Problem with Library transfer

[Janeygee]

Hi,
Newbie to the forum, but looks like the place to be!!

Just purchased a new PC, with Windows 8.1 OS, and trying to transfer Calibre library from my old PC, which was running with XP.
In the main library, in order to distinguish books I had read, I marked them with a single star rating.
To copy the library to the new PC , I copied the old library onto a thumb drive, then opened Calibre on the new PC and then "created" the new library . Everything seemed OK with all my books listed, but the star rating was not displayed

I have tried playing around with Calibre, but cannot seem to get the "star" to show.

Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Janeygee

Hi,
Newbie to the forum, but looks like the place to be!!

Just purchased a new PC, with Windows 8.1 OS, and trying to transfer Calibre library from my old PC, which was running with XP.
In the main library, in order to distinguish books I had read, I marked them with a single star rating.
To copy the library to the new PC , I copied the old library onto a thumb drive, then opened Calibre on the new PC and then "created" the new library . Everything seemed OK with all my books listed, but the star rating was not displayed

I have tried playing around with Calibre, but cannot seem to get the "star" to show.

Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

That was NOT the best way to transfer a Library and have it maintain the nuances you added.

Simply copy the ENTIRE OLD Calibre Library folder over to the NEW system . That should give you the same exact Library METADATA (Stars are metadata)

Don't believe me? http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....ter-to-another

[aleyx]

Maybe also a problem with custom columns? Those are in the %appdata%\Calibre folder (on your old PC), which you also should copy to your new PC as %appdata%\Roaming\Calibre.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by aleyx

Maybe also a problem with custom columns? Those are in the %appdata%\Calibre folder (on your old PC), which you also should copy to your new PC as %appdata%\Roaming\Calibre.

Custom Columns (and data) are IN the DB

Appearance Settings are in the configuration folder. The columns might simply not be SHOWING. Preferences: Look and Feel will correct that

[aleyx]

Sorry, columns display is what I meant.

[Janeygee]

Thank you for the information.

I have been trying to do as you have advised but without success. I think I nearly understand what you are suggesting, let me add some detail and ask questions:

1 To copy the existing library from my old XP PC , I put a thumb drive in a USB port and "Copied" the library.
2. On the new Win 8.1 PC, I downloaded and installed Calibre as directed from the website, then I copied the library into a folder I created. Calibre is installed on the C\: drive, 250Gb SSD, whereas the library is installed on a 2nd seperate internal HD.
3. I opened Calibre and imported the library via "Get Books" instruction.
4. All the books appeared in the library and I could access them although as I said, the "Ratings" field did not show the single star I had added in the metadata to depict a book I had read.

"theducks" mentioned looking at Preferences:Look and Feel ( which I had never seen before ) . I noticed that the Ratings field was not "checked" , so I checked it, "applied" and had another look at the library display.............unfortunately no change.

Q: Have I transferred the originally library correctly?
Q: Have I imported the books correctly into the new installation?

I am not a real "wiz" with computers but understand a little, so please be gentle

Thanks

[eschwartz]

You have not done it right. Here's how to do it right:

On old computer, go to Windows Explorer, and copy the C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Documents\Calibre Library folder (or wherever it is) to your thumb drive.

Copy E:\Calibre Library (or wherever it is) from your thumb drive onto the Internal HDD in your new computer.

Install calibre on new computer.

Run calibre for the first time. In the welcome wizard that pops up, do not click through; instead, "Change" the location of your library to D:\Calibre Library or wherever your Internal HDD is located. Thus, you will start up with your old library. Since you didn't do this, you can still open calibre, click the Library icon on top, and "Switch/Create Library" to your copied library. You will then have two libraries -- delete the first one.

Importing does not save any metadata unless you use the second option in Add Books. See attachment.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Janeygee

Thank you for the information.

I have been trying to do as you have advised but without success. I think I nearly understand what you are suggesting, let me add some detail and ask questions:

1 To copy the existing library from my old XP PC , I put a thumb drive in a USB port and "Copied" the library.

Can you confirm that the copy was the top level library folder and that it included the database file - metadata.db

Originally Posted by Janeygee

2. On the new Win 8.1 PC, I downloaded and installed Calibre as directed from the website, then I copied the library into a folder I created. Calibre is installed on the C\: drive, 250Gb SSD, whereas the library is installed on a 2nd seperate internal HD.

That should be OK

Originally Posted by Janeygee

3. I opened Calibre and imported the library via "Get Books" instruction.

That doesn't sound right - see attachment for what I think you should have done. And what you should be able to do if you still have the library as it was taken off the old computer available.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Janeygee

Thank you for the information.

