Help! I seem to have lost my calibre library

AlexBell · 09-28-2018, 05:28 AM

This afternoon I added an ebook to my calibre library, and later searched for a similar ebook which was already in the library. I found that ebook and looked at it, and then wanted to go back to the display showing all the ebooks in the library. But I can't find that display - all I can see is the four ebooks found in the search.

How do I get back to the display showing all the ebooks in my library?

gunbad · 09-28-2018, 05:45 AM

just erase what's typed in to your searchbar and hit enter or click on the small x button at the end of the searchbar to return to your regular display.

BetterRed · 09-28-2018, 06:16 AM

Or just hit Escape

BR

gunbad · 09-28-2018, 06:26 AM

aah, I've been doing it the hard way! Thanks...

AlexBell · 09-29-2018, 12:34 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, but none of them work.

Is 'the small x button at the end of the searchbar' the gear icon? I don't see any button that looks like an x. The button at the right end of the searchbar just gives me a list of books - or search headings I may have used.

If I hit enter with an empty searchbar the last ebook on the screen from the search is highlighted, but that's all. Pressing Esc does nothing.

I've installed the latest version of calibre, but still have no success.

PS Whereabouts on my Windows 10 hard drive are the ebooks stored? In simple words please; I'm not very good with computers. At least I could check whether the ebooks are still there.

theducks · 09-29-2018, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks for the suggestions, but none of them work.

Is 'the small x button at the end of the searchbar' the gear icon? I don't see any button that looks like an x. The button at the right end of the searchbar just gives me a list of books - or search headings I may have used.

If I hit enter with an empty searchbar the last ebook on the screen from the search is highlighted, but that's all. Pressing Esc does nothing.

I've installed the latest version of calibre, but still have no success.

The back button only appears when there is a search term (green)
If there is no term, you may have selected a VL that has no members.
click the Virtual Library button on the left and select NONE

AlexBell · 09-29-2018, 01:00 AM

Thanks to you both. I clicked Virtual Library, and there was a green tick mark against <NONE>. I clicked on it anyway, but it made no difference.

Before I saw your posts I edited my last post to include a question about where calibre stores the ebooks in the library. It would be a great relief to know whether they are still available to me.

BetterRed · 09-29-2018, 01:11 AM

Click the Library Icon, select Create/Switch library,

Click image for larger version

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ID: 166558

BR

AlexBell · 09-30-2018, 07:03 AM

Thanks very much for all your help. The library is back!

wjBLqf-_9 · 10-13-2018, 09:30 PM

AlexBell: glad to hear your library was always safe. I have experienced data loss (or corruption). Below are THIRTY-NINE words that have become the cornerstone of my personal + professional life. Heed my advice and you will have many more frequent nights of pleasant dreams............ here you go.....

<FREE-ADVICE>
backup, backup, backup, to a separate disk or ssd, not flash/usb/sdcard/etc, with raid 1 only (or no raid at all), and keep 14 days of backups on hand. Use the cloud if you are like okay with that philosophically.
</FREE-ADVICE>

ilovejedd · 10-13-2018, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjBLqf-_9

<FREE-ADVICE>
backup, backup, backup, to a separate disk or ssd, not flash/usb/sdcard/etc, with raid 1 only (or no raid at all), and keep 14 days of backups on hand. Use the cloud if you are like okay with that philosophically.
</FREE-ADVICE>

Personally, I would recommend backing up to multiple media types including USB flash drives, SD cards and optical media if practical. The more backup locations and media one uses, the greater the chances for data recovery.

jhowell · 10-13-2018, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjBLqf-_9

<FREE-ADVICE>backup, backup, backup,...

I will add: Don’t wait until you have suffered a data loss to test the restore procedure or you may have an unpleasant surprise.

FizzyWater · 10-18-2018, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjBLqf-_9

AlexBell: glad to hear your library was always safe. I have experienced data loss (or corruption). Below are THIRTY-NINE words that have become the cornerstone of my personal + professional life. Heed my advice and you will have many more frequent nights of pleasant dreams............ here you go.....

<FREE-ADVICE>
backup, backup, backup, to a separate disk or ssd, not flash/usb/sdcard/etc, with raid 1 only (or no raid at all), and keep 14 days of backups on hand. Use the cloud if you are like okay with that philosophically.
</FREE-ADVICE>

Dumb question, but I thought SSD drives were basic flash storage, too, just configured differently.

ilovejedd · 10-18-2018, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Dumb question, but I thought SSD drives were basic flash storage, too, just configured differently.

