How Does It Work? Copies Books or Not?

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 04:17 AM

Not sure where to put this. General question really. No 'general' area.

I thought Calibre copied into itself every book in its library. So once a book was in a Calibre library we had a safe copy of it. I've been acting on that basis.

Now I open a library on an external drive that I've brought with me to a new locations and I keep trying to read books that it tells me 'have no available formats' !

So that looks like it simply copies a link to the book.
Except that many books in that library ARE there!
So what's the story?

What does it do? And how come it has done this?

Quoth · 11-24-2022, 06:21 AM

No, it does import a copy of the book into the "Calibre Library" directory/folder. You should never access those.
You should also export a backup from Calibre using the Library menu.

Maybe your library is not in the location you thought, or the drive is faulty.

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 06:28 AM

well the library is there alright. As I say many of the books are listed as, for instance, 'pdf' and they open okay. But many others are not listed as anything and when I try to open them I get that message.

Making it look like a library of links. Some okay and some broken. Which is why I asked.

So that's good if it is true Calibre libraries should be filled with copies. Okay.

So I will have to start again if I can and rebuild a library and this time avoid this happening again.

How? What happened to make this poor library, this 'broken' library?

And can I somehow cull out of it all the 'fake' books, the books with no 'available format' ?

Comfy.n · 11-24-2022, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abrogard

And can I somehow cull out of it all the 'fake' books, the books with no 'available format' ?

for that matter you could do this search:

Code:

formats:false

can't figure what could have happened, though

theducks · 11-24-2022, 06:41 AM

2-Way Sync programs can mess the Library up bad. It may be trying to put something old back while Calibre is in the process of moving files (a author/title rename) Or it changes the filename as part of its versioning service

2-users accessing the same Library is almost worse. The DB is in RAM and gets written as needed. What does not happen is get refreshed in RAM because it assumes sole use (multi-user DB's are way more tricky.)

(auto) File Cleaning tools

Sirtel · 11-24-2022, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

for that matter you could do this search:

Code:

formats:false

This won't find format-less books Calibre doesn't know about. Library maintenance - Check library will find those.

theducks · 11-24-2022, 12:22 PM

Sirtel is correct. Run the Library Maintainence and fix the issues found.
THEN FIND WHY the problem was created in the first place. It ain't normal.

formats: false finds '(deliberate) 'Empty Books' (Metadata only entries by design)

Comfy.n · 11-24-2022, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abrogard

Now I open a library on an external drive that I've brought with me to a new locations and I keep trying to read books that it tells me 'have no available formats' !

I'm supposing what the OP means it's happening is this:

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and I *think* that could be caused by things other than deliberate empty book entries

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 02:47 PM

Yes, this is what I'm talking about..

Moderator Notice
Switched to attachment (paperclip on Advanced view)

theducks · 11-24-2022, 03:06 PM

Calibre thinks there is a PDF (on right)

Tap the O key (that opens the last known location). is there a PDF there?
(Make no changes while there)

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 03:15 PM

The O key did nothing for me.
I find I can go one after the other and get the error message followed by the appearance of the 'PDF' letters. But still nothing will open - returning to a book that has had 'pdf' pop up brings that same error message again.
Could it have happened if Calibre was importing many pdf's and was interrupted before it could finish? Does Calibre import first the names of them and later the content? Would Calibre accept an unfinished import like that?

theducks · 11-24-2022, 03:29 PM

If O did not open a folder in explorer, your DB does not (no longer) matches the file system.

This kind of corruption can be caused by a NAS/network drive (cache write delay) or a failing hard/flash drive

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 04:56 PM

It is working now. I can't explain. Maybe I hit zero instead.
Yes, it opens explorer to empty folders. Mostly. But not every time.

I mean they're not always empty. Some books are there. Pdf's. They open.

Sirtel · 11-24-2022, 05:14 PM

How did you create that library? Was it copied to the external drive from another location?

