Backup and Restore

[tspear]

Ok, this is completely self inflicted. I lost my Calibre settings due to re-installing Windows. I had changed backup solutions a few months ago and missed capturing what to backup for Calibre; and after spending a while searching I cannot find the link with the information on where Calibre stores its information.

All my data is kept on another drive; e.g. My eBooks and metadata.db are fine. However, I will switch computers at one point, or blow up Windows... So I am looking for both where Calibre stores the plugins and related information, and if there is a way to change the location?

Thanks,

Tim

[theducks]

appdata/roaming is where per user settings and plugins are stored

Preferences: Miscellaneous: <open Calibre configuration folder (A BUTTON) This works for all OS

Simply paste your backup there WITHOUT CALIBRE RUNNING (may be slightly out of date, but you should get notices for MR hosted PI)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by tspear

So I am looking for both where Calibre stores the plugins and related information, and if there is a way to change the location?

See ==>> Environment variables - CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY

BR

[tspear]

@theducks

Thanks. I will back that up going forward.... Like I said, this was self inflicted. I used a cloud backup service, and switched providers, so I do not have any backups. Not the end of the world since I still have my books.

@BetterRed

Thanks. I will use that; and move the config to my data disk which is fully backed up.

Tim

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tspear

@theducks

Thanks. I will back that up going forward.... Like I said, this was self inflicted. I used a cloud backup service, and switched providers, so I do not have any backups. Not the end of the world since I still have my books.

@BetterRed

Thanks. I will use that; and move the config to my data disk which is fully backed up.

Tim

Unless the cloud backup service has a one way sync to go from your computer the cloud server, do not use it. If something was to get corrupted on the cloud server, you could end up with it corrupted on your computer.

You would be best to get some external hard drives and use FreeFileSync to make backups of specific things. That way you won't be at risk of a two-way sync messing things up. For one thing, a two-way cloud sync can mess up your calibre libraries. There have been many posts on MR about this very issue.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Unless the cloud backup service has a one way sync to go from your computer the cloud server, do not use it. If something was to get corrupted on the cloud server, you could end up with it corrupted on your computer.

You would be best to get some external hard drives and use FreeFileSync to make backups of specific things. That way you won't be at risk of a two-way sync messing things up. For one thing, a two-way cloud sync can mess up your calibre libraries. There have been many posts on MR about this very issue.

A backup copy on the cloud is perfectly safe (a copy of your main library, not the library itself). You overwrite it every time you run FreeFileSync between it and your library. A copy on an external drive is still a local copy and you would lose it in case of a house fire, for example.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

A backup copy on the cloud is perfectly safe (a copy of your main library, not the library itself). You overwrite it every time you run FreeFileSync between it and your library. A copy on an external drive is still a local copy and you would lose it in case of a house fire, for example.

You could get a fireproof safe. You could store the backups at your parents house or your in-laws or some other location. The thing is, I would not want to risk my active data on a two-way sync. So what we need is cloud service programs that allow us to have two-way, and one-way with it being our choice of which way.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You could get a fireproof safe. You could store the backups at your parents house or your in-laws or some other location. The thing is, I would not want to risk my active data on a two-way sync. So what we need is cloud service programs that allow us to have two-way, and one-way with it being our choice of which way.

My parents are dead, and I have no in-laws or other relatives I visit often enough to keep my back-ups up to date.

A fireproof safe is far more bother than a cloud server, nor is it 100% reliable. Despite what you seem to think, keeping a copy of your library on a cloud is totally safe. Things don't get mysteriously corrupted on a cloud server just by themselves; things get messy when you keep a live library in the cloud AND use it on more than one device.

I'm not saying you should rely solely on a cloud server; the best way is to keep both local and cloud backups.

[Quoth]

Any affordable "fire proof" safe isn't.

[theducks]

Those safes are typically rated for 2 hours.
Ask California wildfire victims how long the fir burned on their property.

My brother in law only had puddles left from silverware

[tspear]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Unless the cloud backup service has a one way sync to go from your computer the cloud server, do not use it. If something was to get corrupted on the cloud server, you could end up with it corrupted on your computer.

You would be best to get some external hard drives and use FreeFileSync to make backups of specific things. That way you won't be at risk of a two-way sync messing things up. For one thing, a two-way cloud sync can mess up your calibre libraries. There have been many posts on MR about this very issue.

One way sync, or a file replication service with backup recovery built in, are only part of the possible solution sets that should be considered.

If you plan on using a multi-device synchronization service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, the prohibition is very simple. Never ever open on an alternate compute until synchronization is complete on all computers/devices and without errors.

I ran Adobe Lightroom, with a binary database, for almost a decade on multiple computers synchronized through a file service (even standing my own service up for a while). I had one problem, and I knew I was going to cause that problem before I opened it (daughter needed a picture for a school project).

So, I thank you for the warning, but I am very comfortable knowing how these system work, and how I can use them (or not).

Tim

[tspear]

Originally Posted by theducks

Those safes are typically rated for 2 hours.
Ask California wildfire victims how long the fir burned on their property.

My brother in law only had puddles left from silverware

Fires are just one problem. A friend lost pretty much everything when his house was flooded by a pipe bursting on the top floor while they were on vacation. The "fire proof" safe was in the basement (as suggested) was not designed to be submerged with water as the basement filled with water.

Any sorts of natural disaster can cause you to lose it all if you do not have remote backups. (I am in IT, and continuity of operations is a consideration)

Tim

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by tspear

Fires are just one problem. A friend lost pretty much everything when his house was flooded by a pipe bursting on the top floor while they were on vacation. The "fire proof" safe was in the basement (as suggested) was not designed to be submerged with water as the basement filled with water.

Any sorts of natural disaster can cause you to lose it all if you do not have remote backups. (I am in IT, and continuity of operations is a consideration)

Tim

A couple of local backups, a local backup stored offsite which for me, since I retired, is one of my offsprings' garage and a cloud backup or two. Belt, suspenders and check all the backups for ability to restore in a regular basis.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by tspear

One way sync, or a file replication service with backup recovery built in, are only part of the possible solution sets that should be considered.

If you plan on using a multi-device synchronization service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, the prohibition is very simple. Never ever open on an alternate compute until synchronization is complete on all computers/devices and without errors.
< snippage >

So, I thank you for the warning, but I am very comfortable knowing how these system work, and how I can use them (or not).

Tim

Before you answer broadly like this, you really should read the FAQ and forum posts
GOOGLE DRIVE destroys CALIBE's link-index method because of how the do versioning.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

Before you answer broadly like this, you really should read the FAQ and forum posts
GOOGLE DRIVE destroys CALIBE's link-index method because of how the do versioning.

A good example of cloud storage breaking things and why a two-way sync is not always a good idea.