Well, apart from advanced controllers that can handle more complex wear leveling and caching, NAND flash chips used in SSDs also tend to be more cherry picked compared to ones used in flash drives and SD cards.

For example, when Samsung first released TLC NAND based SSDs, they were rated for ~1000 P/E cycles and stress testing showed actual endurance of ~3000 P/E cycles. Meanwhile, you'd likely only get 500-1000 P/E cycles on TLC NAND flash drives.

FizzyWater · 10-18-2018, 08:11 PM

Thanks for the info, ilovejedd. I'm kind of hijacking this thread, but isn't one of the problems with flash that when it dies, it ALL dies. No second chances or last minute saves? Whereas with standard harddrives, sometimes it's just a bad sector and you still can access most of your stuff, or hinky hardware can still be gotten around to pull the data off if necessary?

I've been MEANING to set up a raid-style backup for years, but every time I start reading up on it, I just end up frustrated and confused. Too much jargon in whatever I've found to describe what you're doing. It always makes me laugh - at work I'm the "resident (amateur) techie". But I know what I know, and hardware isn't one of the things I know much about.

09-28-2018, 05:28 AM	#1
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Help! I seem to have lost my calibre library This afternoon I added an ebook to my calibre library, and later searched for a similar ebook which was already in the library. I found that ebook and looked at it, and then wanted to go back to the display showing all the ebooks in the library. But I can't find that display - all I can see is the four ebooks found in the search. How do I get back to the display showing all the ebooks in my library?

09-29-2018, 12:34 AM	#5
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Thanks for the suggestions, but none of them work. Is 'the small x button at the end of the searchbar' the gear icon? I don't see any button that looks like an x. The button at the right end of the searchbar just gives me a list of books - or search headings I may have used. If I hit enter with an empty searchbar the last ebook on the screen from the search is highlighted, but that's all. Pressing Esc does nothing. I've installed the latest version of calibre, but still have no success. PS Whereabouts on my Windows 10 hard drive are the ebooks stored? In simple words please; I'm not very good with computers. At least I could check whether the ebooks are still there. Last edited by AlexBell; 09-29-2018 at 12:52 AM.

09-29-2018, 01:11 AM	#8
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,558 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Click the Library Icon, select Create/Switch library, BR

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09-28-2018, 05:45 AM	#2
gunbad Zealot Posts: 101 Karma: 6968070 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Oklahoma Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle PW4	just erase what's typed in to your searchbar and hit enter or click on the small x button at the end of the searchbar to return to your regular display.

09-28-2018, 06:16 AM	#3
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,558 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Or just hit Escape BR

09-28-2018, 06:26 AM	#4
gunbad Zealot Posts: 101 Karma: 6968070 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Oklahoma Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle PW4	aah, I've been doing it the hard way! Thanks...

09-29-2018, 01:00 AM	#7
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Thanks to you both. I clicked Virtual Library, and there was a green tick mark against <NONE>. I clicked on it anyway, but it made no difference. Before I saw your posts I edited my last post to include a question about where calibre stores the ebooks in the library. It would be a great relief to know whether they are still available to me.

09-30-2018, 07:03 AM	#9
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Thanks very much for all your help. The library is back!

10-13-2018, 09:30 PM	#10
wjBLqf-_9 Enthusiast Posts: 47 Karma: 12544 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: None	AlexBell: glad to hear your library was always safe. I have experienced data loss (or corruption). Below are THIRTY-NINE words that have become the cornerstone of my personal + professional life. Heed my advice and you will have many more frequent nights of pleasant dreams............ here you go..... <FREE-ADVICE> backup, backup, backup, to a separate disk or ssd, not flash/usb/sdcard/etc, with raid 1 only (or no raid at all), and keep 14 days of backups on hand. Use the cloud if you are like okay with that philosophically. </FREE-ADVICE>

10-18-2018, 08:11 PM	#15
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	Thanks for the info, ilovejedd. I'm kind of hijacking this thread, but isn't one of the problems with flash that when it dies, it ALL dies. No second chances or last minute saves? Whereas with standard harddrives, sometimes it's just a bad sector and you still can access most of your stuff, or hinky hardware can still be gotten around to pull the data off if necessary? I've been MEANING to set up a raid-style backup for years, but every time I start reading up on it, I just end up frustrated and confused. Too much jargon in whatever I've found to describe what you're doing. It always makes me laugh - at work I'm the "resident (amateur) techie". But I know what I know, and hardware isn't one of the things I know much about.