Move email to another computer after a hard drive crash
Hello Forum,
I have moved my Thunderbird email from one machine to another a few times after upgrading to new laptops, installing new hard drives etc. This time though, things are not going quite so well.....
I had a hard drive issue which meant my laptop would not boot. To be on the safe side I purchased a new H/D. Luckily I have backups of my email folders, plus, I can connect my old hard drive via USB
1, I have copied all my email folders over to the new drive. 2, Run Thunderbird, it uses the profile.ini so opens up with all my email intact. Looks perfect
Then, for some reason I can not download or send any email from the two email accounts configured. It just hangs there saying it is connected to my email server, and nothing else happens.
If I create a new profile, use that and reconfigure as if it was a new install I can get email no problem
A few details on the installation O/S is Linux Mint TB version 52.2.1 (64-bit)
Is there a log I can check to see what it's doing ?
Any tips/pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks
Chosen solution
OK, I have this issue fixed. Here is what actually happened, hopefully it may help others, a little background info first though...
Not only was my email not working, I had a VirtualBox VM that would not start as well. I had a local backup to USB (NTFS) drive. I had a network backup to a FreeNAS Server. I also had a backup to an open source backup utility call BackupPC. ( I like to have backups !!!!!)
The backup on my local USB drive was fried, in fact the whole drive may be fried. Attempting a restore from FreeNAS and BackupPC over wireless caused corruption in the files being restored. If I copied the files from FreeNAS back to my laptop via Ethernet, all is OK. My email works now and my VM runs OK. Strange eh !!!
So, if your trying to get data back from a backup, use Ethernet.
Ler a resposta no contexto 👍 0All Replies (2)
Hello.
You could open the Error Console (Ctrl+Shift+J), but I’m not sure if you will see the exact error. I do assume it’s a path error and therefor you might see them. You could also enable Logging, but that may be overkill.
Did you make sure all path settings are correct? After copying a backed up profile and hence the prefs.js file (that could also be one from another OS), it’s usually good to check all configurable path fields in the Account Settings and mail folder properties (though these seam to be OK) dialogs in Thunderbird, since they may not match the ones of the old system/disk/setup.
As you already created a new profile, you should be able to compare both prefs.js files and look for all path entries. Since the issue occurs when sending and receiving, incorrect Sent and Inbox folder locations would make sense, but the Local directory setting is also very important. I’m sure you can find them in prefs.js too.
Chosen Solution
OK, I have this issue fixed. Here is what actually happened, hopefully it may help others, a little background info first though...
Not only was my email not working, I had a VirtualBox VM that would not start as well. I had a local backup to USB (NTFS) drive. I had a network backup to a FreeNAS Server. I also had a backup to an open source backup utility call BackupPC. ( I like to have backups !!!!!)
The backup on my local USB drive was fried, in fact the whole drive may be fried. Attempting a restore from FreeNAS and BackupPC over wireless caused corruption in the files being restored. If I copied the files from FreeNAS back to my laptop via Ethernet, all is OK. My email works now and my VM runs OK. Strange eh !!!
So, if your trying to get data back from a backup, use Ethernet.