How to fix "Extra Titles" in Database in " Check Library - Problems Found

[millan]

Hi everybody,
I have over 3000 (out of 3500) "Extra Titles" in Database in after checking Problems in "Check Library"


if I pick "delete" function it deletes where the file is.

is there any quicker way to fix so many of them rather than doing one by one please

[theducks]

Use the Rebuild the Library menu option

And stop whatever practice you were doing. It is destroying metadata.db

Read the FAQ section on the help page (You can read the rest, as it contains other good info)

[millan]

I did the "Rebuild the Library menu option" without any success.
number of entries slightly increased (from 3505 to 3530)
when I click on the titles I see the meta data but the books not there



Would you help me the steps to rectify this major drama please?

[chaley]

What do you want to do?

Your original post implies you want to delete them. If so, then why not press the "Mark all for delete" button then "Delete marked"?

[millan]

If I click delete, it deletes the folder which has the book
I seem to have 2 folders for each:
one has the metadata.opf
the other one has the cover.jpg and the book itself
I tested deleting one and it deleted the folder where the book and the cover itself
If I'm wrong, would you please correct me?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by millan

If I click delete, it deletes the folder which has the book
I seem to have 2 folders for each:
one has the metadata.opf
the other one has the cover.jpg and the book itself
I tested deleting one and it deleted the folder where the book and the cover itself
If I'm wrong, would you please correct me?

What this means is that your library is well and truly borked. The "extra titles" have been left behind by some operation, probably because your library is on a network drive or in a cloud-synced folder.

As far as I know, you have three choices:

1. Manually copy the covers and books into the folders that are not "extra" then run library recovery. You might get them back.
2. Move the extra folders out of your library then manually add the covers and books back into the existing books.
3. Restore the library from a backup made before the disaster struck.

There isn't any magic wand that will fix it for you.

[millan]

Thank you chaley.
I appreciate your kind help very much
a) Library backup corrupted
b) so I'll have 2 choices
1) or 2)
and I'll start doing your first suggestion in 1/2 an hour time as soon as I make a copy of the whole library
unless you or somebody else comes up further suggestions
all the best

Originally Posted by chaley

What this means is that your library is well and truly borked. The "extra titles" have been left behind by some operation, probably because your library is on a network drive or in a cloud-synced folder.

As far as I know, you have three choices:

1. Manually copy the covers and books into the folders that are not "extra" then run library recovery. You might get them back.
2. Move the extra folders out of your library then manually add the covers and books back into the existing books.
3. Restore the library from a backup made before the disaster struck.

There isn't any magic wand that will fix it for you.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by millan

Thank you chaley.
I appreciate your kind help very much
a) Library backup corrupted
b) so I'll have 2 choices
1) or 2)
and I'll start doing your first suggestion in 1/2 an hour time as soon as I make a copy of the whole library
unless you or somebody else comes up further suggestions
all the best

Having thought about it, the probability of option 1 working isn't high. There must be some difference in spelling between the folder holding the OPF and the folder holding the book & cover. This difference must be reflected in the name of the book file or recovery will declare it to be an extra format. That would leave you back where you are now.

Making a copy of your library is a very good thing to do.

The most sure way to fix this is to move the "bad" folders out of the library to someplace safe. Run Check Library and repeat moving until you don't have any extra titles.

Now, for each saved (moved) title that exists in your library without a book or cover (a search for formats:false might help here):

• Click on the book for which you have a "saved copy". The book details panel should open, showing you a generic cover.
• Drag the cover from the saved book onto book details. The cover will be added to the book.
• Drag the book file onto book details. The book file will be added to the book.
• Repeat until done.

[millan]

Thank you again Chaley

I have backed up the whole folder (48gb)

I'll start with a copy (48gb) now

what steps should I follow for -how to move the "bad" folders out of the library to someplace safe-

or
shall I follow "these steps":

-shall I go to
-Library Maintenance
-check library "Found no errors" . .
-click yes to "if the files in your library match the info in the database"
-"found extra titles" (3501) out of (3505)
- "mark all for delete" then "delete marked"

or wait for another "set of steps" please

Originally Posted by chaley

Making a copy of your library is a very good thing to do.

