#MOVING CALIBRE LIBRARY UPDATE#

This came in handy once when my friend accidentally moved the Dropbox library to his computer and deleted the originals. The reason I use a script instead of the built-in sync is that I want to make sure it's one-way, and if someone (me or a friend/relative) screws up the cloud copy, it won't affect my local copy.

I used to get a little fancier and do a dry-run first to make sure it did what I expected, but that takes too long with a large library. I've always kept it simple by writing a command script, using one line. So, the cloud library is always the same as my local copy.

I do a one-way sync which copies new books to the cloud, and deletes any cloud copies not in my local library. I chose these because they were both supported on my phone via Calibre Companion, so I can easily get books from anywhere at any time without the need to leave a computer running.

So I moved it to Microsoft Onedrive, where I somehow got a bunch of extra space long ago, and it's all free. I have a copy on the cloud - previously on Dropbox, but space there is limited and too expensive to me for the next tier. Always good to have a local backup, and it's pretty easy to do. I occasionally make a local copy of my entire library to my computer just in case I screw up with other methods. No idea if it would work with a cloud, since I keep all my stuff in my house. I do this weekly with a usb hard drive using a little utility called Back In Time.

#MOVING CALIBRE LIBRARY UPDATE#

And if you change some metadata in your local instance, how would you ever get that into the cloud copy? You are better off to use a utility like rsync to update everything that has happened to that library. Would it be better if I simply copied the Calibre Library folder to a cloud location and then added new files as they come? Does all of my metadata stay intact this way?Ĭan you add the new files using Calibre? If not, when you do this, you will blind-side the metadata.db control file in the library, and if you ever try and open that library in Calibre is will have errors. But if you are really careful to do only a one-way sync when Calibre is not running, some people have been successful for a long time. It is pretty much a case of when it will fail, not if. Putting a Calibre library on a network drive or in a cloud is risky. It is really meant for moving a Calibre installation between computers. The 'export all Calibre data' is not only exporting your library, but all your preferences, plugins, and so on. I did attempt to relocate my library to a cloud-synced location, and wound up losing over 100 books because I was drinking alcohol while setting it up and forgot that bi-directional syncing can also delete my local copy when you delete the cloud copy!īut anyway, my question is this: Is there any advantage to exporting the entire library every single time I add a few books? Would it be better if I simply copied the Calibre Library folder to a cloud location and then added new files as they come? Does all of my metadata stay intact this way? The other option is to simply copy my Calibre library folder as-is and uploading to my various cloud locations. My library is now 11GB and it's becoming a pain in the ass to back it up using the 'export all Calibre data' from the Library tab, which breaks it up into (11) 1GB files. Since my Calibre library is located in my home folder on my laptop and I frequently add new books, I like to keep backups on several cloud locations (my Dropbox, my work Onedrive, and my work GDrive).

Moving calibre library