Strange .sdr directories appearing in /documents?

[Phssthpok]

I use Calibre to manage my Kindle Oasis, and have books in subdirectories inside /documents. For example, I have "/documents/Dozois, Gardner/Gardner Dozois (ed.) - Year's Best SF 26 - The Year's Best Science Fiction (2008).azw3" and an SDR directory "/documents/Dozois, Gardner/Gardner Dozois (ed.) - Year's Best SF 26 - The Year's Best Science Fiction (2008).sdr".

Recently I've been discovering bizarrely named empty SDR directories appearing in /documents for books I've recently read -- so for the book above, I end up with an empty directory called "/documents/Year's Best ~ion (2008)_89203011-3756-492e-83e6-7a0aa77f6017.sdr" -- basically the beginning and end of the series and book name joined with "~" and followed by "_" and a GUID.

Can anyone tell me why these directories appear and what they're for, and is it safe to delete them?

[DuckieTigger]

They are save to delete, but they will be recreated. Far as I know they keep track of your reading progress.

[hius07]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=211384

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

They are save to delete, but they will be recreated. Far as I know they keep track of your reading progress.

Hmm. And yet they're totally empty, so I don't know how they would do that... and I already have an .sdr directory in the same place as the book itself, which I would have thought would be the logical place for that sort of thing to go, rather than a new (empty) .sdr directory one level higher. Weird.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by hius07

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=211384

Not sure why you think this is relevant?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Hmm. And yet they're totally empty, so I don't know how they would do that... and I already have an .sdr directory in the same place as the book itself, which I would have thought would be the logical place for that sort of thing to go, rather than a new (empty) .sdr directory one level higher. Weird.

I believe they won't stay empty if you use notes, annotations, and bookmarks. It should be in the same place, well same subdirectory. But then the Kindle was not designed to take advantage of the subdirectories. It is nice though that it reads books in there, so you can organize books (or let Calibre do it) - not that you can see the structure on the Kindle itself.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I believe they won't stay empty if you use notes, annotations, and bookmarks. It should be in the same place, well same subdirectory. But then the Kindle was not designed to take advantage of the subdirectories. It is nice though that it reads books in there, so you can organize books (or let Calibre do it) - not that you can see the structure on the Kindle itself.

In my experience, the kindle will put the .sdr directory in the same directory as the book.

If the .sdr directory is in the same directory as the book and has contents, I see no reason not to delete the empty .sdr directory in documents.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I believe they won't stay empty if you use notes, annotations, and bookmarks. It should be in the same place, well same subdirectory. But then the Kindle was not designed to take advantage of the subdirectories. It is nice though that it reads books in there, so you can organize books (or let Calibre do it) - not that you can see the structure on the Kindle itself.

Err, no. There are SDR directories in the subdirs alongside the books, which are autocreated when the books are uploaded, and files always appear in those directories. The ones I'm asking about appear in the top-level /documents directory, and are always empty, and have very strange names involving GUIDs.

My previous Kindle was organised exactly the same way (using Calibre), and this never happened with it.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

In my experience, the kindle will put the .sdr directory in the same directory as the book.

If the .sdr directory is in the same directory as the book and has contents, I see no reason not to delete the empty .sdr directory in documents.

Indeed. I just wonder what makes the damned things appear in the first place, when there's a perfectly good SDR directory in the subdir along with the book, which was created when I uploaded the book and where files appear when I read the book and annotate it.

Of course I can just run "del/sxy E:\documents\*.sdr" every time I connect the Kindle to the Windows box where I run Calibre, but who needs this extra hassle?

[JimmyR]

I posted about this very thing a few months ago:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...87#post3666087

In my limited testing, I discovered that these directories are created if you connect the kindle to USB while a book is open. Actually, it's created after disconnecting the Kindle:

• Open a book
• Connect Kindle to Computer or put to sleep*
• Disconnect Kindle or wake from sleep* (Directory is created at this point, I assume)
• Connect Kindle to computer to see new directory in Documents

I never see a new directory created when I open a book, close the book and then connect to my computer or put to sleep* while on the home screen.

I still haven't divined the purpose of these directories.

This is with my PW3 and a PW2.

*ETA: I've also noticed that a directory is created if the Kindle goes to sleep with a book open.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by JimmyR

I posted about this very thing a few months ago:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...87#post3666087

In my limited testing, I discovered that these directories are created if you connect the kindle to USB while a book is open. Actually, it's created after disconnecting the Kindle:

• Open a book
• Connect Kindle to Computer or put to sleep*
• Disconnect Kindle or wake from sleep* (Directory is created at this point, I assume)
• Connect Kindle to computer to see new directory in Documents

I never see a new directory created when I open a book, close the book and then connect to my computer or put to sleep* while on the home screen.

I still haven't divined the purpose of these directories.

This is with my PW3 and a PW2.

*ETA: I've also noticed that a directory is created if the Kindle goes to sleep with a book open.

OK, thanks for the info. I can experiment with this, but since I almost always have a book open, and just close the cover to put it to sleep, I guess I'll just have to live with this.

[BookCat]

I've noticed this on my kindle, which is always being connected to the usb and being put to sleep with an open book. As long as the kindle works correctly, I'm not too bothered by them.

[JimmyR]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I've noticed this on my kindle, which is always being connected to the usb and being put to sleep with an open book. As long as the kindle works correctly, I'm not too bothered by them.

Same here. I hardly ever dig around in my kindle documents. I never noticed them until a few months ago when I posted the first time. However, seeing this thread piqued my curiosity.