one cover in edit meta, another in library view

[Debby]

My books covers are messed up! What am I doing wrong?


Issue #1

When scrolling through the library, the little picture in the lower Left hand corner is incorrect. It is also incorrect if I double click and browse in the larger view. However, when I open "edit Meta Information" my covers are correct.

I have tried restarting Calibre, clicking on the "book" and update in the edit Meta Information. If I reconvert (to epub and/or lit) the correct cover will be present after I hit save. But as soon as I move to another book it returns to the incorrect cover.

I have also verified the correct cover is in the Calibre library folder.

Issue #2

My library disappeared last night and I learned I had not included covers in the back up's. How do I back up my library with all metadata and covers? I have been using "Save to Disk" in a single directory but the covers are not there. What about the metadata db file Calibre uses, it there any way to also automatically include that in a backup?

Fortunately, I was able to restore by library by using the "previous version" in windows.

Don't know if it matters but the cover issue was present prior to the restoring of the library. It is just much worse now.

Thank you!

Windows 7, calibre 6.52, converting to epub and lit

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Debby

Issue #2

My library disappeared last night and I learned I had not included covers in the back up's. How do I back up my library with all metadata and covers? I have been using "Save to Disk" in a single directory but the covers are not there. What about the metadata db file Calibre uses, it there any way to also automatically include that in a backup?

I created a step by step process to backup and restore Calibre's books in this thread. I followed these steps and it worked fine. If you attempt these steps you might find that your cover problems will go away with the rebuilding of the metadata.db file.

Good Luck.

[kovidgoyal]

Just restart calibre to solve issue #1 (press Ctrl+Q to quit it fully or reboot your computer)

[kovidgoyal]

the simplest way to backup your library is to just copy the library folder to another location.

If you need to restore to a backed up version, just delete the original folder and copy the backup to the original location

[Debby]

Thank you! dwanthny, your method worked! Kovidgoyal, rebooting still did not solve the problem

I suspect the secret is:

A. combining the books
B. Save cover separately - I personally think this should be the default and you should uncheck if you do not want covers included. For those of us who are a little slow, that would be a little more explicit.

Again, thank you for an incredible program and helping so quickly!

[miao2]

The cover problem is happening to me also and rebooting is not helping. Any ideas besides turning the feature off. I love scrolling through the covers.

Calibre is a Great program

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by miao2

The cover problem is happening to me also and rebooting is not helping. Any ideas besides turning the feature off.

Does the correct cover get saved when you Save to disk?

[miao2]

No not all the time sometimes the correct cover is saved and sometimes not. Also I have tried deleting and re-adding the book and sometimes that works ans sometimes not. It also does not seem to related to the original format of the ebook.

Thank you very much for your concern

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by miao2

sometimes the correct cover is saved and sometimes not.

The cover is saved as a file in the library called "cover.jpg." When you find one that is "wrong," look at that file. See if it's the wrong image or not. That will guide those who can fix it as to whether the wrong image is being saved, or just the wrong image being displayed. Wrong display is possible, but is fixed with a restart.

To find the file, find your library folder, then the author folder (first name first), then the book title folder. It's in that folder.

[miao2]

Thank You I'll Check. I really Appreciate the help

[Debby]

I was having the exact same problem and following Dwanthy's step's restored my library and covers. In my case it was a chronic issue that kept reappearing. Crossing my fingers that it has been resolved.

[QUOTE=dwanthny;908332] I created a step by step process to backup and restore Calibre's books in this thread.

You may also wish to consider creating a backup system once it is restored. The thread talking about it it is here along with the code examples.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=83311&page=3

I did mine today and it wasn't that challenging (of course that is because I had help and great guidance ). You copy code into batch files and use Task Scheduler.

Good Luck!

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Debby

I was having the exact same problem and following Dwanthy's step's restored my library and covers. In my case it was a chronic issue that kept reappearing.

Do you know why it was happening? Dwanthy's steps involve saving to disk, then reimporting, and the post below says that sometimes the wrong cover was being saved, so this should not have fixed it. (The wrong cover would have been re-imported if the wrong one was saved out).

[Debby]

I am not certain but I believe my library gets messed up whenever I hook my Sony 505 up to Calibre. Or it could be going from a Cybook to Sony. I can transfer books and disconnect, but once I close the library and reopen it the lbrary is typically empty. As in everything gone except a metadata file which is not accurate (size is typically 88kb). In the last case this week, I was able to restore the library (using previous files in windows) but the covers were inaccurate.

This has happened 3 times and after each time the covers are incorrect. In the past I would delete the books and reimport them. As you can imagine as the library grew that became very tedious. I have not noticed a pattern as to why some books and not others.

I actually don't hook up my reader very often, which I why I did not connect events together.

I believe this somehow messing up the metadata file. If I understand dwanthny's method forces a clean rebuilding of the metdata.db

That is why I was anxious to get a backup system in place with multiple metadata.db data versions.

I am going to test hooking up the readers and seeing if I lose everything again.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Debby

If I understand dwanthny's method forces a clean rebuilding of the metdata.db

Yes, it does. You have to use that method before corruption occurs. I misunderstood. I thought you were saying you used that method after the problem occurred - to recover from it.