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Inbox deleted (TBP on DropBox)

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July 25, 2012 - 6:00am
#1
HellG
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Inbox deleted (TBP on DropBox)

I have TBPortable installed in my cloud Dropbox folder. Sometimes the inbox of an account is DELETED, and i lose all my mail. This happens not so often, but it is anyhow annoying.

When this happen, the 'Inbox' File of the corrupted profile becomes 0kb and the TB inbox folder of that profile becomes empty.

The last time i had this error has been after receiving the following error while downloading new messages:

'The folder Inbox is full, and can't hold any more messages. To make room for more messages, delete any old or unwanted mail and compact the folder.'

Then i close TB, reopen it, it downolad new messages but old ones disappear.

Further info:
- I have win 7
- The DropBox folder is far away from my storage limit, i have only TBPortable and some little files on it
- Just an hour before getting the error, i had been able to download messages from my account, which have been correctly saved on the inbox folder
- The mail account had only very few files on it. Furthermore my mail server hold messages for 14 days after been downloaded. I can read my old mails using browser to access my mail account.

Is this related to DropBox or TBP? Maybe there is some synch issue between DropBox and TBP?

Thanks and sorry for bad english
Dario

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July 25, 2012 - 7:36am
John T. Haller
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Sync First

Are you sure you're letting the Thunderbird inbox files sync before you open Thunderbird Portable? If not, it opens and locks the file as it is being synced preventing it from being fully synced and corrupts it.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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July 25, 2012 - 2:20pm
(Reply to #2)
HellG
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When TBP is open DropBox says

When TBP is open DropBox says that it is continuosly updating/syncronizing file. This state persists for some few seconds (10-15) after I close TBP.

Maybe i have close thunderbird, then after 1-2 second i reopen it and this cause crash?(befroe sync has been complete) However there is an actual copy on my HD of my dropbox folder. Dropbox updates file syncronizing from this local folder. The physical file opened by TBP is on the HD. Why there should be problem?

Further info:
I only have one pc turn on. I use dropbox because sometimes i like to bring with me my netbook and i like to have my mails. However this netbook is usally turned off, so there is no conflict in TBP files

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July 25, 2012 - 4:06pm
(Reply to #3)
ottosykora
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the secret is

1.switch off the synch of the drop box

2.open the TB from the local drive, as you have noticed, this is the only place TB can be run from, there is no run from dropbox server etc.

3. when finished using TB, switch on the dropbox again and leave it backup the files

doing that, will not break anything and all will work. I was using it for some time similar way, use wuala now instead, but it is quite similar.
Using it from the local dropbox folder while it is doing the backup, did break this and that, or more often all TB got frozen for number of minutes, just in the middle of writing something, or just want read some mail again etc.

This was all on XP, but I think on w7 the situation not different.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

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September 12, 2012 - 11:08am
(Reply to #4)
HellG
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Sorry for bumping this old

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but the bug appeared again.....

Here a detailed description:

The Operating sytem was busy and slow. I open TB to get mail, and i have seen a new message (written in bold) in the inbox. I realize by reading the subject that it was spam. So i click on the message with the left-button on the mouse and less than a second after, i press 'Canc' on my keyboard.

Since the pc was busy, maybe the message did not get immediately focus, and somewhat the 'Canc'operation has remained in queue, or it has not been applied on that message, deleting all the messages, like if it has been continuosly being pressed.

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September 13, 2012 - 7:28am
(Reply to #5)
ottosykora
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switch off sync

switch off the sync with dropbox before using the TB.
This way the local stored copy can be used and later synched with dropbox again.
When all mails sent and received, you can switch on the sync again. If you operate the TB when sync is in progress, all unpredictable things may happen. It is not only one file involved in the mail and if you modify one, you need to modify other as well but if they are permanently accessed by two things (TB and Dropbox) it is definitely bound to produce errors at some time, especial when communication and PC speed is slow.

I experienced it many times while experimenting with dropbox and other similar services. We have also internet between the two places to be synched and this is not infinite fast either.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

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