Moving eBooks across Libraries, archiving

earthq · 06-04-2009, 09:30 PM

Hi,

I am thinking about how to handle huge libraries.
Let's say that I have 40 GB of eBooks today. I place all in one 80 GB USB disk with nice metadata, tags, etc.

After some time, my library grows up to 120 GB, so as long as I have another 80 GB USB disk, I would like to have half of my tags in one disk, and the other half in the second disk.

Or even better, start moving older books to an "archival" library.

The only way I can think of implementing such a thing today will be DUPLICATING the library, and then delete those not wanted in that copy, but sounds overkill.

Would that scenario be addressable today? Could it be implemented in future releases?

Thanks.

kovidgoyal · 06-04-2009, 10:02 PM

Why is that overkill? Sounds like a perfectly reasonable way to proceed to me. Just use a copy command to copy your old library to a new location. And delete the unwanted books from each copy

earthq · 06-04-2009, 11:01 PM

Well.. you need double amount of space before actually performing the final cleanup, and it can be messy.

Let's say that you have 10000 books in your "usual" HD, and another 10000 in your "archive" HD.

After a while, your "usual" HD gets 20000 books, so you want to archive 3000 of them to your archive HD.

How would you address that scenario using the "file copy"/"library entry delete" trick?

Regards.

pilotbob · 06-04-2009, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthq

Well.. you need double amount of space before actually performing the final cleanup, and it can be messy.

Let's say that you have 10000 books in your "usual" HD, and another 10000 in your "archive" HD.

After a while, your "usual" HD gets 20000 books, so you want to archive 3000 of them to your archive HD.

How would you address that scenario using the "file copy"/"library entry delete" trick?

Regards.

How about you highlight all the ones you want to move... you do a Save to Disk then delete them. Once you have done that you can import those books into a new library.

BOb

earthq · 06-04-2009, 11:28 PM

That makes sense... but you will have to redownload or reenter metadata, right?

pilotbob · 06-04-2009, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthq

That makes sense... but you will have to redownload or reenter metadata, right?

Nope... save to disk should include all the metadata, and the import should bring it all back in.

BOb

earthq · 06-04-2009, 11:31 PM

Humm.. I will give it a try then ...

QubyB · 06-05-2009, 04:50 AM

Simple method: get yourself a 1 TB external USB disk. It'll set you back some $100 but you'll have enough room for a lifetime of reading, all together in one place, and you'll still have space for some music and movies too.

Sabardeyn · 06-05-2009, 05:00 PM

An external hard drive, of any size or type, is an option. You can also use an internal drive (generally, slightly lower in cost) as well - assuming you have space and an unused ribbon port & drive bay. Internal does suffer from increased liability though in case of catastrophe - all your eggs (drives?) in one basket, so to speak.

Keep in mind that right now calibre has a bit of a problem with network drives. They work, but very slowly. I think Kovid said it will be fixed in v0.6, but cannot remember for sure.

USB flash / thumb drives can and do fail without warning, although its rare. This means that if you're going to use a flash drive as storage, or just to transfer books, you should be careful not to erase the original copy of the book before transferring and confirming that you have a good copy of the book in the destination library.

This is less of an issue if you have a good, offline copy of you library. We're all making back-ups to some type of offline media, right?

06-04-2009, 09:30 PM	#1
earthq Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	Moving eBooks across Libraries, archiving Hi, I am thinking about how to handle huge libraries. Let's say that I have 40 GB of eBooks today. I place all in one 80 GB USB disk with nice metadata, tags, etc. After some time, my library grows up to 120 GB, so as long as I have another 80 GB USB disk, I would like to have half of my tags in one disk, and the other half in the second disk. Or even better, start moving older books to an "archival" library. The only way I can think of implementing such a thing today will be DUPLICATING the library, and then delete those not wanted in that copy, but sounds overkill. Would that scenario be addressable today? Could it be implemented in future releases? Thanks.

06-05-2009, 04:50 AM	#8
QubyB Trick Kiter Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Holland Device: Sony PRS-505	Simple method: get yourself a 1 TB external USB disk. It'll set you back some $100 but you'll have enough room for a lifetime of reading, all together in one place, and you'll still have space for some music and movies too. Last edited by QubyB; 06-05-2009 at 04:56 AM.

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06-04-2009, 10:02 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,198 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Why is that overkill? Sounds like a perfectly reasonable way to proceed to me. Just use a copy command to copy your old library to a new location. And delete the unwanted books from each copy

06-04-2009, 11:01 PM	#3
earthq Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	Well.. you need double amount of space before actually performing the final cleanup, and it can be messy. Let's say that you have 10000 books in your "usual" HD, and another 10000 in your "archive" HD. After a while, your "usual" HD gets 20000 books, so you want to archive 3000 of them to your archive HD. How would you address that scenario using the "file copy"/"library entry delete" trick? Regards.

06-04-2009, 11:28 PM	#5
earthq Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	That makes sense... but you will have to redownload or reenter metadata, right?

06-04-2009, 11:31 PM	#7
earthq Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	Humm.. I will give it a try then ...

06-05-2009, 05:00 PM	#9
Sabardeyn Guru Posts: 644 Karma: 1242364 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Right Coast Device: PC (Calibre), Nexus 7 2013 (Moon+ Pro), HTC HD2/Leo (Freda)	An external hard drive, of any size or type, is an option. You can also use an internal drive (generally, slightly lower in cost) as well - assuming you have space and an unused ribbon port & drive bay. Internal does suffer from increased liability though in case of catastrophe - all your eggs (drives?) in one basket, so to speak. Keep in mind that right now calibre has a bit of a problem with network drives. They work, but very slowly. I think Kovid said it will be fixed in v0.6, but cannot remember for sure. USB flash / thumb drives can and do fail without warning, although its rare. This means that if you're going to use a flash drive as storage, or just to transfer books, you should be careful not to erase the original copy of the book before transferring and confirming that you have a good copy of the book in the destination library. This is less of an issue if you have a good, offline copy of you library. We're all making back-ups to some type of offline media, right?

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