Got my hard drive back! Now, how to export Thunderbird email profile to installed HD?

[jory29]

You guys won't believe this; last week my hard drive gave up the ghost after a video card install; it appeared the NTSF system became corrupted somehow, and nothing would read the files, and I couldn't boot up to windows. I ended up buying a hard drive and installing Windows XP OS and started from scratch. I had been working off and on for hours upon hours to retrieve my data from that corrupted drive, using a restore program. My computer would see the usb drive enclosure that held my former hard drive, but it did not see it as an NTSF,[it stated the drive was corrupt, as well. Properties showed it to be 100% free of data] so I had no access to a folder type menu. Yesterday when I turned on the hard drive using a USB enclosure, windows started up, and said it needed to run a scan. I allowed it to, and presto!! Hard drive now fixed. {Do I trust it though? NOPE. I am making a Ghost image file now. Live and learn! }

ANYWAY... I can't for the life of me export my former profile [email account, settings, email, address book, etc.] to the new hard drive. I have googled it and found the instructions to do so, but it doesn't seem to be working. I am thinking I am missing something when I have to edit the .ini file. I know how to edit it, am just not sure I am directing it to the right path. I have googled all that I can, but can't find the info. I need.

Does anyone know of a way I can get my saved emails, etc. from old hard drive onto the new one? It should be a piece of cake - but is not.

Thanks!!

[canook]

The standard location for the thunderbird profiles is
Documents and Settings\EF\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles

The easiest way to do it is to create a new thunderbird profile and then copy the contents of the old profile file (not the directory, the files inside it) into the new profile directory you created.

As long as you restore your local files to the same directory structure your profile is expecting you should see everything just as it was.

Hope this helps!

[jory29]

The standard location for the thunderbird profiles is
Documents and Settings\EF\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles

The easiest way to do it is to create a new thunderbird profile and then copy the contents of the old profile file (not the directory, the files inside it) into the new profile directory you created.

As long as you restore your local files to the same directory structure your profile is expecting you should see everything just as it was.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply! I think I did actually try that method - but perhaps didn't yet have my new profile. Should I set up my email accounts to create a new profile? Shall I rename the new profile? {By default it states 'profile.'} Thanks, if you can help. I am running Norton Ghost on that pc now, so will have to try that later... I'll let you know if it works. Thanks.

[canook]

Thanks for your reply! I think I did actually try that method - but perhaps didn't yet have my new profile. Should I set up my email accounts to create a new profile? Shall I rename the new profile? {By default it states 'profile.'} Thanks, if you can help. I am running Norton Ghost on that pc now, so will have to try that later... I'll let you know if it works. Thanks.

Just set up a dummy account, you'll overwrite everything anyway. Your old profile contains all the account information. If you want to clear out the data and start fresh on the new computer you can always just delete the contents of the Application Data\Thunderbird folder.

The other (maybe simpler?) option, now that I look at it, is to copy the entire Thunderbird directory out of the old computer's Application Data folder, which includes the profiles.ini directing it to the correct profile.

If you didn't make any changes to the default folder locations then your profile folder may also contain your e-mails. Regardless, you can check your account settings once you've brought in the old profile to see where it's looking for local folders and copy over whatever is necessary.

[jory29]

Thanks for your check back on this thread. Norton Ghost is still being a pain in the butt- 2 more hours to create the ghost image, but I'll try it as soon as I can, and report back to this thread. Thank You!

[Gee]

Why Ghost an unreliable drive?

If the data is suspect, do you expect Ghost to correct it?

Back it up now and then Ghost the backup.

[jory29]

Why Ghost an unreliable drive?

If the data is suspect, do you expect Ghost to correct it?

Back it up now and then Ghost the backup.

Phew, you scared me, man... I let it finish running as there was only a bit left, and I had previously backed up a lot of data [not in folder style, though.] In my mind, the 'fix' [scan hard disk check] fixed the bad NTSF files, and allowed the drive to be 'seen' again as an NTSF drive, so I felt it was o.k. to make a ghost image file of it. I would never again use that as a main drive, but would like to place it on a hard drive on the main pc at some point. I'm going to keep the corrupted/fixed hard drive as is now, [encased in a USB device hard enclosure] but I do have a ghost image that I think is reliable, in the event that it fails me again. If this isn't right, someone, please correct me. Also: if I want to try to copy the entire drive to my main hard drive on my pc that is not partitioned, can I just click on copy and paste, for the entire 107 GB hard drive, or should I use a cloning tool? I tried using Ghost to clone, but when it told me Ghost might overwrite something, etc., I got freaked out and didn't choose that option. Perhaps I should choose restore the ghost image, and then select a folder on the main hard drive? I just don't know if I messed up when I formatted the new hard drive... I didn't partition it, and used an NTFS format. It states I: drive for the main drive, but that hasn't posed a problem yet. {Did I do anything wrong?}

Now... to try to fix my Thunderbird.

[jory29]

Wh00T! Canook! Wh00t! Canook! THANK YOU for your help with Thunderbird; somewhere during my working to get it back, it worked, thanks to your help! I ended up having to edit the profile, etc., but you gave me some great ideas to play around with, so it all worked out. I'm back to emails since Nov. 05. Time to back it up... I will be doing this on a regular basis now.

Now... to consider if it is worth cluttering up my bookmarks in Mozilla by restoring them, etc. LOL!

Thanks again. Thanks, also, Gee, for your concern, and help.