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Sameer G
Sameer G
Known Participant
April 11, 2012
Question

What's the procedure for backing up e-books in ADE?

  • April 11, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 9137 views

Hello!

Well, I have checked the FAQ section about Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) and found no answer to this question. Also, there is no documentation available for ADE. (You need to add this in Adobe.) Thankfully there is this forum available.

I am using Windows Vista Home Premium at the moment. Now, say I want to upgrade to Windows 7. And I want to do a custom, or "clean" install which results in formatting the entire system disk drive. I have 10 purchased books and 5 borrowed books in my library in ADE. How do I save these? If I just copy them over to an external disk drive, can I just copy them back to the system disk after installing Windows 7 and continue to read them? Or will I get an error saying that I don't have the rights, or that they are registered to different user?...

The FAQ can be found here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/faq/

I already have an Adobe ID and I have typed it in the first time I installed ADE, so I guess my computer is considered "authorized" now. What does this mean anyway? Is there some special license file that is downloaded to my computer or what?... In that case I assume I would need to backup this file for later use when restoring e-books and installing ADE. Or is this false?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Sameer G
Sameer GAuthor
Known Participant
April 25, 2012

No answers yet?

When borrowing e-books from libraries I always get new files titled URLLink.acsm, URLLink (1).acsm, URLLink (2).acsm, etc. When I double-click on them Adobe Digital Editions opens up and downloads the actual e-book as a PDF file. But what do you do with the URLLink.acsm file? Is it safe to delete it? Is it required if you for example want to download the same book but on a different computer or another device? This type of book can be downloaded on up to five devices, right?

F
Frustrated in AZ
Participating Frequently
April 26, 2012

Hi Sameer

.ascm files contain information ADE uses to find the ebook, plus

information from the publisher/distributor about the ebook's digital rights

management. Once the ebook has been downloaded, ADE should be deleting the

.ascm file. If you have any 'left over', then it's possible that the ebook

was not downloaded. Use your computer's utility program to find the file

and then open it with ADE and see if that's the case. If it's already

there, ADE will tell you.

==============

A
Anonymous
June 2, 2012

Sameer, the commentary in your post tells me that your copy of ADE is not

registered or something is messed up with your installation. Here's why I

think so:

.ascm files are deleted automatically by ADE when the transfer is

complete. If they exist on your computer, then I believe your copy of ADE

is not registered with Adobe or it is not registered correctly.

ADE will check to see whether an ebook has been downloaded previously and

issue a warning message to you.

Apologies, but let me go over the proper procedure and what should happen.

First, you register with Adobe and obtain an Adobe ID and password. That

information will be embedded into Digital Editions when you download it,

and kept also on Adobe's computer. This information is checked when you

open Digital Editions.

Next, when you go to a website to download an ebook (whether it be a

publisher, distributor or library), the process will interrogate your copy

of Digital Editions to determine whether it's registered. If it is, then

the next steps will be for the website to create a 'tag file' ( .ascm) that

tells Digital Editions where to find the ebook. The website then will

initiate Digital Editions on your computer, and give Digital Editions the

'tag file' data: then the website will close. Digital Editions will then

go find the ebook, and when it has done so, it will ask you whether you

want to OPEN or SAVE the ebook. You reply, and Digital Editions takes it

from there. When it's done, Digital Editions will delete the .ascm file.

Obviously, you're having 'problems'....

================


Hi, I live in AZ, too.

I have downloaded many ebooks with the URLLink.acsm file and was told that I had to trash it myself, otherwise the next book with the same type of file will ask if I want to replace it.   (I used to think that meant something else, but it just replaces it with the new book file.)    So, it seems to depend on what you want to do.   BUT, ADE does not delete it for you.   (That would be too nice of them . . .) 

I use a Mac.  From the website where I originally get the ebook, I right-click on the "download" button, and click on "save link as".   I then click on "save" when the box opens - only option.   It then goes to my desktop.  I  click "open" - there is no save - and it just goes right into ADE.  Then I delete it.  

Until yesterday, I have always talked to someone on the phone who helped me a lot.  Between the store where I bought the books and ADE I was able to get it all right.   Barnes and Noble helped some - I have a Nook Simple Touch.

Now I am having all kinds of problems, and don't have that nice man to help me anymore!   My nearly 300 ebooks on ADE goes "missing" often and I have to put them back on.  I was okay for a while, but yesterday, all of a sudden, I watched as "Missing" went down the list.  No matter what I do, they keep doing that.  They may be on there for a while, but then, boom! they're gone.

What's more, I can't transfer over 60 books to my Nook.  It says it's not allowed.  I get different boxes and wording as time goes on.  I have spent days and days trying to fix this.  And I just bought two Nooks for my mom and daughter and can't put any books on them.

Thanks for any help!

Wanda

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