HELP: Kobo Clara HD (extended to 256GB) stops working after reaching 14GB storage

[raafayawan]

So I purchased a Kobo Clara HD, opened it, there was an 16GB SD Card with 8GB storage capacity, I followed the process in the YouTube videos available and replaced it with 256GB SD card, but as soon as it reaches around 14GB of occupied storage it stops copying more files. Although the storage space still says 223 GB free space. My SD card was Sandisk 256GB Ultra microSDXCI and as a Kobo storage it shows FAT32 format. Can anyone help please? Thanks in advance.

[Quoth]

Above 32G you need exFAT. While some people can get 64, 128 and 256 G cards to work in things, I'd go for a max of 32G unless the specification mentions exFAT support.

I'm not sure why it would stop at 14 GB, but 32G will be more reliable.

Are you putting Manga or Graphic stuff? A lifetime is barely enough to read 32 GB of ebooks (that have no graphic titles or PDFs).

[raafayawan]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Above 32G you need exFAT. While some people can get 64, 128 and 256 G cards to work in things, I'd go for a max of 32G unless the specification mentions exFAT support.

I'm not sure why it would stop at 14 GB, but 32G will be more reliable.

Are you putting Manga or Graphic stuff? A lifetime is barely enough to read 32 GB of ebooks (that have no graphic titles or PDFs).

I have a big library of books, around 27k which requires more than 32GB, that's why I returned my Kobo Libra 2 and bought Clara HD, as I had heard we could expand the storage....

[raafayawan]

Here's an image for what's happening!

https://imgur.com/a/EJ9aZcl

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by raafayawan

I have a big library of books, around 27k which requires more than 32GB, that's why I returned my Kobo Libra 2 and bought Clara HD, as I had heard we could expand the storage....

Don't dump everything in the root directory. On FAT32 there are limits to how many files can be contained in a single directory and it is affected but the length of the file name.

Other than that, have you validated the card is actually 256GB? There are fake cards around that claim one size but are actually much smaller. As you are hitting a problem at 14GB, it might actually be a 16GB card.

[raafayawan]

Thank you for your reply. Yes I used this card on my phone before and at times had 72GB+ data on it so I'm pretty sure it is not 16GB. At first I transferred books through Calibre and after the same number of books (13000+) and 14.5 GB storage it started giving error communicating with device. This time I tried just copy pasting books directly to SD card and just around the same numbers it doesn't copy anything anymore.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by raafayawan

Thank you for your reply. Yes I used this card on my phone before and at times had 72GB+ data on it so I'm pretty sure it is not 16GB. At first I transferred books through Calibre and after the same number of books (13000+) and 14.5 GB storage it started giving error communicating with device. This time I tried just copy pasting books directly to SD card and just around the same numbers it doesn't copy anything anymore.

I would suggest testing the card. It might be failing and the error is when it tries to write to a bad sector. And I would still validate the size.

Otherwise, split the files up into subdirectories.

[raafayawan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I would suggest testing the card. It might be failing and the error is when it tries to write to a bad sector. And I would still validate the size.

Otherwise, split the files up into subdirectories.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Actually, I just made a couple of folders and transferred a few books to them, tried copying more books and it is working!!!!! Thanks....Is there anyway I can create folders on Kobo through Calibre? any script or template?

[rashkae]

By default, the Template used by the Kobo device plugin looks like this:

Books/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

You have either changed this yourself, or you are using a version of Calibre that is too old to recognize your device and are using it as USB Storage device.

You can customize plugins in Preferences, in this case, the KoboTouch plugin, (or KoboTouchExtended, if installed.)

[raafayawan]

Originally Posted by rashkae

By default, the Template used by the Kobo device plugin looks like this:

Books/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

You have either changed this yourself, or you are using a version of Calibre that is too old to recognize your device and are using it as USB Storage device.

You can customize plugins in Preferences, in this case, the KoboTouch plugin, (or KoboTouchExtended, if installed.)

Thanks a lot, yes I changed it when I was using my phone to read books and it was showing the same in KoboTouchExtended plugin so I didn't make any changes at the time. Really appreciate your help!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rashkae

By default, the Template used by the Kobo device plugin looks like this:

Books/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

For the record, the default save template is:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

But, moving the everything one directory down is a good idea. I use:

{:'current_library_name()'}/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

[raafayawan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

For the record, the default save template is:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

But, moving the everything one directory down is a good idea. I use:

{:'current_library_name()'}/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

Thank you, with such a big collection, moving one directory down be enough to avoid such a situation again? For reference, my author count is 8000+, series 3000+, thanks in advance!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by raafayawan

Thank you, with such a big collection, moving one directory down be enough to avoid such a situation again? For reference, my author count is 8000+, series 3000+, thanks in advance!

Honestly, I don't know. The issue isn't just the root directory, it is the amount directory entries taken by the files and directory names. This isn't just the number of files or directories, but also the long names. You can fit more short names in. Using long names reduces then number that can be in the directory.

I wouldn't put 8000 directories or files in a single directory. In one way it doesn't matter as long as the device can handle it, but, if I need to look, there would be to many things in the directory. Someone here uses the first character or two of the authors last name for a directory and puts each author inside that. That would be something like:

Books/{author_sort:substr(0,2)}/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

[JSWolf]

I suggest you delete one eBook in that directory and create a new directory and put more in it. It could be you ran out of space for creating more files/directories.

You get 65,534 files/directories entries. Every filename/directory name that's longer then 8.3 gets at least 2 entries. So anything with 17 characters in the filename gets 3 entries. So it could be that you have used up your directory space.

[Deobulakenyo]

I can't imagine browsing 27k books unless i know specifically what i am looking for