Backing Up, Restoring, and Moving Your Calibre Library to a New PC

Calibre isn’t just useful for the average consumer to manage eBook libraries; it’s especially handy for collectors who, in addition to their purchased digital titles, also download and archive thousands of free titles from the internet. In both cases, damage to the database caused by general PC issues or a hard drive/SSD failure can be annoying and, in some cases, undo years of archiving work. As a general rule, you should therefore create backups of your entire library at regular intervals.

Fortunately, backing up Calibre’s data is relatively straightforward and only takes a few steps, and it’s just as easy to restore if needed. Let’s take a look at how it works.

Before you get started, have a sufficiently large USB stick or memory card ready, or free up enough space for your library on another (external) hard drive, because the steps described duplicate the data and will require just as much space as the database you’re currently using.

From version 2.47: import/export function

Update: With version 2.47, Calibre finally gained an import/export feature that lets you export and restore all libraries, settings, and plugins with just a few clicks. The steps described below are therefore no longer necessary for this and later versions.

Instead, right-click the library icon and choose “Export/import all calibre data”.

A new window opens where you choose again whether you want to export or import data. When exporting, you can now select any libraries you want.

Then choose a folder where the data file(s) in “calibre-data” format will be saved. Depending on the size of your Calibre library, a varying number of archive files will be created. That’s it for the export.

Importing is just as easy. Select the backup folder here and let everything be imported automatically. If you want to move the data to another computer, simply copy the folder to the new PC or a USB stick and start the import process as described.

Back up the entire library

For most users, the space required shouldn’t be too large. To recap: a “typical” eBook usually takes up less than 1 MB. Accordingly, 100 titles will also require less than 100 MB of storage. It’s a different story, of course, for the collectors mentioned at the start, or for people who’ve been reading digitally for years and devour several eBooks per month or like to stock up. In those cases, the space needed can naturally be much greater.

Library menu item

Once Calibre is running, click the Library button and choose “Switch/create library”.

A new window opens with several options. You’ll need these later for restoration (see below). For the first step, we’re interested in the directory that contains the entire Calibre database. It’s shown at the top. Make a note of the path, then close the window by clicking “Cancel”.

Library path

Check folder size – useful for large libraries

In the Windows File Explorer that opens, navigate to the corresponding directory and, before proceeding, right-click the folder and choose “Properties” to check how much space it uses. Once that’s done and the backup location has enough free space, simply copy (don’t move!) the entire folder to the other location. Be sure to copy the two “metadata” files along with all the subfolders.

Note: In various Windows versions, some directories are shown with an English name but can only be accessed in Explorer using the German translation, e.g., Users = Benutzer; Program Files = Programme; etc.

That’s it. Your library is now backed up. You should repeat this process at regular intervals, especially if you’re continually adding to the library and a failure would be particularly frustrating.

Restoring the database

Restoring a backed-up database or moving to another PC works the same way. Copy the backup as a whole to the drive you want to use going forward, into any directory.

Once that’s done, open the dialog in Calibre as described earlier (via the Library button > Switch/create library) and select the folder you just copied.

Restoration, directory selection

Below that, make sure the first option, “Use the previously existing library at the new location”, is selected. After you confirm by clicking OK, the library is immediately ready to use as normal.

Backing up Calibre settings and plugins

In addition to the library, it may also make sense to back up all Calibre settings as well—especially if you use a lot of plugins or have changed various parts of the default configuration you don’t want to lose.

The backup works essentially the same as for the library. This time, however, we need to find, open, and copy the configuration directory.

Here’s where to go

Go to Calibre’s settings and open “Miscellaneous” at the bottom of the window. A new dialog opens; click the button “Open calibre configuration directory”.

Open the right directory

Windows File Explorer opens automatically. Copy the entire directory to a safe location again—ideally alongside the library you saved earlier. In the event of a PC migration or a hard drive crash, perform the steps in reverse and copy the backup into the new Calibre configuration directory. Your plugins and other settings will then be applied.

Copy the entire folder

Note: Because Calibre is constantly being developed, it’s a good idea to stay up to date via updates so the settings backups actually work and aren’t too old.