ComicRack Query Any users who can help?

[jaygon]

Hopefully nobody minds me posting this here : It relates to the ComicRack software. I can't seem to find the answer online (or in the Manual) and nobody has replied on the ComicRack forum. I'm hoping that there are posters here who might be familiar with ComicRack and how it works.


I'm a complete newbie to ComicRack (up until this week I was using Comical) so please forgive my very very basic questions.


I'm trying to get my head around ComicRack being a library archive as well as a reader. My collection of CBR/CBZ e-comics are stored on DVD-R. I plan to move them all to an external Hard Drive. Either way, none of my e-comics are actually stored locally on my windows device (laptop)

I understand the library/archive feature on ComicRack to function similarly to iTunes but I'm unsure if whether the comic books stored in ComicRack are copies/duplicates of the the files or the actual files themselves.

Say for instance I view an e-comic on ComicRack which is stored on (and is being accessed from) one of the DVDR. Does it automatically copy that file and upload it to ComicRack permanently? Or does it rip the file from the disk and store it in ComicRack? Or Maybe it simply links to the file on the disk?

If I remove the DVDR, is the e-comic still on the DVDR and/or still in ComicRack? Same question for the external harddrive ; does it rip the comic (removing it from the hard drive), duplicate the e-comic storing it on both ComicRack and the External Drive or just link to the comic on the drive.

I suppose this will be important to know moving forward as whether or not I use the DVDR or the external hard drive, the original files will not be permanently stored on my laptop.

Does ComicRack do (whatever it is that it does ; rip,copy,link) all of this automatically or do you need to manually do it each time. Can ComicRack essentially function as just a reader if you want it to?

Finally, I know that there is some difference in how CBR and CBZ files are processed/stored (on account that RAR files are not free software). Can ComicRack batch convert CBR files to PDF the same way as CBZ to PDF or are CBR files restricted in this way also?

Apologies for all the questions. I'm not all that tech-savvy, though this seems like a very neat piece of software for reading e-comics.

Best,

Jay

[Chocolate Starmie]

I've always had my cbr/cbz files in a series of folders on my computer, and comicrack kind of views them the same way. I don't believe it will automatically copy them from an external drive but it wild find them easily. Once you eject the disk they are gone with it. Also I do not believe it has any pdf conversion. The free Windows program is pretty good, and I paid for the Android version and don't regret it. It's a handy file manager. Hope this helps

[jaygon]

Thank you for the reply. I presume that even if you eject the disc/drive, the link to the comic remains in the library (until you click it and ComicRack tells you that it's not there) and once you re-connect the disk/drive again, ComicRack can access the library as before?

[doolittle]

Longtime ComicRack user here. Really sad cYo isn't supporting it anymore. Awesome software, especially once you add a few additional scripts.

It definitely doesn't copy the files when you add them to your library. You should be fine disconnecting and reconnecting the drive as long as you don't map it to a different drive letter when you reconnect. I probably wouldn't refresh the library without the drive connected or you might need to rescan the book folders next time the drive is connected.

My advice would be to definitely go with the external drive. You're eventually going to buy a new laptop, which are less and less likely to have DVD drives these days. Plus, it's all your books in one place and gives you the option of maintaining a full library, which is super fun to look at.

[jaygon]

The discontinued support is a huge shame. Will it mean that (as Windows updates) ComicRack could potentially become incompatible? I have Windows 10 and it seems to work fine. It would be a pity for such a sophisticated program to become defunct.

[doolittle]

I guess there's always a chance that happens, but the last handful of Windows releases seem to be pretty compatible with anything released in at least the last ten years. The last ComicRack release was 2016, so I'd imagine it will be fine for quite awhile.

[jaygon]

Is the 6th edition Manual from 2013 the most up to date?