Is Google Drive OK for Calibre libraries now?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by AllthatEvil

Just get a copy of Goodsync (Best File Sync Software with cloud storage support atm IMHO..

and to most of the rest.

I would point out the GoodSynch ain't free - nor IMO should it be.

BR

[bilbophile47]

Sorry for the necropost, but I just learned that Google is altering G Drive in such way that you can select specific, individual folders to sync, rather than having everything in one folder. I wonder if this change will positively affect the known issue regarding gdrive. It's on the google blog site at https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com...available.html

[theducks]

Originally Posted by bilbophile47

Sorry for the necropost, but I just learned that Google is altering G Drive in such way that you can select specific, individual folders to sync, rather than having everything in one folder. I wonder if this change will positively affect the known issue regarding gdrive. It's on the google blog site at https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com...available.html

No
Google tampers with the file name (it adds a revision), which is devastating to the DB linkage

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by bilbophile47

Sorry for the necropost, but I just learned that Google is altering G Drive in such way that you can select specific, individual folders to sync, rather than having everything in one folder. I wonder if this change will positively affect the known issue regarding gdrive. It's on the google blog site at https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com...available.html

Someone will have to test the new service when its released, a) to determine of the folder name tampering issue has been resolved and b) to see if any new issues have been introduced. But that can't be done until it's actually released.

Maybe you would like volunteer to do the testing.

BR

[apa64]

Google Drive user here - some experiences with current versions (Google Drive 2.34.5075.1619, Calibre 3.1.1).

I keep my Calibre library in Google Drive on Windows 10 (have been doing that since I started using Calibre and wasn't aware of these problems). The numbers in parenthesis in the book folder names seem to work OK and are not lost or changed by Drive - BUT I have NOT extensively tested this. I use Calibre only on one computer even though I have Drive synced on multiple.

However, it's best to at least pause the Drive syncing before starting Calibre and managing the library. The Drive sync can't keep up if you make changes to book metadata and cause file/folder name changes. You WILL get "unsyncable file" errors from Drive. When I got these (before I understood that I have to pause sync) I recovered by shutting down Drive and restarting it only after closing Calibre.

So to reiterate earlier posts in the thread: If you want to use Google Drive and want to be sure that there's no risk of lost or corrupted data, keep the Calibre Library in a folder that's not in Google Drive and use some other tool to sync with the Drive folder after closing Calibre. If you don't mind that you'll probably have to reimport or fix a book manually at some point (or worst case, corrupt the whole library), AT LEAST pause the sync before using Calibre.

And thanks for the thread, good information and warnings here.

[kiwikane]

if you guys say don't use google drive why does both of the apps on google play say use it

talking about sending mixed messages

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by kiwikane

if you guys say don't use google drive why does both of the apps on google play say use it

No app that I am aware of say "use it." All those apps do is support retrieving books from google drive should you place your library there.

Originally Posted by kiwikane

talking about sending mixed messages

There is no Android or IOS mobile app put out by the developer of calibre. So no, there are no "mixed messages" being sent.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by kiwikane

if you guys say don't use google drive why does both of the apps on google play say use it

If they do say that, you'd have to ask the authors of those apps why. calibre go and calibre companion have nothing to do with Kovid or calibre (so far as authorship goes) AFAIK.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by sjfan

If they do say that, you'd have to ask the authors of those apps why. calibre go and calibre companion have nothing to do with Kovid or calibre (so far as authorship goes) AFAIK.

The author of Calibre Companion, Charles Haley, has contributed significantly to the development of calibre; including QuickView, the Template Language, Custom Columns, and Saved Searches. IMO his knowledge of calibre is second only to Kovid's.

BR

[Purple Lady]

http://cc_faq.multipie.co.uk/index.p...=50&artlang=en

[gonzaloif]

I still have a question about this topic... if someone could help me with it...?

I had no idea about all this problem between Google Drive and Calibre. My "Calibre Library" is hosted in my HDD's Google Drive folder which is obviously synced to Google Drive in the cloud. I haven't realized about any problem... yet...

Should I remove it and only leave it in my HDD?
If I change it from location, what should I do in order to have no problems??

Thanx for any help with this!

[apa64]

Originally Posted by gonzaloif

Should I remove it and only leave it in my HDD?
If I change it from location, what should I do in order to have no problems?

Pause Google Drive sync before starting Calibre (Right click Google drive icon in system tray, open the menu in top right, select "Pause"). Do whatever you want in Calibre. After you're done, close Calibre and resume the Google Drive sync (Right click Google drive icon in system tray, open the menu in top right, select "Resume").

If Google Drive tries to sync files while Calibre is working on them, it will give you "Unsyncable file" errors and fails to copy everything properly to cloud.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by apa64

Pause Google Drive sync before starting Calibre (Right click Google drive icon in system tray, open the menu in top right, select "Pause"). Do whatever you want in Calibre. After you're done, close Calibre and resume the Google Drive sync (Right click Google drive icon in system tray, open the menu in top right, select "Resume").

If Google Drive tries to sync files while Calibre is working on them, it will give you "Unsyncable file" errors and fails to copy everything properly to cloud.

This is good advice, but wasn't the issue that previously caused an issue between Gdrive and calibre. That issue is described in this sticky post indicating the problem still existed in 2016. Whether this is still the case or not I do not know.

About a year back Purple Lady dug up these reports from the Google forums. Since then Google backup has been rolled out so has it changed? I don't know.

[itimpi]

I have had Google Drive add version numbers to files quite recently (the files in question were not Calibre related) so I think the problem still exists.

I suspect that if you only have a single computer connected to Google Drive then you probably get away with using it! The version numbers seem to be related to the syncing process between multiple clients. However the basic advice still has to be to avoid using Google Drive for Calibre Libraries if you do not want unexpected behaviour.

[Pinkie]

I have Google Drive in a special folder, and a robocopy link to update it twice a day. I don't let any cloud apps into my main folders, so I just do a copy.
I use Moon+ as my main reader, and that only allows two offline syncs - Google Drive and Dropbox. I only have the basic Dropbox, so Google Drive it is.
But I don't use constant sync. I do that with a local drive. So that could be the way to work.