Can I save emails onto a hard drive?

There might be a delay in some posts while they're being moderated so that may cause some confusion or things sounding a bit disjointed... :colondollar:

Reply 22

OP

Original post by UUSee98

Oops, did I forget to paste the link?!
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird :colondollar:

Ha ha you're doing fine. Send/Receive is usually a button for checking for new mail, so your button might be labelled slightly differently...

You're such a sweetheart! Yes, I found that folder but the files don't respond when you click on them. How do you make them active?

Reply 23

OP

Original post by UUSee98

There might be a delay in some posts while they're being moderated so that may cause some confusion or things sounding a bit disjointed... :colondollar:

Fret not. Alas, I don't have mod powers in this forum so I can't speed things up.

You are being very kind, I do appreciate it very much and am sorry for being a bit of an ignoramus.

Reply 24

Those folders and files are where Thunderbird stores what it downloads. Those are purely where the archives are stored and the folders and files you want to back up to either DVD or copy to a USB hard drive as a backup of backup.
They're not files you can click and view or make active, they're where Thunderbird archives what it has downloaded.
Whenever you want to view old emails, you only need to open Thunderbird, you don't need to delve into the profiles folder.

Reply 25

OP

Original post by UUSee98

Those folders and files are where Thunderbird stores what it downloads. Those are purely where the archives are stored and the folders and files you want to back up to either DVD or copy to a USB hard drive as a backup of backup.
They're not files you can click and view or make active, they're where Thunderbird archives what it has downloaded.
Whenever you want to view old emails, you only need to open Thunderbird, you don't need to delve into the profiles folder.

But it's those folders I should back up to the external hard drive?

Reply 26

Don't mention it, have done this for a living for a good while so thought to help where I can. As they say, if you don't use, you lose - that being my brain!

Reply 27

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

But it's those folders I should back up to the external hard drive?

Yes, just copy them over to an external drive but don't move them otherwise Thunderbird will be empty and you'll wonder why all the emails have vanished!
Also wait until the download has finished and also make sure Thunderbird is closed otherwise it might complain that some files are in use and cannot be copied.

Reply 28

According to that link I sent earlier, it says your profile is at:
~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/

So I would copy/backup the whole 'Thunderbird' folder that's inside ~/Library rather than grab all its subfolders. At least that way the folder structure is intact.

Reply 29

OP

Original post by UUSee98

Don't mention it, have done this for a living for a good while so thought to help where I can. As they say, if you don't use, you lose - that being my brain!

That's really great! I don't know how on earth people know these things. As far as I know, it's all operated by pixies. I suppose you might feel the same about teaching English to 14 - 18 year olds (my job), but I doubt it.

My broadband keeps dropping out as well... It's like trying to do things by flashes of lightning.

Reply 30

Ha ha, that or small hamsters in small wheels!
Funny enough, while they're not directly my 'in-laws', I use the term loosely when I say I have in-laws who are all teachers in the family! It is a very brave and admirable vocation! No such thing as weekends - usually taken up preparing classwork, marking, or otherwise! The teachers look forward to the holidays more than the kids themselves!
Good on you. Certainly get a raw deal from the 'powers' that be... That's all I'll say, another discussion for another forum! :wink:

Reply 31

OP

Original post by UUSee98

Ha ha, that or small hamsters in small wheels!
Funny enough, while they're not directly my 'in-laws', I use the term loosely when I say I have in-laws who are all teachers in the family! It is a very brave and admirable vocation! No such thing as weekends - usually taken up preparing classwork, marking, or otherwise! The teachers look forward to the holidays more than the kids themselves!
Good on you. Certainly get a raw deal from the 'powers' that be... That's all I'll say, another discussion for another forum! :wink:

Feel free to drop by the education and teaching forum and say such nice things to the new young teachers who are struggling through their training! They need the encouragement. I'm about to retire, so I need it less!

I am really happy to have been able to do this (or at least to start doing it - the folder with 7877 emails in it may take some time....) I am frightened at the thought of having screwed it up, but I seem to have got to the place where you directed me, in the end! I think I am going to use up a substantial amount of my computer disk space by doing this, but I am scared of not having them both on an external drive and the internal drive. How many copies do I really need? Thunderbird will really keep them safe, even when BT switches us off? I know it's a bit sentimental of me, but there's my family archive on there.

Reply 32

As for your broadband, there'll be two points of failure in basic terms:
The wifi connection from your Mac to the broadband box if you are using wifi at home. It can depend on how far you are from the broadband box and if you have a lot of electrical interference from appliances etc.
The second point is from your broadband box / master socket to your internet Provider. Best to keep an eye on your broadband box when the connection drops and see if the 'internet' light is dropping and reconnecting or not.

I'm guessing you've reported the poor service to BT, hence reason for migrating to Virgin?

Reply 33

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

Feel free to drop by the education and teaching forum and say such nice things to the new young teachers who are struggling through their training! They need the encouragement. I'm about to retire, so I need it less!

I am really happy to have been able to do this (or at least to start doing it - the folder with 7877 emails in it may take some time....) I am frightened at the thought of having screwed it up, but I seem to have got to the place where you directed me, in the end! I think I am going to use up a substantial amount of my computer disk space by doing this, but I am scared of not having them both on an external drive and the internal drive. How many copies do I really need? Thunderbird will really keep them safe, even when BT switches us off? I know it's a bit sentimental of me, but there's my family archive on there.

