My eBook directory on a laptop computer contains 4245 directories/subdirectories, each containing one *.mobi file out of the 12,428 files in all.

Is there a simple way (batch file, maybe?) that could go through the eBook directory tree and extract or copy only the 4245 *.mobi files to a separate directory so I can then import them into Calibre?

tanstaafl.

Which OS?

I've not used it myself, but this tool looks like it will do what you need:

https://machinewrapped.wordpress.com/smartcopy/

Or use PowerShell (included with Windows7/8), something like this:

get-Childitem -recurse -filter *.mobi | Move-Item -Destination c:\temp -WhatIf

Rather than moving the files, this method creates duplicate links for them. If you really want to move them, just replace ln with mv.

Exactly the solution I'd use too, but I'd be willing to bet it's a Windows machine, without a cygwin install.

Windows 8.1

tanstaafl.

Unfortunately, it comes really close, but not quite. From the user comments section of the website:

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Alex Diaz permalink

Hi,
Great tool, I only have a little problem… How can I make if I want to copy all the files to a single directory (I mean don´t create subfolders in the target directory)…. Can you tell me if there is a way to do that?…. Thanks in advance

Reply

mrsdbooth permalink

Hi Alex, a good question… it’s not a scenario I’d considered, so there’s no provision to do it at the moment I’m afraid!

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tanstaafl.

Gah, you guys. It's way way way simpler than that. Assuming I'm understanding the problem correctly:

1. Open a Windows Explorer window which is viewing the parent directory of the source location which contains all the file subdirectories.

2. Open another Windows Explorer window showing the destination directory where you want to put all the files in one place.

3. In the first window, the source window, in the SEARCH box in the upper right corner, type *.mobi

4. Select all (ctrl-A) and drag them to the destination folder.

5. Profit. I mean, wait forever.

Potential problem you should watch out for, other methods will have the same issue: How to handle the situation where the file names are duplicated. That isn't a problem when they're in subdirectories, but becomes an issue when you want to put them all in the same place. For instance, two different books where the file names are "chapter 1.mobi" "chapter 2.mobi" or something like that.

I tend to do something similar (in smaller rscale) when for instance downloading a book series where each title has its own folder. Moving them to the root folder for renaming as per my standard and then dropped into the Book_Archive\Author folder.

Simply go to the root of your current archive, and initiate a search for .mobi, including subfolders. Once it's done, mark all the found files with Ctrl-a, drag and drop to (copy/move/link as per need) new directory. That should not bring along the relative paths of the files, just the file.

Might want to scan through the results before the drag ad drop, in case there might be something matching .mobi not athe end. Not sure if there's a way to tell the search in Explorer that the string must occur at the end of the filename.

Edit:
Ah, beaten by the FAQ meister because I had to go find a Win 8 machine to check behaviour hadn't changed... and *.mobi forces the match to the end/extension.

Gah! So simple, I am embarrassed that I didn't think of that. Way to go,Tony!

I didn't have to wait forever, either -- four minutes and five seconds for two gigabytes, 3,675 files. Looks like about 600 of the directories did not have a .mobi file in them, those would be directories whose only contents were subdirectories that did contain the .mobis. Like... directory "John D. Macdonald", containing 21 subdirectories, each subdirectory with a Travis McGee book in it.

The process went quickly because I didn't move the files (which does take forever) but copied them instead. After I run them through Calibre, they'll be copied once again into the Calibre library, after which I can delete the other two copies.

Thank you for the simple solution to something I wasn't smart enough to figure out for myself.

tanstaafl.

Looks like Tony beat you by five minutes, Michael.

No problem with duplicates or unwanted .mobi strings. My original source is fanatically well organized.

Thanks for the help, even it Tony got in ahead of you.

tanstaafl.

If source and destination were all on the same hard drive, the move operation would be the quick one. Since it's just updating the directory location of the file instead of actually data-transferring the contents of the file.

For different hard drives, I would think they'd be about the same speed, with move being only slightly longer than copy (deleting each source file after each move should be quick compared to the move itself).

Anyway. The reason I thought of this is because a similar operation is the only way I can manage my iPhone photos. Iphones split all their files up into a bunch of randomly-named subdirectories, and the only way I can see a plain list of all my photos is to use that search box and type in *.jpg. If I want to make a backup of all the photos, I do that and then reconcile.

I don't remember having to collect all the files into one place before importing them. But it's been a while.

BTW. Calibre can be run in split mode. Where the calibre http server is run on the machine in the closet, and the interactive management front end is run from a portable laptop.

The laptop running the front end need only be able to mount the database folders from the server.

Calibre wants to import files, not directories with files in them. The files are all buried several layers deep in directories, where Calibre doesn't see them.

tanstaafl.