Data recovery from Windows 7 to Windows 11.

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The Motherboard on my Windows 7 gave up, however the SSD that it was on is still working properly.
I have seen it on an alternative Windows 7 computer.
I specifically wish to recover the the Bookmarks that is on the Mozilla Firefox browser, and also all of my emails on Mozilla Thunderbird.
I would be most grateful, if someone can please tell me how this can be done?

Later:

Good news, I have been able to rescue my Mozilla Firefox bookmarks and Thunderbird emails.
However this has been done in a different fashion.

Initially I could see all my emails in their correct corresponding folders, but then for some reason they have all now been grouped in the following folders:
Inbox (23795)
Sent Mail (1031)
All Mail (23796)
Important (9027)

And it was the same for my bookmarks.
The entire profile was copied I believe, I did not do it, but to copy all the individuals folders would have taken forever.

Initially it came out alright, but then all reverted to this new format – see attached.
Can’t attach it, how do I do this please?

I don’t know what went on here.
Is there a way to transfer them back in their original settings please?

The account is a POP 3 account.
The original C Drive SSD is now in my new PC, I can access it.

Two other points, I composed and saved a lot of unsent Drafts, they are nowhere to be seen of what have been transferred into my new Thunderbid account (same detaills).
When I have taken the original SSD, and put it into a Windows 7 laptop, my Thunderbird account in its original format can be seen.

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Disclaimer: I am by no means a Mozilla ‘expert’, nor even ‘knowedgeable’ about their products.  I been using both Firefox and Thunderbird for about 10 years, maybe more.  I’ve learned everything about them by trial and error (and backup and restore).  So, before following any of my recommendations, MAKE A BACKUP!

 

If you haven’t overwritten the former Win 7 C: drive, you should be able to copy from that drive to your new C: drive and get everything back ‘the way it was’…hopefully.  I keep ‘well backed up’ and have had to recover both Firefox and Thunderbird a couple of times.

For Thunderbird, the first thing is to bring up the ‘new’  and ‘old’ Thunderbird folders ‘side by side’ on your screen.  In particular, bring up C:/users/<your ID>/apdata/roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles and the same folder on the ‘old’ Win 7 C: drive.  Be specifically aware of the <gobbledegook>.default-release folder name.  If you installed Thunderbird ‘fresh’ in Win 10, the <gobbledegook> part of the folder name will be different.  THAT is your problem!  Simply copying the one <gobbledegook>.default-release folder from the old drive to the new will bring everything ‘over’, but is 99% of the fix.  Note that there’s hundreds, if not thousands of files in there.  You should now have two <gobbledegook> profile folders.  I’m guessing that somewhere, buried in each, is references to the <gobbledegook>.  So merely copying the full contents of one profile folder to the old to the new won’t fully work.

The ‘trick’ is to make Thunderbird look at your ‘old’ profile folder (now on the C: drive) rather than the ‘new’ one when it starts up.  ‘Back up’ one directory level to the Thunderbird folder.  There’s a profiles.ini file that contains the full name of the profile, eg, <gobbledegook>.default-release that Thunderbird uses to know what to use.  There’s one or more references to profiles/<gobbledegook>.default-release in there. I had 3 in mine.  Open the file with Notepad and edit and save the <gobbledegook> with the new (win 7 version) folder name.  That SHOULD do it and get everything back into their proper folders.

However…one of the Thunderbird options is to always synchronize with your email on the ISP server.  That way, using Firefox from anywhere, you can log on to your ISP and read/write/delete email as you choose.  I’m not sure whether the ‘new’ ‘super folder’ Win 10 ISP version was modified to the 4 folder names you indicated.  It may have.  Hopefully – and that’s hopefully – getting the folders back the way they should be by the prior procedure will get the ISP server to ‘match it’.

The same procedure should work with Firefox as well, but using: C:/users/<your ID>/apdata/roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles folder instead.

 

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Hi, and thank you for your reply.

I would like to fill you in on some further details.
My new operating system is Windows 11, not 10 does that in itself make any difference please?

