from Windows using the SMB or CIFS network filesystem. There may be other situations as well. The other problem is that the library is strictly single user. If more than one instance of calibre, or any other program, tries to access the library at the same time, this may result in errors and even data loss.

[traver02]

Originally Posted by Adoby

The library has to be in one place on a local filesystem, but there is nothing to stop you from sending the books to different locations in the the network, including the NAS, using save to disk, or even to access the whole library from any place in the network using the built in calibre OPDS server.

And you can use calibre on your local network in other ways:

You could share the desktop of the "master librarian" computer that run calibre, on the network, using some form of remote desktop software. I usually use VNC.

You could also automatically replicate copies of the calibre library to other computers, perhaps using some sync software. This is also a good idea for backup purposes. Make sure not to sync while calibre is running. One way is to add the sync commands to the script that start calibre. That way you can sync a central copy of the library on the NAS every time you run calibre. For instance just before and/or after calibre is run. Since only changes has to be synced, this is usually very fast.



I actually have my calibre library on a Synology NAS without any problems. But I don't use Windows. Instead I use Ubuntu Linux and share the library on the NAS using NFS. This has worked fine for several years. But I only use the library on one computer. And I have automatic backups in several generations. And I tested carefully to make sure there was no problems. I actually have the metadata.db on a local SSD-drive for performance reasons. Calibre worked fine when metadata.db was on the NAS as well, but it was slower.

There are two problems with having the library on a network drive. Some network filesystem has limitations that calibre is not built to handle. I have seen this to be true for Linux NAS, like Synology, that are accessed from Windows using the SMB or CIFS network filesystem. There may be other situations as well. The other problem is that the library is strictly single user. If more than one instance of calibre, or any other program, tries to access the library at the same time, this may result in errors and even data loss.

I have a big Calibre library on a Win7 PC. now I am switching to Ubuntu. what should I do? I have read the Kovid does NOT recommend sharing the library between 2 different OS. I have to convert the library or simply copy to the Ubuntu disk?

[theducks]

I ran the QC check: fix pathnames when I moved my Library to W7 from XP (but had been touched by Linux).

Something had left case differences of formats within the folders

I would run the PI fix on W7 before moving it to Ubuntu.
Then just copy (not move), the folder.

Then run the Library Maintenance on Ubuntu an see what you get

[Adoby]

Originally Posted by traver02

I have a big Calibre library on a Win7 PC. now I am switching to Ubuntu. what should I do? I have read the Kovid does NOT recommend sharing the library between 2 different OS. I have to convert the library or simply copy to the Ubuntu disk?

I think the easiest would be to simply copy the whole library exactly as it is and then run the database maintenance routines from Linux and check it. Linux cares about case, but Windows don't, that is something most likely the major problem when going from Windows to Linux. I think that the database check allows you to fix it. But I'm not sure.

If that doesn't work, then save everything to disk, one folder per book, with opf-files. And add to calibre.