Prepping for migration

[Smithee]

After much difficulty I was able to load Mandriva onto one of my PC's using the DVD (CD version doesn't work on some PC's)

Now comes the migration assessment, but again I've run into problems.

 

I'm migrating from a W2K PC running Thunderbird and Outlook express. Both applications have email stored in a root folder for backup convenience. Software versions are in all cases the latest version. Outlook express is used for incoming mail, Tbird for outgoing.

 

The procedure as described is to migrate as follows. 1) Import all mail from OE to Tbird. 2) Copy Tbird profile to Mandriva PC. 3) Change relevant file names and start Tbird.

 

Problem I'm having is that after Importing mail to Tbird; OE email is visible but the profile file size (abcdefg.default) doesn't change significantly.

This seems to indicate Thunderbird is storing the imported Outlook express files somewhere other than the ".default" profile.

 

Various tests changing .default files prove I'm working on the correct .default file, but in all cases the imported Outlook express files remain visible in each profile I use, even though all other account details change, including stored email.

 

Backup programmes can't be used because they won't run in Mandriva. How on earth am I supposed to migrate?

 

There's no manual I can find to explain this.

 

 

[moved from Installing Mandriva by spinynorman]

[ianw1974]

Open Thunderbird, and in the account settings you should be able to see where Thunderbird is storing the emails. Double-check that this is the same folder/directory that you're expecting the emails to be saved to.

[Smithee]

That was checked first.

As mentioned I'm working on the correct .config file and can easily switch between previously backed up Tbird accounts by changing the profiles.ini file.

[ianw1974]

All my email gets stored under ./thunderbird/nnnnn.default/Mail/Local Folders so in terms of a backup of Thunderbird, you only need the whole Thunderbird profile folder. When you copy it from Windows to Linux, just put it in the .thunderbird folder so that it looks similar to mine. Then, when you start Thunderbird, you'll have access to all your email.

 

That's how I've done it before. I made sure that .thunderbird didn't exist before I made it, else you have problems with duplicate profiles, and then it won't work how it should do. Then, I made .thunderbird and copied the nnnn.default directory into it, and then ran Thunderbird. It recognised everything first time.