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Thread ID: 103576	2009-09-28 19:40:00	Thunderbird data store problem	Tony (4941)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
814835	2009-09-28 19:40:00	My technologically-challenged friend has managed to lose all her emails. It is not clear exactly what she did, but the result is that she has nothing in any of her Thunderbird folders - inbox, deleted, - nothing. I'm not a Thunderbird user, so I've not been able to give a lot of help. If you look at the actual files on disk, there are various files name "inbox" etc, which are of a considerable size, so I suspect the data is still there - it is just a matter of recovering it. I tried the "Rebuild Index" button, but that didn't appear to do anything. Of course she has no backups. I looked at the Thunderbird help, but couldn't find anything there that seemed relevant. I checked the prefs.js file, and that seems OK - as far as I can tell. Any one who can help?	Tony (4941)
814836	2009-09-28 22:09:00	Maybe try import the relevant files in another email program? (backup the files first). Or perhaps a email tool to try receive messages (like a POP3 checker), or contact the provider (ISP)...	kahawai chaser (3545)
814837	2009-09-28 22:13:00	Before doing anything else - take a full copy of everything in the default user folder. It will be big so make sure there's enough spare space (8GB flash drive?). Do not change any of those originals. Have a look online at Thunderbird support and forum for solutions. You may be able to set up a new user and import from those files. Then you can examine the copy without risk to the original. You should see structure similar to this: Bert Bert.msf Accounts Account.msf If you open the files Bert, Accounts etc with a text reader you will see that the messages are there along with headers, html, etc. At least worst case scenario you can extract the messages from that.	coldot (6847)
814838	2009-09-29 00:50:00	But wait there's more.... assuming something is recovered or a new user set up then get MozBackup which can backup either user profile only or everything. Even if only done once a week it would save all that heartache of lost emails.	coldot (6847)
814839	2009-09-29 00:59:00	Before doing anything drastic, check that there aren't two sets of folders, one with and one without. Set a friend up with TB a couple of days ago and a day later he rang saying his email had gone. I had imported his OE emails into TB and TB had put them into a folder called Gmail. But there is also a 'Local Folders' folder which was empty and this was what he was looking at. Worth a check.	linw (53)
814840	2009-09-29 03:24:00	Before doing anything drastic, check that there aren't two sets of folders, one with and one without. That's ringing a bit of a bell. There seemed to be more than one folder when I checked her stuff. I'll have another look. How do I get Thunderbird to look at a different folder?	Tony (4941)
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