Saving Netscape 7 Profile To a Different HD Using Real-Mode DOS Commands Only

My computer is (was) running WinME. It now gives an RPCSS error when I try to boot into windows in both normal and safe mode and after the error, it will not finish loading windows. I can access things by using a Dell Resource Disk to boot into DOS, though.

Since I know I have to reinstall the O/S anyway, I want to do a little upgrading in the process, so I'm planning to replace the hard drive with a bigger one and install WinXP Pro. But that's the future.

Right now I'm just concerned with getting my data off the existing disk. Presently, I have most of my data backed up but not my email (doh!).

I would like to copy my Netscape mailbox and address book over to my other hard drive (D drive) on the same computer. But I'm having trouble doing so (I've been at this all evening for 3 evenings now).

I know where to find my profile on the C drive (the 'salted' .slt file/directory), but I'm having difficulty with my DOS commands and can't copy all the contents over to my D drive. I've tried using 'XCOPY <source> <destination> /s' but my computer returns a nice "unknown command" reply. After many repetative trials, I think I can honestly conclude that the command XCOPY doesn't work on my system.

That pretty much leaves me with the COPY command. The COPY command works just fine (COPY <source> <destination> ), but using that command copies only the files in a directory and not subdirectories within in (or at least I can't figure out how to make it do so).

I thought well fine, that I'd go through and copy the files in each subdirectory separately. That'll take a while, but it'll at least get the job done. But I ran into immediate problems when I tried copying the files in the MAIL subdirectory. They're mostly all COM files and the COPY command won't copy them over. In DOS, the COM files look like directories, but don't behave like directories. I can't list the contents. So maybe this approach wasn't the best after all.

So now I'm really stuck. Does anybody know how I can copy my netscape profile from my C to my D drive using DOS? I really don't want to lose my mail....

 

SeaJay,

Sorry, but my DOS expertise is very limited, but a friend gave me this xcopy command to use in backing up my Profile everyday, in addition to deleting the Cache folder, history.dat file, and XUL.mfl file:

Code:

:: NS7.bat

::***********************************************************
::* For this batch file to function properly, ALL Netscape  *
::* files MUST be closed. Including AIM                     *
::***********************************************************

deltree /y C:\WINDOWS\applic~1\mozilla\profiles\ramona\123456ab.slt\Cache
deltree /y C:\WINDOWS\applic~1\mozilla\profiles\ramona\123456ab.slt\history.dat
deltree /y C:\WINDOWS\applic~1\mozilla\profiles\ramona\123456ab.slt\XUL.mfl

xcopy  "c:\windows\applic~1\mozilla\profiles" C:\BU7\ /s /q /h /e

NOTE: This only works with Windows 98/98SE/ME, and doesn't work with Windows XP.

Command Line Switches used:
/s
Copies directories and subdirectories, unless they are empty. If you omit this switch, xcopy works within a single directory.

/q = Suppresses display of xcopy messages.

/h = Copies files with the hidden and system file attributes. Xcopy will not copy hidden or system files by default.

/e = Copies all subdirectories, even if they are empty. Used with the /s and /t switches.

See this page for the source: http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/xcopy.html

As you can see I back up my Profiles folder to the C:\BU7 folder. I thought perhaps you could substitute that information with the location of Netscape on the D:\ drive? As I said, I am not a DOS geek!

You didn't say what Version of Netscape you're using. If it's Netscape 7.2, then you can copy the entire Profiles folder to Drive D:\. That folder is located here: C:\WINDOWS\Applications Data\Mozilla\Profiles
(you know that, but in the event others don't...)

See this guideline for a very simple copy/paste: http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/movesameprofsameOS.html

Let us know if 7.2 isn't your Netscape Version...

 

Thanks for responding, Ramona I'm trying to dredge up the DOS I learned way back when in high school, so I am really finding it tough to remember things.

Yes I'm using Netscape 7.2.

I actually solved this problem last night (finally!). So maybe all my teeth-gnashing will help somebody else who runs into a similar problem.

I tried using XCOPY to copy the contents of an entire directory before, in the format your batchfile indicates, but my computer does not recognize the command at all. So I couldn't simply copy the entire PROFILES directory in one go.

Instead, I had to use the COPY command only and copy the files from one subdirectory at a time (slooooow). Although the .com files look like directories in DOS, I treated them as files - binary files, actually.

On my C drive I had 6 sequential "pop-x" COM files, one file that looked something like "12700~1.1 ", a directory that was called something like local~1, and another COM file called "postof~1.com ". And I think there was a .net file, but I don't remember its name. It behaved the same as the COM files, though.

I went into my D drive and created this directory structure:
D:\From_C\windows\applications\Mozilla\profiles\myname\123456.slt\mail

Yes it was long and complicated, but it will help me remember where to replace the files when I install the new O/S on my C drive.

I created 6 subdirectories underneath the mail subdirectory: I named them
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and postoffice. Those are for the 6 COM files and the postof~1 COM file. (I used the make directory command, MD, i.e., MD 1)

I then went back into my C drive, and back into the MAIL subdirectory. I executed the following command:

copy /b pop-1.com d:\From_C\windows\applications\Mozilla\profiles\myname\123456.slt\mail\1

That caused a set of inbox, inbox.msf, sent, drafts, etc. files to copy over to the sub-directory on the D drive that I called '1'.

I repeated the same command for the other 5 pop-x files, and the postof~1.com. Based on the dates and the contents, I think the other files were from back when I imported my Netscape 4.x files into Netscape 7.0. I copied them along with the rest, but will probably never use them.

For the Local~1 directory, I created a subdirectory on the D drive under the MAIL subdirectory called LOCAL and executed the following command inside the LOCAL~1.1 subdirectory on the C drive:

copy *.* d:\From_C\windows\applications\Mozilla\profiles\myname\123456.slt\mail\Local

All the files within the Local~1 subdirectory on the C drive copied over to the LOCAL subdirectory on the D drive.

So everything has been moved. I'm going to flash the BIOS and replace the C drive this weekend and install WinXP. Hopefully my recovered mail files can then be copied over to the new drive in this folder: C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\12345.slt\Mail

 

SeaJay,

Glad to hear that you finally copied everything you needed. Wow, sure sounds complicated, but then you DOS geeks like to do all that complicated stuff!

One thing to remember, and that is you definitely do not want to copy your MSF files. Netscape will create new, clean, header files.

BTW, welcome to the Forum!