Ramifications of deleting my profile in TB 2

I am using TB 2.0.0.23 (20090812)

I have it setup to IMAP to both of my domains, prodiscgolfer.com and lifetimediscsports.com. It had been working smoothly for at least a year or so now.

One day a few months ago I noticed some extra folders appear that were under a second 'inbox' folder. I believe it was around that time that I also started seeing this error message appear every time I opened TB (Cannot create data for one folder, check the write permissions of the user profile folder).

I didn't think much of it and lived with it all for the past few months.

However, a few days ago I saw that there was TB3. I downloaded it, used it, didn't like how it worked and then deleted it and tried to go back to TB2. Long story short - something is wrong. I learned about profiles and such today but all the playing around didn't get me back to where I was a few months ago.

My question really is ... can I delete my entire profile folder on my PC and start completely from scratch? I certainly can get everything up and running again with my domains but I need to be assured that completely deleting those profile folders won't hurt me or my thousands upon thousands of IMAP'ed e-mails.

Thanks!

 

I don't know if you are using the word delete in earnest, or you are using the uninstall function to remove a program. If you uninstalled TB3, you should have had no problem installing 2.x, which would pick up your profile. I, just, don't get it. Did you have TB2 and 3 installed at the same time, or did you update 2 to 3, or installed 3 on top of 2.
I have both 2 and 3, installed in different folders, and I use different profiles for each.
I, also, don't understand this:

. If you delete the folders, the contents are gone. Plain and simple.
Do you know where the profile is located on your hard drive? It depends on your operating system, which you do not mention. But, can you delete the extra folders? If you find them, of course. Do you know how to create a new profile? I don't know much about IMAP accounts, but I have at least one (AOL).
Mind that there is no Inbox file in IMAP folders. Only inbox.msf, i.e. the header file. The header files can be deleted, from the hard drive, with Thunderbird closed, and, presumably rebuilt, and fix all problems.