Hi all,
I have recently discovered Portable Apps, like the idea and would like to switch as much of my software usage to this suite as well as other portable programs, to give me more flexibility while commuting and travelling.
While taking a look Portable Thunderbird 1.5, I found the behavior described below, which to me looks like a feature (?) / problem of the PTB launcher.
Has anybody encountered this as well and found a solution ?
Did I do something wrong, if so, what do I need to change ?
Your help would be most welcome ...
Thanks
Christian
============================
SETUP
- Win98SE on ancient 200 MHz-PC (but works fine for me and my needs ;-))
- Portable Apps from "portable_apps_suite_1.0_beta.zip"
- PTB in local folder on PC-HD
- PTB on USB stick (a copy of local PTB apps and data dir), mounted (e.g.) as N:
- Mail in folder "Thunderbird Mail" on OTF-encrypted local scramdisk (i.e. on PC-HD, not USB-stick yet), mounted (always) as Z:
GOAL
- To have identical PTB and data on PC and USB-stick
- Secure mail (and other data) on encrypted disk volume
(Dekart Private Disk Light 1.22 likely to replace Scramdisk for this on USB stick, since it seems to be the only program available that runs under Win98, WinXP and from USB and that does not require admin privileges. If you do not know Scramdisk, think precursor of TrueCrypt. ;-))
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
- Local copy: PTB started via "PortableThunderbird.exe" correctly shows my mails and "Z:\Thunderbird Mail" as the local directory (tools -> account settings -> local folders).
- Copy on USB stick: PTB started via "PortableThunderbird.exe" shows no mails and "N:\Z:\Thunderbird Mail" as the local directory. (Since this does not exist, small wonder no mails are shown.) This local directory cannot be changed (e.g. by "browse" and picking "Z:\Thunderbird Mail"), it insists on "N:\[actual partition and path picked]".
Can PTB in this form use a local file on the same partition only ?
- Copy on USB stick: PTB started via "Apps\PortableThunderbird\thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" (i.e. w/o the launcher, if I understand this correctly) correctly shows mails and "Z:\Thunderbird Mail" as the local directory to use.
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It's made to be run off a single drive.
And I would highly suggest the newer Thunderbird Portable. The pieces of the old Suite Beta 1 are very old now and quite buggy. A new suite is coming soon, though.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
John,
thanks for your fast reply.
Just to make certain I fully understand the consequences, please allow me to ask two more questions:
1. TBP (new version that I am going to extract from the soon to be released new suite version) also expects the mail-file on the same drive ? I.e. there is no chance for my scheme (TBP on USB-stick with varying mountpoint / drive letter, mailfile on an encrypted drive, that is always mounted as "Z:\Thunderbird Mail") to work ?
2. How does the launcher realize when it is on a local HD rather than a removable stick ? I wonder why the local HD-copy of PTB was able to link to my virtual "Z:\"-drive, but not the one on USB stick.
Thanks
Christian
The launcher is designed to run from a single drive. Always has been. That's as clear as I can get.
If you were somehow able to get it to work with a virtual Z drive, it was a fluke and should not have worked.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Allow me to get in this topic:
I am planning to run TBP from a PrivateDisk encrypted volume in my DataTraveler. I will make all the TBP files and folders private, included in a large encrypted file that mounts as a drive (I think drive letter is fixed though).
Will this work? Isn't it the same as launching it from the public partition of the pen drive (E: in some Pcs and I: in another) ??
I will look forward to your answers before I deploy this settings.
Thanks! Sergio
As long as all of TBP (exe and data files) is on the same drive letter, you're fine. Public/private, real/virtual, encrypted/not... it's all good. Just be sure it's all on the same drive.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I'll give it a try in this week.
Thanks a lot for your reply John!
Regards,