Absolutely, teachers and NHS staff!

Well you've done all the hard work and the fact that it's downloading everything means you've configured Thunderbird spot on first time!
Emails alone are fairly small, the main things are large attachements so hard to quantify exactly until it has finished downloading. I don't know how big the internal disk size is in a Mac? Does it show you disk space remaining in Mac?

Does it show a percentage or progress bar with time remaining on the email download?

Even if for some reason it stops or fails, you have ticked 'leave message on server' so you can stop the download at any point and continue any time or another day. You don't have to complete it all tonight if you don't want to.

Reply 34

OP

Original post by UUSee98

As for your broadband, there'll be two points of failure in basic terms:
The wifi connection from your Mac to the broadband box if you are using wifi at home. It can depend on how far you are from the broadband box and if you have a lot of electrical interference from appliances etc.
The second point is from your broadband box / master socket to your internet Provider. Best to keep an eye on your broadband box when the connection drops and see if the 'internet' light is dropping and reconnecting or not.

I'm guessing you've reported the poor service to BT, hence reason for migrating to Virgin?

Didn't even bother reporting it in the end. The customer support pages have told us it's a country wide thing due to old infrastructure and there's no point in complaining as it won't get better. Virgin offered a massively improved package for the same price and the hope that it won't be worse. The broadband light goes on and off like twinkling fairy lights. The location and interference thing hasn't changed in more than ten years - nothing new has got in the way or been moved around. I like to think it's mouldering old phone lines crumbling away that causes it, but then, I don't understand why electricity doesn't dribble out of sockets. We've been with BT for 30 years (I said I was old, didn't I?) and their level of service has just dropped and dropped and dropped to the point of being insulting, so we decided to give Virgin a go. Their upbeat, jolly, pseudo-personal emails are a bit of a nuisance, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt for a bit.

Reply 35

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

Feel free to drop by the education and teaching forum and say such nice things to the new young teachers who are struggling through their training! They need the encouragement. I'm about to retire, so I need it less!

If I told all the new teachers they've signed away all their weekends, that might put them off! :wink:

Reply 36

OP

Original post by UUSee98

Absolutely, teachers and NHS staff!

Well you've done all the hard work and the fact that it's downloading everything means you've configured Thunderbird spot on first time!
Emails alone are fairly small, the main things are large attachements so hard to quantify exactly until it has finished downloading. I don't know how big the internal disk size is in a Mac? Does it show you disk space remaining in Mac?

Does it show a percentage or progress bar with time remaining on the email download?

Even if for some reason it stops or fails, you have ticked 'leave message on server' so you can stop the download at any point and continue any time or another day. You don't have to complete it all tonight if you don't want to.

250G in total, 43GB left now - It seemed to gobble up about 10GB just for the 1200 emails from the kids. Shows a progress bar in Thunderbird, but it's more of a pretty blue decoration than a useful indication of anything. I have a 1TB external hard drive to use, though.

Definitely not going to attempt it all tonight. The 7877 email folder can wait until we have Richard Branson's shiny new broadband tomorrow. It'll be a test.

Reply 37

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

Didn't even bother reporting it in the end. The customer support pages have told us it's a country wide thing due to old infrastructure and there's no point in complaining as it won't get better. Virgin offered a massively improved package for the same price and the hope that it won't be worse. The broadband light goes on and off like twinkling fairy lights. The location and interference thing hasn't changed in more than ten years - nothing new has got in the way or been moved around. I like to think it's mouldering old phone lines crumbling away that causes it, but then, I don't understand why electricity doesn't dribble out of sockets. We've been with BT for 30 years (I said I was old, didn't I?) and their level of service has just dropped and dropped and dropped to the point of being insulting, so we decided to give Virgin a go. Their upbeat, jolly, pseudo-personal emails are a bit of a nuisance, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt for a bit.

It's a shame you've had to put up with it for so long, if they can't provide a stable service, they should have at least provided some recompense, clearly it's not fit for purpose.
I find that people don't realise there's a broadband ombudsman so do tend to persevere. The ombudsman is called CISAS if anyone needs to know!

An engineer would have been able to check line quality / signal to noise ratio on the line so any faulty cabling should have been detected and remedied. Does your landline sound clear when you're on the phone?

I guess with broadband performance / reliability being geographical, it's always going to vary.

Reply 38

OP

Original post by UUSee98

It's a shame you've had to put up with it for so long, if they can't provide a stable service, they should have at least provided some recompense, clearly it's not fit for purpose.
I find that people don't realise there's a broadband ombudsman so do tend to persevere. The ombudsman is called CISAS if anyone needs to know!

An engineer would have been able to check line quality / signal to noise ratio on the line so any faulty cabling should have been detected and remedied. Does your landline sound clear when you're on the phone?

I guess with broadband performance / reliability being geographical, it's always going to vary.

I didn't know that, but will make a note of it in case Virgin fails us! The landline is fine, although it's had its moments in the past. BT just haven't wanted to know about recompensing us. We are still fighting them over the £30 they want to charge us for stopping giving us the internet. Spouse is a pretty tenacious force to be reckoned with, so they won't get away easily, but as they have been overcharging us for years, we are about £70 in credit, which they will just help themselves to, I don't doubt.

Reply 39