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#1 |
Junior Member
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Device: Kobo
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[Kobo] Database corruption - thoughts?
I've had repeated corruption issues on my Kobo for the last few months. I even got my Kobo (Sage) replaced. It has the latest firmware. The new one has the same issues with database corruption. I can only assume that the problem is with a recent Calibre update.
Spoiler:
Last edited by theducks; 11-09-2023 at 09:59 AM. Reason: spoilered log |
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#2 |
creator of calibre
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
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There have been no changes to the kobo driver in calibre in years, indeed the person that used to maintain the driver passed away so it is in pure maintenance mode. But feel free to downgrade calibre to whatever version you like. There is an entry in the calibre FAQ about the kobo database corruption problem, read it.
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#3 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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Plug in the Kobo. Copy the last backed-up database over the existing database. Eject from the computer and reboot the Kobo. That should do it.
What firmware are you using on your Kobo? What I do is I make sure I go back to the home screen before I plug my Libra 2 into the computer. Some others do a reboot before plugging into the computer. |
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#4 |
Well trained by Cats
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Ejecting from Calibre does not mean the transfer is fully complete either.
I wait for the Processing screen (if a new book is added) or the home screen to be stable (a few seconds) |
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#5 |
Bibliophagist
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I ran into the database corruption a while back and my workaround is to reboot my Kobo Sage before connecting to my computer. I use a menu item in NickelMenu to do this. I can do the second connection to send the metadata for newly added books without needing a reboot but any time I've been reading, the reboot keeps me from seeing database corruption.
You may want to take a look at the Firmware 4.38.21908 thread in the Kobo forum for more discussion. Kobo is aware of the issue and it should to be fixed in the next release. |
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#6 |
Custom User Title
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The current Kobo firmware has a glitch that sometimes leaves things open when connecting to PC. That makes database corruption more likely. (If you look at the .kobo folder in your file manager, you may see an sqlite write-ahead log - which indicates that it exported to USB while the sqlite database was open.)
I've had it happen under two circumstances: a) connecting while a kepub is open. b) Using a NickelMenu option to reconnect immediately after importing a large amount of books. Most of the time, making sure I'm on home screen before connecting prevents it. However, I do reboot after doing imports. If you have not a backup, 'repair account' in the Kobo options I think will also fix it. Last edited by ownedbycats; 11-11-2023 at 02:05 AM. Reason: clarified some details |
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#7 |
Bibliophagist
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Generally, I use signout/signin to restore the database to a usable condition but you will lose status, annotations, etc. The restore from backup minimizes the losses so it's my preferred option.
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#8 | |
Custom User Title
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Quote:
I've used Repair Account the first time I got a database corruption - then immediately set up Kobo Utilities to make daily backups. Is possible that it doesn't work in all cases though. |
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#9 |
Well trained by Cats
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Since I have 2 Kobo's, I made folders for each (and the settings in utilities)
I also bumped the number of copies to 10 since I might connect a number of times while fine tuning a book |
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#10 |
Enthusiast
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Database malformed on Elipsa 2E
Hallo! I too have run into a database image corruption. Calibre cannot connect to my Kobo Elipsa 2E because of this "malformed database image." The last added books (purchased and sideloaded) have become invisible.
I have tried Repair from the Kobo Settings menu, but to no avail. I understand that Logging out from my Kobo account, and then Logging in could help reinitialize a database. Is this in any way different from a Factory rested? In May I went through a Factory reset with my Aura H2O e2, and that was... traumatic. I tend to make a lot of annotations and notes, and almost of those were lost. However, as I had a full manual backup of the content of that ereader, I was able to recover those annotations. At this moment, on my computer I do have a full copy of everything that was on my Elipsa (but I do not have a copy of the database taken with KoboUtilities). Once I copy everything back on the Elipsa, will the annotations be available again? And what about the handwritten stylus notes? Last edited by Jasmine GreenTea; 11-24-2023 at 07:08 AM. |
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#11 |
the rook, bossing Never.
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I always export notes. Then there is a folder with them that work (text, docx, html, png, pdf). Mostly I export docx from Advanced and png from basic.
Never use pen for epubs, use text as the pen annotations are useless on PC. I think the pen annotations make extra content on a PDF, so you can copy back the pdf. I always read annotations when I finish an epub using Kobo Utilities & copy/paste to a text file. You can copy the native folders / notes and when copied back after a factory reset, they are re-imported to the database. Probably only the metadata such as names and kind of the notes (basic/advanced) is in the database as I've copied the actual notebook files/foders from one kobo to another and they appear. A Factory reset will reset & erase most everything. A logout / login will build a fresh database, but may erase notes folders you created (they can be backed up by file copy). It may erase annotations/highlights/bookmarks. Last edited by Quoth; 11-24-2023 at 08:01 AM. |
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#12 |
Bibliophagist
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I would also recommend installing NickelMenu and rebooting before triggering a USB connect to your computer. This ensures the database is closed before the connection.
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#13 | |
Enthusiast
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Thank you for your prompl and informative reply.
I am not concerned about the Handwirtten nor trhe OCR-ed notebooks made on Elipsa, as I have copies of those on DropBox and also on my computer. I am more concerned about the highlights and occasional annotations to EPUBs. Quote:
As I do have a file-by-file backup of the content of the ereader, would that help? Would it help in case I find that the logout/login erases too much? At this moment, I am highlighting manually the most important passages on another ereader. But, man, this is boring and time-consuming! |
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#14 | ||
the rook, bossing Never.
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Quote:
![]() You can add a config menu item to export annotations per book on the Kobo, but if the database is damaged it may not work. There is though currently no way to import other than restoring a backed up database. Except your database is corrupt. Even if you could re-import annotations, the ebook needs to be same name and identical and in same database record for a separate import of saved annotations to work (which isn't a thing that exists. You can maybe restore bookmarks, reading position and reading status using Kobo Utilities, which can make a backup of that. Not sure why it doesn't also do highlights and annotations. But, again, the database needs to be sufficiently intact. Quote:
Last edited by Quoth; 11-27-2023 at 08:06 AM. |
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#15 | |
Enthusiast
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@Quoth -- Thank you, this is really helpful.
I see that the way highlights and annotations are recorded on my Elipsa is different from the one on Aura H2O. If the former keeps that data in the SQL database, whereas the Aura stores it in a folder called Annotations (which actually refers also to Highlights), where each author has their own folder that includes a file with the extension .annot which contains the text of each annotation in clear text, set between paired tags like this: Quote:
I wonder why did Kobo abandon this system, which was more user friendly. |
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Tags |
calibre, database corrupted, kobo |
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