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TB Portable Lost My Folders When it Updated

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September 22, 2016 - 7:00pm
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fensterlips
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TB Portable Lost My Folders When it Updated

I think it was an update around mid August that broke my current TB Portable copy on an external HDD.
When I logged in it tried to start everything off as a full newbie - no existing profile, emails, etc.
After some research I tried starting the app with a "-profile but that didn't work.

Since this copy has all my sent mail I'd like to fix and reuse it instead of using the older backup.
How do I fix the location it points to? Can I clean up old folders in that directory without breaking it more?
I saw someone posting a comment about rebuilding folders but I didn't find that option in the file explorer.
I'm running 45.0 on the "broken" copy - which broke right after upgrade.
My backup is 38.5.0 that updated to 45.3.0
My OS is Win10 Home Premium x64 on a Lenovo x220.
I'm running the TB Portable on an external WD 1TB 2.5" drive.
I appreciate the help.

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September 22, 2016 - 7:53pm
John T. Haller
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Corruption

When this happens, it's nearly always due to corruption. Either of multiple sites on the drive itself or of Thunderbird's main settings file prefs.js. This can occur due to unsafe ejects, Thunderbird crashing, faulty USB cables or ports, etc.

I'd first scan the full drives for errors by right-clicking the drive in Windows Explorer, selecting properties, selecting the Tools tab, and clicking Check then following the prompts.

Next, check to ensure all the files and folders are still within ThunderbirdPortable\Data\profile. If they are, it could be your prefs.js that is corrupt. I'd suggest first backing up, then trying using an earlier backed up copy of prefs.js in place of the possibly corrupt one. If that's your only corruption, this will generally fix it.

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

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September 23, 2016 - 2:30pm
fensterlips
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I appreciate the help. I

I appreciate the help. I checked the drive for errors using W10 and it said there were problems. I allowed the OS to repair the drive. After an upgrade/reboot to the OS this morning, I checked the drive again and File Explorer said it was fine.
I went to the backup I've been using and copied the prefs.js file and pasted it into the profile -> profile name directory naming the current prefs.js file prefs.OLD2. I had tried this before, that is copying the prefs.js file from another location - my backup so that iteration was named prefsOLS.js

When I restarted the Thunderbird Portable app (45.0) it started as a brand new user offering my current email host (gandi.net) as a starting point. I've never seen or heard of "gandi.net". Where did this come from?
More to the point, is there something I can try next?

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September 23, 2016 - 2:38pm
(Reply to #3)
John T. Haller
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Corruption

That means that disk corruption has messed up some of your Thunderbird profile. It's possible the old prefs.js has issues as well.

gandi.net is a built in suggested mail provider, likely due to payment to Mozilla. When that shows, it means Thunderbird is starting fresh as if it has no mail accounts configured yet.

Could you try restoring both the prefs.js file to ThunderbirdPortable\Data\profile and the ThunderbirdPortableSettings.ini to ThunderbirdPortable\Data\settings from the same most recent backup? That ensures that the paths all stay in sync.

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

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September 23, 2016 - 4:11pm
fensterlips
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ThunderBird Portable ini File

I'm happy to do that but need to get a check from someone who knows first - that is you.
The Thunderbird Portable ini file in my backup only has an agree to license as "yes" and a path to the backup drive location (I:\DriveThunderbird\ThunderbirdPortable\Data\Settings)
This is the backup drive location. I looked at the ini file in the demised location and it had the license set to "yes" and that location. Actually the drive location was wrong listing a previous temporary drive Alpha name from a previous session I'm sure:
[ThunderbirdPortableSettings]
AgreedToLicense=YES
LastProfileDirectory=E:\Drive Thunderbird\ThunderbirdPortable\Data\profile

I changed the drive location in the file to the current address (E:\...)but it still came up as a new user and no current mail info.
I checked the profile directory (f6nmnah2.default) and there seems to be a lot of "stuff" there including a "Mail" directory that seems full of "stuff" too. I look at the sample " ini" files and they seem to have a lot more in them.
I find myself wishing I was smarter on this. I wouldn't even be a good scrpiter but a primer could help I suspect. I see all the files in mail and wonder how to filter, merge and delete them without totally putting the nails in the coffin.
Meanwhile I wish I could get the this working. What else can I try?

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September 30, 2016 - 5:05pm
(Reply to #5)
fensterlips
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Next Steps

Is there an app that can check the directories and files for errors? I need to try something to try and get back up to speed. If there's a diagnostic app I would like to try and run it and send you error logs - if that helps. I appreciate your help.

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September 30, 2016 - 6:11pm
(Reply to #6)
John T. Haller
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Matching

Do not worry about the contents of the ThunderbirdPortableSettings.ini and prefs.js, just be absolutely sure they are from the same backup.

The issue going forward beyond the above is your corrupt Thunderbird profile which isn't a portable-specific issue (aka nothing to do with our code) so there's not too much else I can do to assist. Corruption in a profile in Thunderbird is less catastrophic than with something like Outlook, but if you don't have a valid prefs.js (and matching TBPS.ini) to restore from, it will involve multiple manual steps which would be the same for a local install (just with ThunderbirdPortable\Data\profile being your profile directory instead of C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\????????.default)

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

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October 5, 2016 - 3:53pm
(Reply to #7)
fensterlips
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Tried a Few Things

I took my backup copy of the Drive Thunderbird directory that should be maybe a month old and created a Drive Thunderbird TEST copy on my Desktop. I then copied the Profile directory from the demised version onto it. That didn't work. I rewound that out and then copied just the default profile directory f6nmnah2.default into the TEST folder and it did work but the mail was older than I expected with nothing less than 9 months old.
So, in other words, instead of copying prefs.js I figured I would copy the mail, but I'm not sure I got everything and with the right values.
There is a "Mail" file in Profile. Might this help? I find no TBPS.ini file anywhere.

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