[Kobo Forma] Calibre deleting booking after syncing?

[calibre56]

A curious thing is happening and I can't work out why.

Firstly, I have had endless trouble getting my Kobo Forma to connect to my PC and Kobo support was perhaps the most useless support I have ever experienced. In the end I found that one USB port (out of 9 on my computer) works and just one specific cable (not the Kobo supplied one). On my mac, it just worked. Ok, rant over, now onto my Calibre problem!

If I sync books from Calibre to my Kobo, these books end up in the recycle bin. At first I didn't notice and would empty my recycle bin without checking and then wonder why the books were completely disappearing from my Calibre library and computer! Now I realise they are going into the Recycle Bin but I cannot see how or why that is happening. Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?


Further info that may help:

When I plug in my Kobo I often get the error from Windows 10 that there is a problem with the device and that it needs to be scanned. When I scan it, it says no problems were found

I have a Kobo Forma, Windows 10, Calibre 3.46 and the following extensions: KoboTouchExtended 3.1.5, KePub Metadata Writer 3.0.3 and Kobo Utilities 2.8.0

Edit: books are stored on a hard drive and I only add books through the Calibre app (by dragging and dropping them into the library in the app)

[kovidgoyal]

You probably changed the default send to device action to send and delete. Right click the send to device button in calibre and change it back.

[calibre56]

Thank you! Doing that doesn't replicate the deletion. However, the next time I press 'send to device' (without right clicking and selecting 'send to main memory') it defaults to deleting the book again. Where can I set the default to not delete?

[kovidgoyal]

In that same right click menu there is an entry named Set default, use it

[PeterT]

For the USB connection issue what many people have found its that Kobo seems happiest with USB 2 ports and not USB 3.

If you only have USB 3 ports, adding in a legacy USB 2 hub connected to a USB 3 port helps.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

[calibre56]

Originally Posted by PeterT

For the USB connection issue what many people have found its that Kobo seems happiest with USB 2 ports and not USB 3.

If you only have USB 3 ports, adding in a legacy USB 2 hub connected to a USB 3 port helps.

Thank you! I don't have USB ports but did try an old Lenovo Keyboard (which has two ports, I assume not USB 3.0) and had zero success.

It's frustrating that there are many people reporting online that they have issues with Kobo and USB 3 but that Kobo will deny there being any issue. It's frustrating as I changed to Kobo to avoid Amazon but their level of service simply doesn't compare.

[prom king]

I have a similar problem. I mean, I can't believe Kobo people were so idiotic to set my reader like this.

When the Kobo Forma updates or just syncs over wifi, it erases all of the books stored on my reader and downloads all the books I have on Dropbox. I mean WTF?!

What should I do so that it doesn't happen again?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by prom king

I have a similar problem. I mean, I can't believe Kobo people were so idiotic to set my reader like this.

When the Kobo Forma updates or just syncs over wifi, it erases all of the books stored on my reader and downloads all the books I have on Dropbox. I mean WTF?!

What should I do so that it doesn't happen again?

Kobo does not delete your sideloaded books when you sync. If that is happening, you have other problems on the device. It probably means the database is corrupt. And the sync is triggering a reload of the database to an old non-good state. And that would also explain resyncing from Dropbox. Again, the corrupt database means that it has lost track of what books have been synced and needs to sync them all again.

[prom king]

Who are they to tell me my database is corrupt!

Anyway, I turned off automatic sync/ update because this has happened two times already.

[JSWolf]

If the database is corrupt and the device cannot read what books you have on the device, it will be thinking these books do not exist and deleting them.

What you can do is install the Kobo Utilities plugin with Calibre and use that to verify the database.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by prom king

Who are they to tell me my database is corrupt!

Anyway, I turned off automatic sync/ update because this has happened two times already.

We are not talking about politics (against MR rules) here.
DB's have rigid structure of their contents. When something burps, a letter may end up where only numbers are permitted.
Calibre has Library Maintenance to check THE CALIBRE end. Your device has something for its end.
Since you have repeated issues, I suspect you may have device storage issues (bad bytes) or Malware. OR and ISP tampering (rogue A/V fixes) with the download. Do it manually from your PC and verify the hash matches, then apply it directly to the device.

Turning off Sync only HIDES the real issue.
BTW the Kobo Utilities does have a couple of tools that can be used to test/clean the device files.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by prom king

Who are they to tell me my database is corrupt!

Anyway, I turned off automatic sync/ update because this has happened two times already.

There seems to be an issue with CBZ. So if you do have such on your Kobo, I suggest you remove them.