Has anyone with a Paperwhite 5th gen. had their sideloaded books removed?

Undr · Yesterday, 07:12 AM

I've been looking at the posts about sideloaded books getting deleted and from what I could see the complaints are mostly coming from users with later generation Kindles. I have a theory that it started happening with a specific model or an update. So, the title: did that ever happen on a Paperwhite 5th gen. to any of you?

I am currently using a 4th gen. Kindle to learn more languages and for my purposes it's perfect in almost every way except for the lack of frontlight. The battery lasts 2 and a half months! I am researching other ereaders and buying another Kindle was a definite no from me at first, but looking at a very specific situation of ereaders market in my country, I am at this point forced to consider buying a second hand Paperwhite 5th gen.

j.p.s · Yesterday, 11:47 AM

The option to Download and Transfer over USB has gone away.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=366171

el_vandragon · Yesterday, 01:25 PM

I just wanted to clarify that "Download and Transfer over USB" going away only means you can't download official kindle purchases and then transfer over USB. If you have ebooks purchased elsewhere you can still transfer them over USB, I still use Calibre to transfer books to my kindle PW5 SE.

I haven't had it happen recently but I have had side-loaded books disappear in the past on my PW5 SE (this is 2021 model in case I am messing up the numbers). If I recall it was only an issue when I kept it in airplane mode for a long time and then when I connected to internet again they were removed. My understanding is there **should** be a way to mark them as documents or something and have them stay but I have not looked into that at all so I unfortunately don't have much info there.

Undr · Yesterday, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_vandragon

I just wanted to clarify that "Download and Transfer over USB" going away only means you can't download official kindle purchases and then transfer over USB. If you have ebooks purchased elsewhere you can still transfer them over USB, I still use Calibre to transfer books to my kindle PW5 SE.

I haven't had it happen recently but I have had side-loaded books disappear in the past on my PW5 SE (this is 2021 model in case I am messing up the numbers). If I recall it was only an issue when I kept it in airplane mode for a long time and then when I connected to internet again they were removed. My understanding is there **should** be a way to mark them as documents or something and have them stay but I have not looked into that at all so I unfortunately don't have much info there.

Sorry, I actually meant Paperwhite 1 (2012), 5th generation Kindle overall. Thank you for your response, I decided to go with a different ereader.

Quoth · Today, 05:00 AM

A paperwhite 1 gets colour images and azw3/KF8 for regular reflowable novels. All later models get KFX which takes much longer to download (throttled) because it can read while downloading. Also for most Kindles the KFX images and cover are mono (B&W).

So a gen5 / Paperwhite 1 is the last good model to download for DRM removal and reading elsewhere. Especially keep the PW1 & registration if getting a newer ereader (Kindle, Kobo, Pocketbook or Onyx Boox).

Yesterday, 07:12 AM	#1
Undr Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2025 Device: None	Has anyone with a Paperwhite 5th gen. had their sideloaded books removed? I've been looking at the posts about sideloaded books getting deleted and from what I could see the complaints are mostly coming from users with later generation Kindles. I have a theory that it started happening with a specific model or an update. So, the title: did that ever happen on a Paperwhite 5th gen. to any of you? I am currently using a 4th gen. Kindle to learn more languages and for my purposes it's perfect in almost every way except for the lack of frontlight. The battery lasts 2 and a half months! I am researching other ereaders and buying another Kindle was a definite no from me at first, but looking at a very specific situation of ereaders market in my country, I am at this point forced to consider buying a second hand Paperwhite 5th gen.

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Yesterday, 11:47 AM	#2
j.p.s Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,813 Karma: 103362673 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: pb360	The option to Download and Transfer over USB has gone away. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=366171

Yesterday, 01:25 PM	#3
el_vandragon Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2024 Location: United States Device: Kindle PW3, PW5 SE	I just wanted to clarify that "Download and Transfer over USB" going away only means you can't download official kindle purchases and then transfer over USB. If you have ebooks purchased elsewhere you can still transfer them over USB, I still use Calibre to transfer books to my kindle PW5 SE. I haven't had it happen recently but I have had side-loaded books disappear in the past on my PW5 SE (this is 2021 model in case I am messing up the numbers). If I recall it was only an issue when I kept it in airplane mode for a long time and then when I connected to internet again they were removed. My understanding is there should be a way to mark them as documents or something and have them stay but I have not looked into that at all so I unfortunately don't have much info there.

Today, 05:00 AM	#5
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,427 Karma: 107078855 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	A paperwhite 1 gets colour images and azw3/KF8 for regular reflowable novels. All later models get KFX which takes much longer to download (throttled) because it can read while downloading. Also for most Kindles the KFX images and cover are mono (B&W). So a gen5 / Paperwhite 1 is the last good model to download for DRM removal and reading elsewhere. Especially keep the PW1 & registration if getting a newer ereader (Kindle, Kobo, Pocketbook or Onyx Boox).

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