I'd Like To Restore Emails From A Dead Computer

LindyM

New Email
I've done a little searching here and been unable to find a specific answer to my need, so I'll ask:

The motherboard on my old computer died. I've replaced that computer with a laptop and pulled the hard drive from the old computer to use as an external hard drive. For now, I'm just trying to restore files that I need from the old computer.

At this point, I'm trying to restore my emails, addresses and settings from Thunderbird, but I'm having trouble finding the location of those files in the hard drive when it's simply connected through USB to my laptop. I'm sure it's in some Profiles folder somewhere, but I'm not finding it.

Any advice?


Thanks.

Lindy
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Hi Lindy,

What version of Windows was running on the old computer?

There is a lot of good information here about migrating a Thunderbird profile to a new computer :

http://www.emailquestions.com/mozil...a-thunderbird-email-profile-new-computer.html

As of this post that discussion has two pages, be sure to check both pages of information!

If you still have a problem finding the old profile let us know what version of windows it was and we'll be happy to help.

:welcome: to Email Questions!
 

LindyM

New Email
Thanks for the response, but this isn't the information I'm seeking. The new laptop is running Windows 7. The old computer isn't running at all.

I've removed the internal hard drive from the old computer installed it into an enclosure that allows me to hook it up to the new laptop via USB. The hard drive shows up, but there are several places where the Thunderbird profiles and email data could be. I don't know which place I should use.

So scenario is different from the two pages that were posted. I saw those before posing my question, and the reason I'm posting is that the other thread didn't address this specific situation, one in which the old version of Thunderbird is on a hard drive but not on a working computer.

If I find the old data, can I simply copy-and-paste it into the profile that was created when I installed Thunderbird on the laptop? Or do I need to use the Profile manager? Or is there some other method not related to what has been posted here so far? I'm resisting using Thunderbird on the laptop until this has been resolved.


Again, thanks.

Lindy
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
I've removed the internal hard drive from the old computer installed it into an enclosure that allows me to hook it up to the new laptop via USB. The hard drive shows up, but there are several places where the Thunderbird profiles and email data could be. I don't know which place I should use.
Hi Lindy,

This is why I'm asking what version of windows was on the old computer. I realize that the old computer is dead and you only have the drive, but the locations of the Thunderbird profile information are different depending on the version of Windows that was on the old computer. If you let us know what version of Windows the old computer had we should be able to help you find and migrate the information from the old drive onto the new computer.

:thanks:
 

LindyM

New Email
Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea that the system structure had been altered so much for Windows 7.

The old computer was also running Windows 7. I can't say much more about it, since there's no way to actually look at it any more. When it was purchased, it was running XP, and we upgraded the system about a year before it died.

Thanks for being patient with me.


Lindy
 

LindyM

New Email
I did see it, and I thought it might be better to start it up as a continuation of the previous thread there. I think we're headed in the right direction, but I'll need some time to get back to it. Obviously, I'll report back when I get a chance to look at it again. (This is not a problem that stopping me from functioning in my "real life." It's just an annoyance.)

Thanks, again. And Happy New Year.
 
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