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Old 01-18-2017, 12:14 AM   #1
FlyHero
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Manual Library Backup Questions

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Last edited by FlyHero; 07-08-2019 at 03:24 PM.
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Old 01-18-2017, 12:31 AM   #2
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That is fragile

Each title folder has a number associated AKA {id}

if you do something in calibre that changes that (in the DB and Parent Library) , things go sideways with your simple 'copy'.

You could try Synctoy (to the external drive only). Remember Calibre needs to be stopped so no files change or lock while syncing
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Old 01-18-2017, 01:58 AM   #3
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I also suggest you use one of the folder/file sync products such as SyncToy. I use one called GoodSync, it's very good (keeps multiple versions too), runs on just about everything, but its not free.

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Old 01-18-2017, 02:21 PM   #4
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I use Linux but I am not great at it. I prefer manually backing things up at this point due to comfort level. Every time I have tried to automate or use some tools things go wrong (most probably my fault) but it's made me jittery, especially with backups since those are the safety valve if I screw something up so I need them to be NOT screwed up.

That said would copying over the entire Calibre Library then be the only safe option given what you guys said above? I was thinking that taking the entire author folder for any new or changed books would be ok since the title numbers etc are inside that...and the new .db would match everything changed right? I checked and there are not any hidden directories or files inside the Calibre Library directory. Basically I'd be making the old backup look exactly like the new on on the computer but manually...in my mind this is exactly what a sync tool would do but my mind has been known to be wrong. Is this still stupid?
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Old 01-18-2017, 03:41 PM   #5
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@hap124 - the difficulty in doing incremental synchronisation manually is not 'knowing' how to do it, it's in the actual doing of it. I wouldn't trust myself to get it right - here's a couple of examples why:
  • The ebook-viewer has this option: Keep a copy of bookmarks/current page inside the ebook file. And what about if I edit a format file. How would I know in which epubs I might have created bookmarks, or which format files I might have edited, without looking at the mtime of all the format files.
  • Another problem relates to the metadata.opf files in the book folders. These files serve one purpose: to rebuild the database should it become corrupt - hence its pretty important that they're backed up. Let's say you change a tag value, such as 'Science Fiction' to 'SciFi', that will cause the metadata.opf files for all the affected books to be rewritten. How would I know which authors were affected - without examining the -mtime of all the metadata.opf files?
I keep a close eye on what items my Goodsync backup jobs actually copy. I'm often surprised by what gets copied from my calibre libraries, then I remember - aaah yes that'll be because I updated the so-and-so custom column on all the such-and-such books.

The Linux rsynch command line program is what most Linux users would use to do directory synchronisation.

BR
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Old 01-19-2017, 06:20 PM   #6
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The problem with copying files manually is that there can be leftover files in your backup if you delete books or rename authors or titles. Therefore, the only way to guarantee that your backup is identical to your original is to delete the entire contents of your backup before copying it over again. This is far more dangerous than setting up an automated system once and then running it periodically.

Since you're running Linux, there's an easy solution if you're willing to use the command line. Use rsync. There's a bewildering array of options, but basically you can ignore most of them and use something like this as your template:

Code:
rsync -av --delete (source) (destination)
This is basically the fastest way to make your backup folder identical to your original folder. It does an incremental backup, so it won't copy files if they're identical, and that scary-looking "delete" switch simply removes leftover files from the backup AFTER copying over the changes. It may look confusing, but just follow the template and you should be fine. As long as you don't do something dumb like put the destination folder first and the source folder last, there's not much you can screw up here.

You can save the command in a text file once you have it right and just copy and paste it into the terminal each time you want to back up your files. If you're feeling a little more confident you can even turn it into a bash script.

And make sure that you include leading and trailing slashes on both the source and destination folders.

For example, I back up my external HD to an identical external HD, both encrypted with VeraCrypt, and I've never had problems. The command in this case is:

Code:
rsync -av --delete /media/veracrypt1/ /media/veracrypt2/
I've been running this for years and never had a problem with it.
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Old 01-21-2017, 04:42 PM   #7
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I Use FreeFile Sync to make a weekly backup of my Library and Calibre setting and have never had an issue upon reinstall after my Bi-Annual rebuild of my system. (My own fault for testing software etc)
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