Factory Reset, Firmware Update and Calibre Library Sync (ebook files on uSD Card)

Incanus · 10-19-2017, 07:40 PM

Hello:

I keep my ebooks on a uSD Card, and I sync them to my Kobo Aura (2013) using Calibre.

Looking at the files on Kobo's internal memory, it seems that whenever I sync my files, Calibre updates 2 files at the root of my Kobo Aura internal memory:

driveinfo.calibre
metadata.calibre

I'm planinng on doing a factory reset on my Kobo Aura, and then apply a side load firmware update, but I don't want to wipe out the files on my uSD Card nor do I want to resync them all over again from Calibre after the reset+update.

My current plan for that is as follows:

Backup current driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files from internal memory
Switch off the Kobo Aura, eject the uSD Card and then turn the Kobo on
Perform a factory reset using the configuration menu
After the reset, apply a sideload firmware update
After the update:

Plug the Kobo using USB cable to the PC where I store my library
Restore the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files to the root of my Kobo Aura internal memory
Insert the uSD Card on the Kobo Aura
Start Calibre so that I may sync the Collections and other metadata to the Kobo

Would that work? Or is there a different way to do this?

Thanks in advance,

Incanus

davidfor · 10-19-2017, 09:34 PM

Strictly, you don't need to backup and restore the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files. They are helper files for calibre that will be recreated when calibre connects.

The driveinfo.calibre file contains an id that calibre can use and things like the timestamp of the last connection. The only thing I can think of that gets used in it is the id. The Kobo Utilities and Reader List plugins can use the id to identify the device. If you don't use either of these, or don't have any device specific configuration, then calibre generating a new id doesn't matter.

The metadata.calibre helps to connect the books on the library to those in the library. Calibre can do this each time, but there are some circumstances, that it will get this wrong. The main one for the Kobo devices are books with multiple authors. They tend not to be matched automatically, and you need to do the manual match in the device list. This is then stored in the metadata.calibre. Removing the file, means these are lost.

For what you are doing, I am not sure that keeping these files will help. As you sideload to the external SD card, there will be a metadata.calibre on the card. That will be used by calibre to match the books on the card. The metadata.calibre file in the main storage only has books that are in the main storage. And if you don't sideload books there, it will only have purchased books in the main storage and hence in this file. Part of the metadata.calibre is the path to the book on the device. For purchased books this is a id that Kobo generates. I have never bothered to look to see if this id is the same after a factory reset. So, the file might not actually match any books and be recreated during the first connection.

As to your steps, you don't really need to remove the external SD card when doing a factory reset. The device won't touch it until after the setup is finished. I usually plan to remove it, but nearly always forget. The reason I want to remove it is not because I don't want the books on it to be processed until I'm ready. If the card is in the device, they will be processed after the setup is finished and before the home screen is displayed the first time.

Other than that, I can't see a problem with the steps. But, I have to ask, why are you doing a factory reset? What problem are you trying to solve?

Barbara1955 · 10-19-2017, 09:44 PM

I factory reset my Kindles & Fires seems the Calibre stays... Like once on it stays!

Incanus · 10-19-2017, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Other than that, I can't see a problem with the steps. But, I have to ask, why are you doing a factory reset? What problem are you trying to solve?

Thanks for your prompt, complete and very kind reply

I'm currently on firmware 3.12.1 and it's quite fast on my Kobo Aura.

If it weren't for a page refresh bug (Chapter refresh actually regreshes the screen after every page) it would be perfect... so I'm looking for a (as near as possible) bug free, old screen, simple features, slim and fast firmware version.

That would be firmware 3.19.5761 from what I've read so far.

Problem is, I tried to side load an update to 3.19.5761 (without removing the uSD) and it got bricked. I had an internal memory backup for 3.12.1, so I hard/manual factory reseted the Kobo, restored my 3.12.1 internal memory backup. Fojas cero as they say.

Then, I tried to side load an update to 4.2.8432 (without removing the uSD, again). It didn't got bricked but it didn't read my uSD ebooks even after a succesful Calibre sync... so, hard/manual factory reset, restore 3.12.1 internal memory backup. Fojas cero one more time.

