From: John H Meyers on
On 4/12/2010 4:33 PM, C A Upsdell wrote:

> What you missed, I think, is that I am migrating from Eudora 5,
> an old, old program, not Eudora 7.

The user "data" has never changed, and very likely even the v5 programs
would work, but you could better just use the 7.1 programs with your data,
which adds the fact of successful experience of quite a few users,
no need to even wonder about v5 -- in fact, v5 is incapable
of handling many servers using XP ("old, old," as you just noted yourself),
so why keep holding on to it?

You know how to back up everything before trying, so what can you lose?

You can even give v7 a shot on XP to "preview" it.

A link previously supplied leads to migration info
which has also been successfully used for XP -> W7

If you need any more help, there's Ajo, whom I believe
has E7 on W7/64, talking from direct experience,
and apparently standing by to assist, while I go golfing :)

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From: John H Meyers on
On 4/12/2010 1:49 PM, C A wrote:

> It is really *not* so simple. MozBackup does not even *list* E8
> as a program whose profile it will save.

I made no mention of MozBackup, although some link in my entire post may have.

If you were to copy the single directory below,
complete with all its subfolders, from one computer to another,
and if no account storage was being directed (by account path settings)
anywhere else, then I believe all would be transplanted without further issue.

I believe that we have done all our own TB transfers this way,
for people whose computers are replaced.

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird

On systems later than XP, opening the symbol %APPDATA%
via "Run" (Windowskey+R) should open the equivalent of
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
under which the main "Thunderbird" data folder may be found or copied.

If by any chance the target of a newly installed E8 w/o TB
is named anything else, then I'm sure you will find it anyway,
as it can't stray far within your own Windows profile.

There is just one single TB/E8 folder to copy, complete,
much the same as is the case for classic Eudora's "Data" folder.

The file "profiles.ini" within that main folder
identifies one or more subfolders,
usually found under the lower level "Profiles" folder,
which technically are the actual "profile(s)"
as defined by the TB/E8 "Profile Manager,"
but it's obviously slightly simpler
to transplant the entire top-level "Thunderbird" folder complete,
if no "merging" with older profiles is required,
which usually accomplishes what one wants, in a single stroke.

It would be fairly obvious how to transplant
individual separate profiles that are all under the "Profiles" folder,
in more complex "multiple profile" cases in which you could use
the TB/E8 "Profile Manager" to manage alternate profiles.

To go just one step further, you can actually put a TB profile
anywhere you want, and indicate its location on a command line,
again quite similarly to what you can do with classic Eudora,
except that just one more word is required in the command line
(within a program-launching shortcut), e.g.:

"C:\......\Eudora.exe" -profile "D:\......"

Note that this is only for the "Eudora 8" (or TB) ".exe"
("-profile" is not used with "classic" eudora.exe)

See (applies both to Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, as well as E8):
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Command_line_arguments
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder

I'm afraid that it _is_ really simple (and flexible),
as well as being profusely documented in supporting TB literature,
which you certainly now know where to find.

I have confidence that anyone who can independently design, install
and maintain complete web sites can even do this simpler thing,
which will soon become familiar, thus no longer a daunting proposition.

--
From: John H Meyers on
On 4/12/2010 5:32 PM, I wrote:

> If by any chance the target of a newly installed E8 w/o TB
> is named anything else, then I'm sure you will find it anyway,
> as it can't stray far within your own Windows profile.

Keep the paths identical (%APPDATA%\Thunderbird),
which will probably be the case anyway,
just in case any of these paths is in the settings (.js files)

The "user-friendly renaming" of some of the
Windows profile path names between XP and Vista/W7
should be automatically accommodated via the pre-existence
of "junction points" which make old and new versions of the paths
be functionally equivalent anyway.

--
From: C A Upsdell on
On 2010-04-12 18:32, John H Meyers wrote:
> On 4/12/2010 1:49 PM, C A wrote:
>
>> It is really *not* so simple. MozBackup does not even *list* E8
>> as a program whose profile it will save.
>
> I made no mention of MozBackup, although some link in my entire post may
> have.

I think I mentioned MozBackup as something which Google found which
*might* help.

Anyway, I tried something I said earlier I would try, and it worked.
What I did was:

1. Install TB and E8 on the first PC.

2. With E8 import what it can from E5, and configure E8 as desired.

3. Use MozBackup to save the TB profile on the first PC.

4. Install TB and E8 on the second PC.

5. Use MozBackup to restore the TB profile on the second PC.

6. Delete TB on both PCs unless such synchronization will be needed later.

7. Use E8 on the second PC.

Of course this would be *much* easier if only MozBackup would recognize
E8, because then TB could be dispensed with.





From: John H Meyers on
On 4/12/2010 7:48 PM, C A wrote:

> [contorted sequence of operations snipped]
>
> Of course this would be *much* easier if only MozBackup would recognize E8,
> because then TB could be dispensed with.

As I posted earlier, the simple transfer of a single directory
(whether by zipping, by direct transfer via a cable, via USB drive, or whatever)
is all that is required. All additional contortions are unnecessary.

There is no need to use MozBackup, and there is no reason for MozBackup
to have any knowledge of "Eudora 8," because its author evidently decided
to look for installed applications having only Mozilla's normal names
("Eudora 8" is not a Mozilla product, even though it utilizes the same profiles).

Many an independent author, and even many a major vendor,
takes a rather narrow view of the possible needs of users,
and ends up helpless to handle any slightly different
or unanticipated situation.

For example, you may have a backup of an Outlook PST file,
containing all your backed up Outlook mail from an older computer,
but if you haven't purchased Microsoft Office or Outlook for your current computer,
and don't have Outlook installed, many a different email program,
having declared itself capable of importing Outlook email,
will lead you only to a menu of currently installed email programs,
in which Outlook will of course not appear,
and will then be utterly unable to start importing from your saved PST file.

Even "classic" Eudora begins this way in its first "Import" menu,
but thoughtful developers added an "Advanced" button,
which leads you to a place where you can then identify
any externally backed up files, even for applications
that you have not [re]installed on your current computer.

The author of MozBackup was not equally thoughtful.
So what? There is no need to use MozBackup,
and your difficulties stem only from your insistence
on trying to use it anyway, ignoring our own easier way,
which was also discernible from various Mozillazine articles,
even if our own suggestions were ignored.

Even in the worst case, simply installing Thunderbird
(perhaps before "Eudora 8") would suffice to pacify all other applications.
There would be no need to configure Thunderbird, nor to ever even launch Thunderbird.
One could merely delete any "shortcuts" to Thunderbird,
if one desires to effectively prevent any inadvertent launching;
it would not really be necessary to delete Thunderbird
(who knows -- overcoming some E8 bugs or quirks
might most easily be done by simply using TB now and then, whenever E8 acts up :)

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