Duplicating a Calibre Database

[glsteadman]

I'm trying to set up Calibre on a second computer. I've copied my original database, with all of its metadata, and pasted it into the new Calibre Library folder. The new program, however, does not see any of that data - none of it. I'm sure I'm missing something simple. Anybody have any advice?

Thanks . . .

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by glsteadman

I'm trying to set up Calibre on a second computer. I've copied my original database, with all of its metadata, and pasted it into the new Calibre Library folder. The new program, however, does not see any of that data - none of it. I'm sure I'm missing something simple. Anybody have any advice?

Thanks . . .

The procedure is simple - copy the entire library folder from the first computer to the second library, including the metadata.db file, then install Calibre on the second computer and point it to the copied library.
See here:
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/faq.html#id32

[glsteadman]

That's what I did, though I installed Calibre prior to copying the database. Just to be sure, I uninstalled Calibre and then installed it again. Same thing . . . all of the data is in the Library exactly like it was on the first computer, but the program still sees no books. To be certain, I ran the Welcome Wizard again, making sure it was pointed to the Calibre Library folder, but to no avail. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help . . .

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by glsteadman

That's what I did, though I installed Calibre prior to copying the database. Just to be sure, I uninstalled Calibre and then installed it again. Same thing . . . all of the data is in the Library exactly like it was on the first computer, but the program still sees no books. To be certain, I ran the Welcome Wizard again, making sure it was pointed to the Calibre Library folder, but to no avail. Any other suggestions?

To show the books in the GUI, Calibre doesn't even need the books - it just needs the metadata.db. If you have that file on the new machine, and you have Calibre pointed to the directory that has that file, you will see books in the Calibre GUI.

If you don't see books, the first step would be to verify that you have the same metadata.db file in both places. Take a look at the file sizes. An empty metadata.db on the new computer would be smaller than the one in your original library. If they are different, just copy over the bigger one to the new machine. If they are the same size, then you probably don't have Calibre pointed to the correct folder.

[glsteadman]

That's it . . . thanks very much for your help. For some reason the metadata.db file didn't get copied over when the books themselves did. I copied and pasted it and that immediately resolved the issue.

Thanks again . . .

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by glsteadman

That's it . . . thanks very much for your help.

You're welcome.