Lost Thunderbird & important folders when synchronising computers!

[vocalis]

Hi
I bought a new Dell PC with Windows 8.1 and wanted to transfer files from my old PC (Windows 7) to it.
I used a program called Goodsync which has a function called Goodsync Connect which connects and synchronises the 2 computers.
To my horror, at the end of the synchronisation, the files from my old PC, including the very important Pictures folder and everything in Thunderbird, had disappeared from the old PC but were nowhere to be found on the new!
I tried system restore but it doesn't restore files and documents or emails.
Can you advise please?

 

[vocalis]

I tried Recuva as advised on other posts and saved the files recovered to an external hard drive.
I get thousands of files like these in the screenshot
Is it what I am supposed to find?
How do I restore this to my PC hard drive?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Regarding Thunderbird, have you specifically looked at this location on the old PC:

C:\Users\your user name whatever it is\appdata\roaming\

It's a hidden folder.

Do you see a Thunderbird folder inside that roaming folder? That's your complete Thunderbird installation and can be copied elsewhere.

 

[vocalis]

Regarding Thunderbird, have you specifically looked at this location on the old PC:

C:\Users\your user name whatever it is\appdata\roaming\

It's a hidden folder.

Do you see a Thunderbird folder inside that roaming folder? That's your complete Thunderbird installation and can be copied elsewhere.

Thank you ignatzatsonic. I looked in that location and the Thunderbird profile folder has 2MB of content while before it was a few GB!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have no solution to your problem, but offer these comments:

I manually back up that Thunderbird folder within roaming periodically--maybe every month. I can thereby copy the backup back to the roaming folder in case of any corruption or weirdness.

I do not trust any program (Goodsync Connect or others) designed to move folders or files from an old PC to a new PC. I do that manually, using my own backups.

If your files are truly lost and are in fact NOT on the new PC, then Recuva may be your best option as it has a pretty good reputation--but I don't know how to use it properly.

 

[Callender]

Tunderbird issues

Regarding Thunderbird, have you specifically looked at this location on the old PC:

C:\Users\your user name whatever it is\appdata\roaming\

It's a hidden folder.

Do you see a Thunderbird folder inside that roaming folder? That's your complete Thunderbird installation and can be copied elsewhere.

Thank you ignatzatsonic. I looked in that location and the Thunderbird profile folder has 2MB of content while before it was a few GB!

What email domain are you using? Is it a webmail service. Sometimes just fully removing Thunderbird then rebooting/ reinstalling will allow you to download all emails on the server if you didn't delete them. Backup your current profile first. (Copy your Thunderbird Profiles folder and profiles.ini file to a folder created on your desktop)

Also check for old copies of that profile folder that you found using either:

ShadowExplorer.com - Downloads

or http://nicbedford.co.uk/files/InstallSystemRestoreExplorer.msi - direct download link. Clicking will initiate a download so don't click the link if you don't want the download.

Other than that - if you have a system image backup - mount it and copy your Thunderbird profile from there.

 

[Callender]

Recuva - Thunderbird

Some more info:

Your recovered files look as if they're beyond recovery. There should be file names - not a jumble of letters.

See this screenshot:

Recovered Thunderbird Profile files:



So you enter the file path to your profile in the filter box then recover the files that you need to another drive then copy them back into your existing profile. The problem is that Recuva doesn't restore folder structure - only files. You need to know the file names that were in your original profile.

I'd try the earlier suggestions first and if they don't work I know of some free recovery software that works at folder level.

 

[vocalis]

I have no solution to your problem, but offer these comments:

I manually back up that Thunderbird folder within roaming periodically--maybe every month. I can thereby copy the backup back to the roaming folder in case of any corruption or weirdness.

I do not trust any program (Goodsync Connect or others) designed to move folders or files from an old PC to a new PC. I do that manually, using my own backups.

If your files are truly lost and are in fact NOT on the new PC, then Recuva may be your best option as it has a pretty good reputation--but I don't know how to use it properly.

Thank you for the advice ignatzatsonic
I learned my lesson for the future!
I had become a bit slack with backups!

 

[vocalis]

Regarding Thunderbird, have you specifically looked at this location on the old PC:

C:\Users\your user name whatever it is\appdata\roaming\

It's a hidden folder.

Do you see a Thunderbird folder inside that roaming folder? That's your complete Thunderbird installation and can be copied elsewhere.

Thank you ignatzatsonic. I looked in that location and the Thunderbird profile folder has 2MB of content while before it was a few GB!

What email domain are you using? Is it a webmail service. Sometimes just fully removing Thunderbird then rebooting/ reinstalling will allow you to download all emails on the server if you didn't delete them. Backup your current profile first. (Copy your Thunderbird Profiles folder and profiles.ini file to a folder created on your desktop)

Also check for old copies of that profile folder that you found using either:

ShadowExplorer.com - Downloads

or http://nicbedford.co.uk/files/InstallSystemRestoreExplorer.msi - direct download link. Clicking will initiate a download so don't click the link if you don't want the download.

Other than that - if you have a system image backup - mount it and copy your Thunderbird profile from there.

Thank you Callender, worthwhile trying everything you suggested.
I will post un update on how I get on.

 

[vocalis]

Solved!
Luckily Goodsync saves automatically all the data to a folder called _gsdata_ which I couldn't find but have now found!
Thank you to all for the helpful advice!

 

[RolandJS]

I have used Free File Sync and/or manual-copy on both Firefox and Thunderbird successfully. It's best to not be doing other Explorer-related things while syncing and/or copying FF & Tbird info from X to Y.

 

[4wd]

About Thunderbird (+ Firefox), check out this one > MozBackup | SourceForge.net

Backup\move\restore content\settings\accounts etc to\from anything\anywhere. It's been great here :O)

 

[vocalis]

Thank you

I find this method very easy and fail-proof:

How to copy your Mozilla Thunderbird email profile to a new computer