Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

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gensuki
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Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by gensuki »

We have an old computer with a 1.10GHz processor and 384MB RAM. We want to migrate the email to our new computer to be delivered next week. My strategy was to install Thunderbird on the old computer and migrate the email to it. When I get the new computer, I would also install Thunderbird and somehow get the email from the old computer to the new one.

Big snag: the Thunderbird system requirements say it needs twice as much memory as I have on my old PC. Is this just for performance reasons? Will it work well enough for me just to migrate the email?

Smaller issue: assuming I successfully migrate my email to Thunderbird, how to get my Thunderbird email from the old PC onto the new PC with Thunderbird?

Thanking you in advance for any advice.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by DanRaisch »

There's not need to install Thunderbird on the old machine. The message files from your Netscape 7.2 installation should be usable in Thunderbird. See this article, substituting the location of your old Netscape profile for any references to the source Thunderbird profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_ ... hunderbird
For a concise, less detailed version of the process, see this thread --
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1421375&p=7251375#p7251375
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Daifne
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by Daifne »

Moving to Thunderbird Support
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tanstaafl
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by tanstaafl »

There are a number of ways to do it.

Personally, I'd install 2.0.0.24 on the old PC, have it migrate/import the Netscape profile, back up the Thunderbird profile using Mozbackup, copy the *.pcv file it creates to the new PC, and then restore it using Mozbackup. Thunderbird 3.1.* will automatically run a migration wizard that basically lets you enable new features that 2.0.0.24 doesn't know about.

That is a little more work since you could just use Mozbackup to backup the *.pcv file, restore it on the new PC, and have 3.1.5 migrate the Netscape profile. However, there are some advantages to having a working 2.0.0.24 on the old PC if you run into problems on the new PC getting 3.1.5 to login and fetch your mail etc.

You might also consider sticking with 2.0.0.24 on your new PC, if you like what you see when you run it on the old PC. While its reached end of life it was only released in March, is still widely used, uses far less resources, and (if you use common sense) will still be safe to use for years despite no security updates being available. Its culturally much closer to what you're used to in Netscape. You could always upgrade later on.
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couldabeen
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by couldabeen »

@gensuki
I agree with tanstaafl's statements big time. It would be far better to get used to 2.0.0.24 version of Thunderbird before trying to go to the 3.1.x version right away.
As far as how to get your emails from one machine to another. here is another suggestion.
Go to http://www.gmx.com and set up a new email account on the web site. GMX has a 'storage' option that will let you 'store' the contents of the Netscape Mail folder without having to install a TB, or without having to use a backup program.
This will allow you to retrieve them from the GMX site after your new machine is up and running, and you know everything works as it should. Personally, I would make two copies and save them off there under different names just to have a backup.

EDIT: I forgot to add, GMX is free.
Free Your Mind, And Your A$$ Will Follow - Funkadelic, 1970
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tanstaafl
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by tanstaafl »

http://help.gmx.com/storage/?si=7xikB.1paVsG.1noQVZ.1P*
http://help.gmx.com/storage/overview/qu ... CzrJu.O***

Its 1GB of file storage, separate from the 5GB mailbox. You press a "multi-loader" button in webmail to upload files. It uses either ActiveX or Java depending upon your browser. It imposes the following limits:

Download transfer volume = 1 GB per month
Upload transfer volume = 2 GB per month

If your profile is over 512MB I'd be hesitant to use it as intermediate storage because you don't want to run the risk that it might hold your data hostage for a month. It seems most suitable for small profiles.
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couldabeen
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Re: Need help migrating Netscape 7.2 email to new computer

Post by couldabeen »

Good point.
I don't remember how big my old Netscape profiles ever got, but I have Four Firefox profiles, and 2 Thunderbird profiles. They all add up to less than 300MB.
If the OP stores only the mail portion of the NS7.2 profile, I an't imagine it going above that 512MB mentioned. But then again, if a user keeps emails forever(I can't imagine why), it may well be well over the 1GB GMX offers for storage.
Free Your Mind, And Your A$$ Will Follow - Funkadelic, 1970
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