The most sure way to fix this is to move the "bad" folders out of the library to someplace safe. Run Check Library and repeat moving until you don't have any extra titles.

Now, for each saved (moved) title that exists in your library without a book or cover (a search for formats:false might help here):

• Click on the book for which you have a "saved copy". The book details panel should open, showing you a generic cover.
• Drag the cover from the saved book onto book details. The cover will be added to the book.
• Drag the book file onto book details. The book file will be added to the book.
• Repeat until done.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by millan

-"found extra titles" (3501) out of (3505)
- "mark all for delete" then "delete marked"

or wait for another "set of steps" please

That "found extra titles" says that only 4 books in your library are "good" and that 3501 books are bad. I think that there is no point in trying to recover the library. You will be better off rebuilding it from the beginning. It would also be a very good idea to determine how your library was destroyed so it doesn't happen again.

What I would do:

1. In one copy of the library, merge the OPF and the book files:
   1. Find a "duplicate book" where one folder has the OPF file and the other folder has the book & cover
   2. Move the OPF file to the folder with the book and cover.
   3. Repeat for all 3500 books.
2. Create a new calibre library named whatever you want.
3. In that new library, select Add books / Add books from directories ... (One book per directory)
4. Point it at the copy where you moved the OPF files
5. Let it run

If you are willing to lose the book metadata than you can skip the merge OPF & book step.

[millan]

I appreciate your clarifications very much Chaley
metadata is very important for me.
Question about moving the opf to where the book.
Could you please clarify if opf has any reference points to the book?
if so moving the opf my not work unless the new database created if then how?

Originally Posted by chaley

What I would do:

1. In one copy of the library, merge the OPF and the book files:
   1. Find a "duplicate book" where one folder has the OPF file and the other folder has the book & cover
   2. Move the OPF file to the folder with the book and cover.
   3. Repeat for all 3500 books.
2. Create a new calibre library named whatever you want.
3. In that new library, select Add books / Add books from directories ... (One book per directory)
4. Point it at the copy where you moved the OPF files
5. Let it run

If you are willing to lose the book metadata than you can skip the merge OPF & book step.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by millan

Question about moving the opf to where the book.
Could you please clarify if opf has any reference points to the book?

No, it has no references into the book. It does have the author & title, etc, metadata that will be used when adding the book to the new library.

The truth: I cannot accurately predict how much of your library you will get back and how accurate the metadata will be. At this point you must hope for the best. If the metadata.opf file is the one that really goes with the book file(s) in the same folder then things should be close.

There is no requirement that you do all the replacement work before trying to do an add. Instead you can do a few books then add them by referring directly to their folders instead of the parent (library) folder. This will give you some experience and knowledge about how it works, and about how well it works.

[millan]

Thank you again Chaley,
I'll better get started soon.

Update:
Moving the OPF file to the folder with the book and cover
or moving the book and the cover to the folder with opf

still gives this look

that means book and opf did not match
perhaps because of the slight difference in the book name
that also means opf has some sort of link to the book title
moving opf or other way around break that link I suppose



-----------------------
As for the "determining how my library was destroyed so it doesn't happen again"
It must have been a somehow complicated way of copying files and replacing process I did I think.
I have libraryA I add books usually once a month
And i have a back up copy called libraryB
I copy the latest additions in libraryA to libraryB after sorting out the metadata in LibraryA.

[millan]

Update:
Moving the OPF file to the folder with the book and cover
or moving the book and the cover to the folder with opf

still gives this look




that means book and opf did not match
perhaps because of the slight difference in the book name
that also means opf has some sort of link to the book title
moving opf or other way around break that link I suppose

[millan]

Does that mean, i need to have the opf, book cover and the book in the same folder + add a format to this book and find the book file and click on it to add it to work properly if I don't want loose the meta data. correct?
unless anyone suggests a shorter process please