How to use WebDAV to connect to a folder on a NAS drive

Gnossos · 07-12-2018, 03:20 PM

I am just starting to try Calibre and am very excited about what appears to be a fantastic tool. But I'm having some teething problems.

For years I've kept my library of ebooks on a NAS drive at home, which I reach by using WebDAV. These days I mostly use Macs, and the simplest way to access the library is to start in Finder and use Go > Connect to Server > (enter URL of the share on the NAS drive) > Connect. The first time connecting, enter the password and save it in Keychain. After that, Connect is sufficient.

This works great with Zotero and using the Zotfile extension. My entire library resides in a folder named Zotero_Library. So today, trying to ape this behavior in Calibre, I created a new folder named Calibre_Library with the identical permissions.

But Calibre don't like that. When it first started up it apparently scanned my hard drive and found one book, which it successfully stored in the NAS drive's Calibre library. But when I tried adding books (pdf files) to the library, I got a permission error. Even worse, Calibre seems to break the WebDAV connection altogether, so that other apps can't access the device anymore either. So I have to make another connection manually.

Any suggestions how to make this approach work?

Adoby · 07-12-2018, 04:58 PM

There are problems with calibre and having the library on networked/shared storage.

From the manual: "Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive."

You can avoid many problems by having your calibre library on a local hdd in a non-shared folder. And use the NAS for backups only. You can access the backups over the network.

There are many threads about this and causes and possible work-arounds. If you try using networked storage with calibre, make sure to keep your backups current and expect loss of data, possibly slow and undetected over long time so that errors/corruption may creep into backups.

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...rked-drive-nas

BetterRed · 07-12-2018, 07:44 PM

@Gnossos - you might also want to have a look at the Zotero Metadata Importer plugin, look for it in the Index of plugins.

BR

07-12-2018, 03:20 PM	#1
Gnossos Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: iPad	How to use WebDAV to connect to a folder on a NAS drive I am just starting to try Calibre and am very excited about what appears to be a fantastic tool. But I'm having some teething problems. For years I've kept my library of ebooks on a NAS drive at home, which I reach by using WebDAV. These days I mostly use Macs, and the simplest way to access the library is to start in Finder and use Go > Connect to Server > (enter URL of the share on the NAS drive) > Connect. The first time connecting, enter the password and save it in Keychain. After that, Connect is sufficient. This works great with Zotero and using the Zotfile extension. My entire library resides in a folder named Zotero_Library. So today, trying to ape this behavior in Calibre, I created a new folder named Calibre_Library with the identical permissions. But Calibre don't like that. When it first started up it apparently scanned my hard drive and found one book, which it successfully stored in the NAS drive's Calibre library. But when I tried adding books (pdf files) to the library, I got a permission error. Even worse, Calibre seems to break the WebDAV connection altogether, so that other apps can't access the device anymore either. So I have to make another connection manually. Any suggestions how to make this approach work?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Calibre Library on Mounted NAS Drive	enjiro	Calibre	13	04-02-2018 06:13 AM
Connect a device as an external drive	myki	Devices	14	04-11-2015 08:33 AM
Calibre Library folder on an external usb drive	andrplx	Related Tools	3	11-01-2012 07:12 PM
backing up Calibre folder on USB drive	dcarlozzi	Related Tools	4	06-01-2010 08:59 AM
Database locked using WebDav folder on Mac OS X	astrodad	Calibre	4	08-04-2008 01:01 PM

07-12-2018, 04:58 PM	#2
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,736 Karma: 26785668 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Thinkpad E595, Ubuntu Mate, Huawei Mediapad 5, Bouye Likebook Plus	There are problems with calibre and having the library on networked/shared storage. From the manual: "Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive." You can avoid many problems by having your calibre library on a local hdd in a non-shared folder. And use the NAS for backups only. You can access the backups over the network. There are many threads about this and causes and possible work-arounds. If you try using networked storage with calibre, make sure to keep your backups current and expect loss of data, possibly slow and undetected over long time so that errors/corruption may creep into backups. https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...rked-drive-nas

07-12-2018, 07:44 PM	#3
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@Gnossos - you might also want to have a look at the Zotero Metadata Importer plugin, look for it in the Index of plugins. BR

Advert