Backing up to prevent e-mail loss from a Thunderbird upgrade (from v3 to v34!)

EddieC · 3 Jan 2015, 05:03 AM

A friend is using his Fastmail on an very old version of Thunderbird (v3) because he never did updates since '08! And I have offered to help him (I also use Fastmail.)
Now TB is on v34, the upgrade from 3 to 34 is not going to be considered as an update and so will require v34 to be downloaded and installed seperately (i.e. not an update.)
He has nearly 1 GB of mail in his e-mail account (from checking his webmail) and I am worried that if in the process, that it all goes wrong, that all of his e-mail will be lost.
To backup the mail up prior to doing his operation, I could download all of his e-mail to my client (Maill.app - OS X) and then disable this account, and then perform the upgrade on his machine.
If this works out, I won’t want the backed up e-mail on my machine and so would be tempted to deleting the account sometime after the operation. Would this then delete his e-mails on his server? I think it would.
The safer way would be to install TB on my machine (for the sake of having a separate client) and download the e-mails. However, if I uninstalled this TB install from my machine in the near future, would this have the effect of deleting the e-mails (ie does a client uninstall equate to a deletion of an account?)
He is operating on an IMAP basis.
Or is there an easier way of backing up e-mail in TB 3?
Thank you.
Ed

Adrian Bell · 3 Jan 2015, 06:03 AM

Uninstalling Thunderbird will not usually remove the profile (I think you may be asked to chose). The new version should then pick up the existing profile:-
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Upgrading_%28Thunderbird%29

However doing a backup as well can't hurt, instructions can be found here:-
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

If it is IMAP though, the email will still be on the server anyway, unless you do something foolish like deleting it.

As for advice on going from version 3 to 34 with the same profile, you may be better off asking if it will work without problems at the Mozillazine Forums:-
http://forums.mozillazine.org/index.php

FredOnline · 3 Jan 2015, 06:15 AM

Don't use a Mac so can't offer any advice.

For Windows, I would recommend to back up:
MailStore Home

I would also suggest installing Thunderbird Portable on a USB flash drive, and see how that works.

3 Jan 2015, 05:03 AM	#1
EddieC Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 21	Backing up to prevent e-mail loss from a Thunderbird upgrade (from v3 to v34!) A friend is using his Fastmail on an very old version of Thunderbird (v3) because he never did updates since '08! And I have offered to help him (I also use Fastmail.) Now TB is on v34, the upgrade from 3 to 34 is not going to be considered as an update and so will require v34 to be downloaded and installed seperately (i.e. not an update.) He has nearly 1 GB of mail in his e-mail account (from checking his webmail) and I am worried that if in the process, that it all goes wrong, that all of his e-mail will be lost. To backup the mail up prior to doing his operation, I could download all of his e-mail to my client (Maill.app - OS X) and then disable this account, and then perform the upgrade on his machine. If this works out, I won’t want the backed up e-mail on my machine and so would be tempted to deleting the account sometime after the operation. Would this then delete his e-mails on his server? I think it would. The safer way would be to install TB on my machine (for the sake of having a separate client) and download the e-mails. However, if I uninstalled this TB install from my machine in the near future, would this have the effect of deleting the e-mails (ie does a client uninstall equate to a deletion of an account?) He is operating on an IMAP basis. Or is there an easier way of backing up e-mail in TB 3? Thank you. Ed

3 Jan 2015, 06:03 AM	#2
Adrian Bell Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Darlington, UK Posts: 938	Uninstalling Thunderbird will not usually remove the profile (I think you may be asked to chose). The new version should then pick up the existing profile:- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Upgrading_%28Thunderbird%29 However doing a backup as well can't hurt, instructions can be found here:- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup If it is IMAP though, the email will still be on the server anyway, unless you do something foolish like deleting it. As for advice on going from version 3 to 34 with the same profile, you may be better off asking if it will work without problems at the Mozillazine Forums:- http://forums.mozillazine.org/index.php

3 Jan 2015, 06:15 AM	#3
FredOnline The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 2,616	Don't use a Mac so can't offer any advice. For Windows, I would recommend to back up: MailStore Home I would also suggest installing Thunderbird Portable on a USB flash drive, and see how that works.