The usual suspects in such a case are, as mentioned, a NAS/network drive, a syncing program/cloud drive (was OneDrive running in the background, for example?) or a failing hard drive. Something must have been messing with the files, they didn't vanish just automagically.

abrogard · 11-24-2022, 05:26 PM

I don't remember. It could have been across the network. Much more likely that it was across drives on the one computer.

11-24-2022, 04:17 AM	#1
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	How Does It Work? Copies Books or Not? Not sure where to put this. General question really. No 'general' area. I thought Calibre copied into itself every book in its library. So once a book was in a Calibre library we had a safe copy of it. I've been acting on that basis. Now I open a library on an external drive that I've brought with me to a new locations and I keep trying to read books that it tells me 'have no available formats' ! So that looks like it simply copies a link to the book. Except that many books in that library ARE there! So what's the story? What does it do? And how come it has done this?

11-24-2022, 02:47 PM	#9
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	Yes, this is what I'm talking about.. Moderator Notice Switched to attachment (paperclip on Advanced view) Attached Thumbnails Last edited by theducks; 11-24-2022 at 03:03 PM. Reason: added as atachment

11-24-2022, 04:56 PM	#13
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	It is working now. I can't explain. Maybe I hit zero instead. Yes, it opens explorer to empty folders. Mostly. But not every time. I mean they're not always empty. Some books are there. Pdf's. They open. Last edited by abrogard; 11-24-2022 at 05:23 PM.

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11-24-2022, 06:21 AM	#2
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,154 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	No, it does import a copy of the book into the "Calibre Library" directory/folder. You should never access those. You should also export a backup from Calibre using the Library menu. Maybe your library is not in the location you thought, or the drive is faulty.

11-24-2022, 06:28 AM	#3
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	well the library is there alright. As I say many of the books are listed as, for instance, 'pdf' and they open okay. But many others are not listed as anything and when I try to open them I get that message. Making it look like a library of links. Some okay and some broken. Which is why I asked. So that's good if it is true Calibre libraries should be filled with copies. Okay. So I will have to start again if I can and rebuild a library and this time avoid this happening again. How? What happened to make this poor library, this 'broken' library? And can I somehow cull out of it all the 'fake' books, the books with no 'available format' ?

11-24-2022, 06:41 AM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	2-Way Sync programs can mess the Library up bad. It may be trying to put something old back while Calibre is in the process of moving files (a author/title rename) Or it changes the filename as part of its versioning service 2-users accessing the same Library is almost worse. The DB is in RAM and gets written as needed. What does not happen is get refreshed in RAM because it assumes sole use (multi-user DB's are way more tricky.) (auto) File Cleaning tools

11-24-2022, 12:22 PM	#7
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Sirtel is correct. Run the Library Maintainence and fix the issues found. THEN FIND WHY the problem was created in the first place. It ain't normal. formats: false finds '(deliberate) 'Empty Books' (Metadata only entries by design)

11-24-2022, 03:06 PM	#10
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre thinks there is a PDF (on right) Tap the O key (that opens the last known location). is there a PDF there? (Make no changes while there)

11-24-2022, 03:15 PM	#11
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	The O key did nothing for me. I find I can go one after the other and get the error message followed by the appearance of the 'PDF' letters. But still nothing will open - returning to a book that has had 'pdf' pop up brings that same error message again. Could it have happened if Calibre was importing many pdf's and was interrupted before it could finish? Does Calibre import first the names of them and later the content? Would Calibre accept an unfinished import like that?

11-24-2022, 03:29 PM	#12
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	If O did not open a folder in explorer, your DB does not (no longer) matches the file system. This kind of corruption can be caused by a NAS/network drive (cache write delay) or a failing hard/flash drive

11-24-2022, 05:14 PM	#14
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 10,127 Karma: 224756896 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	How did you create that library? Was it copied to the external drive from another location? The usual suspects in such a case are, as mentioned, a NAS/network drive, a syncing program/cloud drive (was OneDrive running in the background, for example?) or a failing hard drive. Something must have been messing with the files, they didn't vanish just automagically.

11-24-2022, 05:26 PM	#15
abrogard Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2017 Device: kindle	I don't remember. It could have been across the network. Much more likely that it was across drives on the one computer.