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Cannot retrieve Thunderbird files from external hard drive.

  • 2 replies
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  • Last reply by Fengirl

Fengirl
Fengirl
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We have upgraded to Windows 7 from XP, and were unaware that we should have saved our address book and old emails in a separate folder, before backing up. As it is we backed up using a Seagate Back Up Plus, assuming that everything would be simply transferred over when we downloaded it. However, our old emails and inbox etc are not in a format that we can retrieve. Is there any way of accessing this information, or have we lost it. I did see some of the files, but they are either .json or .msc and I cannot open them.I do hope someone can help as the address list would be really useful. 

                              Thank you, Sarah
We have upgraded to Windows 7 from XP, and were unaware that we should have saved our address book and old emails in a separate folder, before backing up. As it is we backed up using a Seagate Back Up Plus, assuming that everything would be simply transferred over when we downloaded it. However, our old emails and inbox etc are not in a format that we can retrieve. Is there any way of accessing this information, or have we lost it. I did see some of the files, but they are either .json or .msc and I cannot open them.I do hope someone can help as the address list would be really useful. Thank you, Sarah

Chosen solution

Can you find a folder in the backup that looks like the profile folder? In XP it would have been in C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>. If so, the mail files and address books should be there, and can be transferred to the new profile.

This article explains how to transfer the data, e.g. copy abook.mab from the old to the new profile to restore Personal Address Book.

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sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Can you find a folder in the backup that looks like the profile folder? In XP it would have been in C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>. If so, the mail files and address books should be there, and can be transferred to the new profile.

This article explains how to transfer the data, e.g. copy abook.mab from the old to the new profile to restore Personal Address Book.

Fengirl
Fengirl Question owner
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Thank you for your help