Hard Drive crash, can't new library working

TheScribe56 · 05-23-2015, 12:28 PM

The hard drive that contained my Calibre library crashed. I had it backed up on another drive, but when I run the Welcome Wizard on the new replacement drive it fails saying “an Invalid library already exists at M:\E-books” and that I should delete it.

“Error : NotADBError :file is encrypted or is or not a database.” I tried both the Metadata.db and the backup.

I’m guessing that the Metadata.db doesn’t exactly match what is currently in the library. I don’t know when the backup was made, it could be several days (or more) old.

I have over 600+ directories of books and I don’t want to enter them manually. Is there any way to use that old Library to start a new library on a new hard drive?

theducks · 05-23-2015, 02:09 PM

metadata.db is a 1 to 1 match to the books and folders, within the library.

In some cases, an older DB might recover most. All depends on what/how much happened in between

Whatever you do, DO NOT mix backup libraries together. Recovery will become a real nightmare.

If need be, recover each into individual libraries, then when each has been made error free, use Calibre to merge the needed books.

Find Duplicates PI can compare 2 libraries, then you can make determinations from the remains

kovidgoyal · 05-23-2015, 10:04 PM

Delete the metadata.db. calibre will create a new empty one, then run the retore library tool, which will re-create the original metadata.db, as described here: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....libre-is-blank

05-23-2015, 12:28 PM	#1
TheScribe56 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2015 Device: Nook	Hard Drive crash, can't new library working The hard drive that contained my Calibre library crashed. I had it backed up on another drive, but when I run the Welcome Wizard on the new replacement drive it fails saying “an Invalid library already exists at M:\E-books” and that I should delete it. “Error : NotADBError :file is encrypted or is or not a database.” I tried both the Metadata.db and the backup. I’m guessing that the Metadata.db doesn’t exactly match what is currently in the library. I don’t know when the backup was made, it could be several days (or more) old. I have over 600+ directories of books and I don’t want to enter them manually. Is there any way to use that old Library to start a new library on a new hard drive?

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05-23-2015, 02:09 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,048 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	metadata.db is a 1 to 1 match to the books and folders, within the library. In some cases, an older DB might recover most. All depends on what/how much happened in between Whatever you do, DO NOT mix backup libraries together. Recovery will become a real nightmare. If need be, recover each into individual libraries, then when each has been made error free, use Calibre to merge the needed books. Find Duplicates PI can compare 2 libraries, then you can make determinations from the remains

05-23-2015, 10:04 PM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Delete the metadata.db. calibre will create a new empty one, then run the retore library tool, which will re-create the original metadata.db, as described here: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....libre-is-blank

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