Moving Netscape folders/files to Thunderbird or new Netscape program

Hi Everybody,
Friday I had an issue where a bunch of my info. on my computer just vanished! I managed to recover most of what I wanted including my Netscape email files. I seriously have over 100 user made folders where I stored all my important emails as receipts/useful information etc. so I REALLY need these back.
I tried to restore my original Netscape email program (Version 7.0.2.) but no matter what I did it wouldn't open.
So I thought, no problem. I will just download a copy of Netscape 7.0.2, set up a new profile and copy all my old files from the .slt file into the new profile and I will be back in business!
WRONG!
I tried that and it didn't work. I simply got a brand new inbox with none of the folders or emails I wanted to see even though I had copied my .slt folder into this new profile.
So I thought I would try with Thunderbird. Again no luck. I then spent numerous hours doing google searches (as well as on here) for "Netscape to Thunderbird" and tried everything they stated but nothing worked. I would always get a brand new looking inbox despite the fact that my old .slt folder with all my information was in the new profile! I even tried deleting EVERYTHING from the new profile and then copying EVERYTHING into the new profile and even that didn't work!
I thought that maybe my old Netscape files didn't recover but when I check the properties of the .slt folder it is 115MB and that's what I would expect it to have with all the folders and emails I have saved in it.
I am either not understanding something or I am having a unique problem. Any advice or solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, I am using Windows XP.

 

paulbh1,

Welcome to the board. Have you tried this link?

Mike

 

sorry

 

sorry, I somehow posted the same thing 3 times and can't find a delete option.

 

MinnesotaMIke I love you man! I am surprised with all of my searches I never stumbled across the link you posted. Its the only one with ALL the info. you need and it doesn't babble on about other stuff.
The BIG mistake I was making was not deleting the .msf files. Also I was simply replacing the new profile's .slt with my old one when all I should have been doing was replacing the new profile's Mail\pop.isp.net with the old one.
Just out of curiosity what are .msf files and why must they be deleted for this to work?
MinnesotaMIke for president 2012!

With MUCH appreciation,

Paul

 

hmmmm........ For some reason a few of the folders are empty that once had info. in them.....
Is that because they were not fully recovered, corrupted or are they just not being read somehow?
I check the properties and most show as having some bytes in them. A few did say 0 bytes so no mystery on those.
Thank you.

 

Hi Paul,

Glad to hear that worked, for the most part. The .msf files are Mail Summary Files. Beyond that, I do not why you need to delete them to make the process work. Sorry. As far as the empty folders, it could be that they are corrupted. I found this bit of information on the Mozillazine web site:

Corrupted folders

Its possible the folders appear empty because they're corrupted. This is much more likely if you only have one or two empty folders. Exit Thunderbird, delete the mail summary files (*.msf) for those folders and see if the problem goes away. This is the quick and dirty way to fix a corrupted folder and may not work if the folder is badly corrupted. However, it takes time for corruption to get that bad and it would usually occur first with your inbox.

Give that a shot and see if it helps. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to suggest. The Mozillazine site does have a forum that you ask questions on. You could try that and see if some of the experts there have any suggestions.

As far as President in 2012, I appreciate the vote, but I want no part of that job. The retirement benefits are nice though.

Mike

 

Thanks again Mike. I noticed that most of the Folders that got blanked out are my main folders and the sub folders are fine. That's o.k. for the most part as I didn't have much of anything in most of my main folders other than the sub folders. They mention about that corrupted files usually occur first with your inbox and yep, my inbox got deleted.
Oh well, I am still very happy that I got nearly all of my important info. back.
And whether or not you want to be president doesn't matter, I am still going to make up some buttons and t-shirts, etc!

 

Paul,

You're welcome and I'm glad that you got most of your info back.

Mike