I have been trying to do as you have advised but without success. I think I nearly understand what you are suggesting, let me add some detail and ask questions:

1 To copy the existing library from my old XP PC , I put a thumb drive in a USB port and "Copied" the library.
2. On the new Win 8.1 PC, I downloaded and installed Calibre as directed from the website, then I copied the library into a folder I created. Calibre is installed on the C\: drive, 250Gb SSD, whereas the library is installed on a 2nd seperate internal HD.
3. I opened Calibre and imported the library via "Get Books" instruction.
4. All the books appeared in the library and I could access them although as I said, the "Ratings" field did not show the single star I had added in the metadata to depict a book I had read.

"theducks" mentioned looking at Preferences:Look and Feel ( which I had never seen before ) . I noticed that the Ratings field was not "checked" , so I checked it, "applied" and had another look at the library display.............unfortunately no change.

Q: Have I transferred the originally library correctly?
Q: Have I imported the books correctly into the new installation?

I am not a real "wiz" with computers but understand a little, so please be gentle

Thanks

If you used Calibre for anything other than Create/Switch <to old Library copy> you did it wrong. Any other way tries to construct a NEW Library.

[Janeygee]

I am obviously missing something very simple

I copied the existing library to the thumb drive, and confirm it has all the books plus a metadata file 3,202 KB file type is Data Base File, plus metadata_db_prefs_backup.json file.

Copied that to " D:\ Calibre Library " , a new folder on the "D" drive HD.

Opened Calibre .....no books listed.....on the library tag, clicked the create/switch option.
Small box, showing " Your current library is located at D:\ Calibre Library" with the options beneath.
Entered the location as D:\ Calibre Library , OK ................result is " D:\ Calibre Library is not an existing location "

Stuck now

[BetterRed]

@Janeygee - Can you confirm which version of calibre you installed? I'm assuming the regular or 64 bit version - portable is a bit different. And can you confirm that the spinning disk drive is drive D: - the DVD drive is more often assigned to D: on Windows systems and the extra disk drive would be E:

Is the "Calibre Library" listed under the Remove library item in the library icon drop down? If it is then remove it via the Remove library option - don't worry it wont delete anything, it will open a File Explorer window, just close it.

Now go to the Create/Switch options and use the blue button to browse to the library, and make sure you have selected the first radio button.

If that doesn't work, then I suggest you start from scratch following these instructions from eschwartz,

But first you'll need to remove the library, and the calibre configuration folder and uninstall calibre.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Janeygee

I am obviously missing something very simple

I copied the existing library to the thumb drive, and confirm it has all the books plus a metadata file 3,202 KB file type is Data Base File, plus metadata_db_prefs_backup.json file.

Copied that to " D:\ Calibre Library " , a new folder on the "D" drive HD.

Opened Calibre .....no books listed.....on the library tag, clicked the create/switch option.
Small box, showing " Your current library is located at D:\ Calibre Library" with the options beneath.
Entered the location as D:\ Calibre Library , OK ................result is " D:\ Calibre Library is not an existing location "

Stuck now

I am with BR
Navigate to the folder with the browse button. Something is strange (probably the space). I have copied/moved/renamed many library folders.
The only issues is going between OS painful):

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

I am with BR

Really, s'pose you'll be wanting a beer then

Question : where does calibre keep its list of libraries

If its in the config data and Janeygee copied that over from the XP system, as per this suggestion from aleyx then maybe its looking for the database in the wrong place

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Really, s'pose you'll be wanting a beer then

Question : where does calibre keep its list of libraries

If its in the config data and Janeygee copied that over from the XP system, as per this suggestion from aleyx then maybe its looking for the database in the wrong place

BR

Dark Ale please

The List is in the config folder
BUT
Using Create/Switch gets around that.
Delete only deletes the (stale?) list entry, never the actual folder

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

Dark Ale please

The List is in the config folder
BUT
Using Create/Switch gets around that.
Delete only deletes the (stale?) list entry, never the actual folder

The OP posted

Opened Calibre .....no books listed.....on the library tag, clicked the create/switch option.
Small box, showing " Your current library is located at D:\ Calibre Library" with the options beneath.

So something like this



But if D: is a DVD drive on the new Win8.1 system what would calibre do if I entered "D:\ Calibre Library"

Maybe it would display something like



That's what it does here


Dark Ale

I'm in Sydney, not Newcastle UK - I don't think we have Dark Ale -- you'll have to settle for Fosters lager or a Coopers cloudy bitter.

BR