Right now I'm trying to figure out a way to not stay stuck on 3.12.1, improve my reading (page refresh) experience... without re loading the whole 14.747 ebooks from scratch: Calibre helps, but only uploading to the uSD batches of 500 or so ebooks at a time (or so it goes for me, before the sync process fails with errors)

Grateful for any advice,

Incanus

Incanus · 10-23-2017, 05:03 PM

I tried the steps and it didn't work: kobo ignored my uSD Card ebooks collection as if it wasn't there.

After a factory reset, I'm now on firmware 3.19.5613 and I'm (patiently...) reloading my uSD card from scratch using calibre.

Firmware 3.19.5613 has none of the page refresh bugs of 3.12.1 and it's actually faster on the Collections manager.

Unless something signficant enough happens with any of the 4.XX.YYYY firmware versions, I'm staying with 3.19.5613 for the forseable future.

Thanks for your patience and advice,

davidfor · 10-23-2017, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incanus

I tried the steps and it didn't work: kobo ignored my uSD Card ebooks collection as if it wasn't there.

After a factory reset, I'm now on firmware 3.19.5613 and I'm (patiently...) reloading my uSD card from scratch using calibre.

I think I missed something earlier. Were you expecting the collections for books on the external SD card to be saved somehow? If so, they aren't. The collections are only in the database. The existence of the collections are synced to the server as well as what collections the purchased and downloaded books are in. But, for any sideloaded book, the books have to be put back in the collection by some other method. After the factory reset, when you put the external SD, the books will be imported from that. You then need to do something to put these books into collections. Connecting to calibre should do that automatically without the need to resend the books.

Quote:

Firmware 3.19.5613 has none of the page refresh bugs of 3.12.1 and it's actually faster on the Collections manager.

Unless something signficant enough happens with any of the 4.XX.YYYY firmware versions, I'm staying with 3.19.5613 for the forseable future.

Any reason you didn't choose 3.19.5761? That is what usually recommend for people not wanting to move to the 4.x firmware.

Incanus · 10-26-2017, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

I think I missed something earlier. Were you expecting the collections for books on the external SD card to be saved somehow? If so, they aren't. The collections are only in the database.

Sorry, bad wording. I meant that the Kobo didn't read any ebooks from the uSD card; I do know that, if it had read them, I could have restored the collection metadata from Calibre.

But, alas! for the reseted Kobo there were no files on my uSD card, and neither Calibre recognized them as installed on the Kobo's uSD card.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Any reason you didn't choose 3.19.5761? That is what usually recommend for people not wanting to move to the 4.x firmware.

I seem to recall that this forum's thread on 3.19.5761 said that it didn't solve any bugs from 3.19.5613... so I played it safe.

So far, so good.

BTW, I've just restored my +14.700 ebook library to my uSDCard using Calibre on my 3.19.5761 Aura: happy!

Grateful for your kind reply,

Incanus

davidfor · 10-26-2017, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incanus

Sorry, bad wording. I meant that the Kobo didn't read any ebooks from the uSD card; I do know that, if it had read them, I could have restored the collection metadata from Calibre.

But, alas! for the reseted Kobo there were no files on my uSD card, and neither Calibre recognized them as installed on the Kobo's uSD card.

Ok. But, That's strange. There is a problem with the Touch where the device doesn't see the card if it is restarted with the card in it. But, eject it and insert it again, and it is OK. I can't think of any reports like that with other devices.

Quote:

I seem to recall that this forum's thread on 3.19.5761 said that it didn't solve any bugs from 3.19.5613... so I played it safe.

So far, so good.

BTW, I've just restored my +14.700 ebook library to my uSDCard using Calibre on my 3.19.5761 Aura: happy!

3.19.5761 didn't have many changes, but it had a performance fix for highlighting. And I think it just felt better over all.

Quoth · 10-27-2017, 04:33 AM

How do I change Aura H2O from 4.5.xxx to 3.19.xxx? The home screen is useless for me.

JSWolf · 10-27-2017, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

How do I change Aura H2O from 4.5.xxx to 3.19.xxx? The home screen is useless for me.

Before you try to go back to 3.19.5761, give 4.6.9995 a try. Also, if you do go back, you lose any new features and fixes.

Incanus · 10-27-2017, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Before you try to go back to 3.19.5761, give 4.6.9995 a try. Also, if you do go back, you lose any new features and fixes.

