Will a backup profile work if it was copied while Thunderbird was still open?
My old Macbook is broken and I tried recovering emails to a new Macbook with a backed up profile. I tried several methods but haven't had success. It just occurred to me though that the back up was made when Thunderbird was still open. Could this be the cause of why I cannot retrieve my emails in the new laptop?
I have tried restoring using the profile manager as explained in the support page but it doesn't work. Can somebody please help me how I can retrieve all my old emails?
Thanks in advance.
All Replies (7)
I have tried restoring using the profile manager as explained in the support page but it doesn't work.
What support page? Please provide a link.
Please explain in detail the steps you did.
I referred to this page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb#w_restoring-to-a-different-location I also checked these links: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/diy-it-guy/diy-back-up-and-migrate-a-thunderbird-profile-and-folders/#postComments http://college.wfu.edu/itg/richard-king/2014/08/19/easy-transfer-of-thunderbird-to-new-computer/
I've done this before on my previous laptop so I'm not sure why its not working this time. I'm actually thinking it's more of a back up failure problem, some of the icons have turned black with exec on them. I read elsewhere that these could be damaged so I am worried. Thanks for your help!
I've done this before
Again, please explain in detail the steps you did.
I can't reply to your Mac-specific issues. But to go back to your question in the title, yes, you can use a profile copied when Thunderbird was open.
The copied profile will have a lock file in it which you need to remove via your file manager. All the time this file is present, Thunderbird will report it is already running or busy.
christ1 said
I've done this beforeAgain, please explain in detail the steps you did.
It was 2 or 3 years ago so I can't quite remember the exact steps unfortunately. All I remember is I copied the backed up profile folder into the new laptop's profile folder. I vaguely remember opening the profile manager but not how and what I did. Sorry.
Zenos said
I can't reply to your Mac-specific issues. But to go back to your question in the title, yes, you can use a profile copied when Thunderbird was open. The copied profile will have a lock file in it which you need to remove via your file manager. All the time this file is present, Thunderbird will report it is already running or busy. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use
Thanks Zenos, will give it a try.
It was 2 or 3 years ago so I can't quite remember the exact steps unfortunately.
It doesn't matter what you did 2 or 3 years ago. The question was what exact steps you did this time.