I have found the old original Windows 7 Thunderbird profile – svcy31pp.default, this is the only one.

Two points now, is it best to try and overwrite, or in fact to delete the original faulty transfers, and start a fresh?

Moving on, in my new Windows 11 Thunderbird profiles, there are already three, and the same with Firefox!
Could this in itself be a problem?

I would like to send you screen shots and attachments

[Moderator edit] Removed request for DM. Do not use or request DM on this forum.

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Screenshots can be added by saving as PNG and attaching via the “Select File” button below left.

Do not add other files unless requested. If you need to post messages, do it via a screenshot or paste the text.

cheers, Paul

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bratkinson wrote:

Disclaimer: I am by no means a Mozilla ‘expert’, nor even ‘knowedgeable’ about their products.  I been using both Firefox and Thunderbird for about 10 years, maybe more.  I’ve learned everything about them by trial and error (and backup and restore).  So, before following any of my recommendations, MAKE A BACKUP!

 

If you haven’t overwritten the former Win 7 C: drive, you should be able to copy from that drive to your new C: drive and get everything back ‘the way it was’…hopefully.  I keep ‘well backed up’ and have had to recover both Firefox and Thunderbird a couple of times.

For Thunderbird, the first thing is to bring up the ‘new’  and ‘old’ Thunderbird folders ‘side by side’ on your screen.  In particular, bring up C:/users/<your ID>/apdata/roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles and the same folder on the ‘old’ Win 7 C: drive.  Be specifically aware of the <gobbledegook>.default-release folder name.  If you installed Thunderbird ‘fresh’ in Win 10, the <gobbledegook> part of the folder name will be different.  THAT is your problem!  Simply copying the one <gobbledegook>.default-release folder from the old drive to the new will bring everything ‘over’, but is 99% of the fix.  Note that there’s hundreds, if not thousands of files in there.  You should now have two <gobbledegook> profile folders.  I’m guessing that somewhere, buried in each, is references to the <gobbledegook>.  So merely copying the full contents of one profile folder to the old to the new won’t fully work.

The ‘trick’ is to make Thunderbird look at your ‘old’ profile folder (now on the C: drive) rather than the ‘new’ one when it starts up.  ‘Back up’ one directory level to the Thunderbird folder.  There’s a profiles.ini file that contains the full name of the profile, eg, <gobbledegook>.default-release that Thunderbird uses to know what to use.  There’s one or more references to profiles/<gobbledegook>.default-release in there. I had 3 in mine.  Open the file with Notepad and edit and save the <gobbledegook> with the new (win 7 version) folder name.  That SHOULD do it and get everything back into their proper folders.

However…one of the Thunderbird options is to always synchronize with your email on the ISP server.  That way, using Firefox from anywhere, you can log on to your ISP and read/write/delete email as you choose.  I’m not sure whether the ‘new’ ‘super folder’ Win 10 ISP version was modified to the 4 folder names you indicated.  It may have.  Hopefully – and that’s hopefully – getting the folders back the way they should be by the prior procedure will get the ISP server to ‘match it’.

The same procedure should work with Firefox as well, but using: C:/users/<your ID>/apdata/roaming/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles folder instead.

 

I would like to update you with what I have done since you posted this:

Purchased an old second hand laptop, re-inserted my old “C” drive undamaged SSD, I can see all of my data as before – phew.

Tried to install a fresh new copy of Thunderbird on my Windows 10 PC, and failed.
Yellow warning sign: Unable to login in at server. Probably wrong configuration,username or password.
I want to try and see if I can succeed on 10, before I start attempting anything on my Windows 11 machine.
Question: Can I go ahead with Setup documentation under these circumstances?
And if so how do I do it?

On my Windows 10 PC, the password that I am entering for my Gmail account, Google is accepting it.
On my Windows 11 PC, under Passwords oauth account is high lighted.
Sometimes two copies of the same emails are down loading.

So I want to transfer my Thunderbird data that is on my laptop, to my Windows 11 PC.

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Please stick to one thread for your Thunderbird issue.
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/cannot-set-up-an-existing-account/

cheers, Paul

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