Did tried it.
Posted my experience.
Didn't liked it.

What can you do... it's what happens when you have a large library on SD card and you read from it with a Kobo Aura 2013: you use with whatever firmware gives you the best performance with the features you need, not the latest firmware per se.

Thanks for your kind interest and advice!

Incanus

10-19-2017, 07:40 PM	#1
Incanus Incanus Posts: 275 Karma: 210 Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Chile Device: Boyue Likebook T80D	Factory Reset, Firmware Update and Calibre Library Sync (ebook files on uSD Card) Hello: I keep my ebooks on a uSD Card, and I sync them to my Kobo Aura (2013) using Calibre. Looking at the files on Kobo's internal memory, it seems that whenever I sync my files, Calibre updates 2 files at the root of my Kobo Aura internal memory: driveinfo.calibre metadata.calibre I'm planinng on doing a factory reset on my Kobo Aura, and then apply a side load firmware update, but I don't want to wipe out the files on my uSD Card nor do I want to resync them all over again from Calibre after the reset+update. My current plan for that is as follows: Backup current driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files from internal memory Switch off the Kobo Aura, eject the uSD Card and then turn the Kobo on Perform a factory reset using the configuration menu After the reset, apply a sideload firmware update After the update: Plug the Kobo using USB cable to the PC where I store my library Restore the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files to the root of my Kobo Aura internal memory Insert the uSD Card on the Kobo Aura Start Calibre so that I may sync the Collections and other metadata to the Kobo Would that work? Or is there a different way to do this? Thanks in advance, Incanus Last edited by Incanus; 10-19-2017 at 07:42 PM. Reason: Thread title edition

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10-19-2017, 09:34 PM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Strictly, you don't need to backup and restore the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre files. They are helper files for calibre that will be recreated when calibre connects. The driveinfo.calibre file contains an id that calibre can use and things like the timestamp of the last connection. The only thing I can think of that gets used in it is the id. The Kobo Utilities and Reader List plugins can use the id to identify the device. If you don't use either of these, or don't have any device specific configuration, then calibre generating a new id doesn't matter. The metadata.calibre helps to connect the books on the library to those in the library. Calibre can do this each time, but there are some circumstances, that it will get this wrong. The main one for the Kobo devices are books with multiple authors. They tend not to be matched automatically, and you need to do the manual match in the device list. This is then stored in the metadata.calibre. Removing the file, means these are lost. For what you are doing, I am not sure that keeping these files will help. As you sideload to the external SD card, there will be a metadata.calibre on the card. That will be used by calibre to match the books on the card. The metadata.calibre file in the main storage only has books that are in the main storage. And if you don't sideload books there, it will only have purchased books in the main storage and hence in this file. Part of the metadata.calibre is the path to the book on the device. For purchased books this is a id that Kobo generates. I have never bothered to look to see if this id is the same after a factory reset. So, the file might not actually match any books and be recreated during the first connection. As to your steps, you don't really need to remove the external SD card when doing a factory reset. The device won't touch it until after the setup is finished. I usually plan to remove it, but nearly always forget. The reason I want to remove it is not because I don't want the books on it to be processed until I'm ready. If the card is in the device, they will be processed after the setup is finished and before the home screen is displayed the first time. Other than that, I can't see a problem with the steps. But, I have to ask, why are you doing a factory reset? What problem are you trying to solve?

10-19-2017, 09:44 PM	#3
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,454 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	I factory reset my Kindles & Fires seems the Calibre stays... Like once on it stays!

10-23-2017, 05:03 PM	#5
Incanus Incanus Posts: 275 Karma: 210 Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Chile Device: Boyue Likebook T80D	I tried the steps and it didn't work: kobo ignored my uSD Card ebooks collection as if it wasn't there. After a factory reset, I'm now on firmware 3.19.5613 and I'm (patiently...) reloading my uSD card from scratch using calibre. Firmware 3.19.5613 has none of the page refresh bugs of 3.12.1 and it's actually faster on the Collections manager. Unless something signficant enough happens with any of the 4.XX.YYYY firmware versions, I'm staying with 3.19.5613 for the forseable future. Thanks for your patience and advice,

10-27-2017, 04:33 AM	#9
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,158 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	How do I change Aura H2O from 4.5.xxx to 3.19.xxx? The home screen is useless for me.