Setting Up a Calibre Library on an SD Card

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Epsilon Rose

Needing to use compatible file systems is not some weird or insurmountable problem. You just format the card in a format all of the OSs you want to work with understand, and that's pretty easy to do when you just want to work with windows and android.

No you don't.
If Calibre for Windows, the card must be NTFS.
If Linux, ext4. If calibre for Apple, then whatever that Apple is using.

It's pointless saving of storage and risking messing up the library. The library isn't just the ebooks, but the database and program.

Penny wise pound foolish.

Yes, I said earlier it can theoretically be done, but it's crazy. Put the Calibre library SYSTEM on the computer of choice and pretend those ebook files don't exist. That's WHY Calibre can connect to USB MS, USB MTP (devices), mount a disk/sd-card/folder as if a device or save (export) to disk. There is even a content server option with Web and OPDS interfaces.

You've got a fixed obsession with only having ONE copy of the ebooks. That's not how a proper library system, or Calibre works.

Calibre just about works on a RPi4B with only 2G RAM and mate Desktop at QHD or even 4K (tested 6500 ebooks and about 500 PDFs) on an SD card, but it's the SD card for the Linux OS. Madness to take it out and stick in tablet, even if it accepts ext4 format.

I don't think you've understood anything much or you wouldn't be still arguing it will work and be fine. It's not absolutely impossible, but reckless.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Epsilon Rose

Also, explain to me how ejecting the SD card is going to break the copy of Calibre stored on the SD card. Please keep in mind that it won't be running while the SD card is not in the computer and while it is running the SD card won't be ejected.

Presumably not intentionally.

You came and asked for advice. Feel free to get the tablet to accept the format that the computer uses (NTFS if Windows) and rebuild the library when it's broken.

You can have any arbitrary structure and any Filestystem (exFat, Fat32 etc) on an SD Card that Calibre saves/sends/exports to. Calibre's own file names and directory structure can't be changed and must be using the OS's NATIVE format, not a compatible format. Calibre's files can't be edited or deleted except by the Calibre program.


You do also make backups?

Edit:

Also SD cards are much less reliable than SSD or HDD and fail without warning. I don't have anything on any SD card that's not on my computer. Any extra content is backed up to a named directory (folder) for that gadget.

Now I'm backing up the computer.

[BetterRed]

AFAIK a calibre library can be on any file system that the host OS supports, and Calibre for Windows (Portable) is the same, here it is on a FAT32 drive:



Would I recommend it? Only as a one off short term solution to address a specific issue.

BR