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Splitting the Thunderbird database?
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Robert Miles
Sep 7, 2013, 12:44:50 PM9/7/13
to
I seem to be running into the database size limits of
Thunderbird. Is there a way I can install a second
copy of Thunderbird so that it does not share the same
database that the first copy uses?
On one of my computers, this second copy would need to
keep its database on a drive other than the C: drive.
Is there any problem with doing this?
Thunderbird. Is there a way I can install a second
copy of Thunderbird so that it does not share the same
database that the first copy uses?
On one of my computers, this second copy would need to
keep its database on a drive other than the C: drive.
Is there any problem with doing this?
Peter Holsberg
Sep 7, 2013, 1:06:39 PM9/7/13
to support-t...@lists.mozilla.org
Which database?
I have my entire profile on a different drive.
Robert Miles has written on 9/7/2013 12:44 PM:
I have my entire profile on a different drive.
Robert Miles has written on 9/7/2013 12:44 PM:
Mike Easter
Sep 7, 2013, 1:07:00 PM9/7/13
to
Robert Miles wrote:
> I seem to be running into the database size limits of
> Thunderbird.
Most people solve any kind of database limitations of a mail program by
> I seem to be running into the database size limits of
> Thunderbird.
managing the structure of their storage folder-files.
They break apart what would otherwise be too-large files.
This article has a discussion of Tb limits of folders and messages
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Limits_-_Thunderbird#Folders_and_messages
The discussion addresses influences on the 4G mbox file considerations
as well as the depths of folder hierarchies.
--
Mike Easter
Wayne
Sep 7, 2013, 1:53:10 PM9/7/13
to
On 9/7/2013 12:44 PM, Robert Miles wrote:
> I seem to be running into the database size limits of
> Thunderbird. Is there a way I can install a second
> copy of Thunderbird so that it does not share the same
> database that the first copy uses?
You can do two instances via two profiles. But if you intended to have
> I seem to be running into the database size limits of
> Thunderbird. Is there a way I can install a second
> copy of Thunderbird so that it does not share the same
> database that the first copy uses?
bohh running at the same time it may well be confusing. If it were not
confusing I might have done it long ago, for reasons other than database
size
> On one of my computers, this second copy would need to
> keep its database on a drive other than the C: drive.
> Is there any problem with doing this?
rather than your perceived solution, so that we develop a more informed
solution.
Was Greywolf
Sep 7, 2013, 11:43:42 PM9/7/13
to
--
Best,
Wolf K.
Robert Miles
Sep 15, 2013, 9:30:32 PM9/15/13
to
set of all profiles - I can't tell which.
Robert Miles
Sep 15, 2013, 10:13:34 PM9/15/13
to
newsgroups, and seldom more than 40,000 posts per folder, since
selecting all the posts in a folder gets very slow (hours, if not days)
if the folder contains more than about 40,000 posts.
I'm seeing signs that I may need to disagree with something in that
article - the part about no limit on the number of folders. My
observations indicate that there is a number of folders above which
emptying deleted folders folders from Trash gets very slow - enough
that shutting down Thunderbird, then restarting it with the folders
emptied from Trash, is actually faster than waiting for the Trash
to be emptied normally. The number of odd problems increases as the
number of folders (counting all levels of the folder hierarchy)
increases. For example, many folder suddenly lose their message
counts, and with an even higher number of folders, some folder
start suddenly losing their contents. The number of folders at
which this occurs is too many to count - probably a few thousand.
My last two newsreaders (Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail) had
enough problems with a 4G limit on file size that I'm now watching
for very large files, and trying to avoid them unless they are used
only by programs running in 64-bit mode.
One of my computers (64-bit Windows Vista) is showing problems that
appear to be related mainly to the number of Tb folders. It's not
yet showing problems with the total numbers of files, even though
it now has about 7,300,000 files, mostly news posts, but not all of them
imported into Tb yet so that I not find and delete any duplicates.
Deleting duplicate message is currently enough to keep enough free
space on the C: drive.
The other computer (64-bit Windows 7) appears to be running low on
free space on the C: partition (which is on an SSD drive and therefore
fast but not especially large). It also has two nearly empty hard
drives that I could move the Tb files onto if I had more information
on how to do that. It's currently running a very long program that
will lose months of its work if interrupted to install anything that
requires other programs to be shut down during the installation.
It's also in use for most of my daily Tb use (on a different CPU
core).
Robert Miles
Sep 15, 2013, 10:16:36 PM9/15/13
to
need more of a description, say more about what to add.
Ken Whiton
Sep 16, 2013, 4:12:39 AM9/16/13
to
*-* On Sun, 15 Sep 2013, at 21:13:34 -0500,
*-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
*-* Robert Miles wrote
*-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
[ ... ]
> The other computer (64-bit Windows 7) appears to be running low on
> free space on the C: partition (which is on an SSD drive and
> therefore fast but not especially large). It also has two nearly
> empty hard drives that I could move the Tb files onto if I had more
> information on how to do that.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
> It's currently running a very long
> program that will lose months of its work if interrupted to install
> anything that requires other programs to be shut down during the
> installation. It's also in use for most of my daily Tb use (on a
> different CPU core).
Ken Whiton
--
FIDO: 1:132/152
InterNet: kenw...@surfglobal.net.INVAL (remove the obvious to reply)
*-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
*-* Robert Miles wrote
*-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
[ ... ]
> The other computer (64-bit Windows 7) appears to be running low on
> free space on the C: partition (which is on an SSD drive and
> therefore fast but not especially large). It also has two nearly
> empty hard drives that I could move the Tb files onto if I had more
> information on how to do that.
> It's currently running a very long
> program that will lose months of its work if interrupted to install
> anything that requires other programs to be shut down during the
> installation. It's also in use for most of my daily Tb use (on a
> different CPU core).
--
FIDO: 1:132/152
InterNet: kenw...@surfglobal.net.INVAL (remove the obvious to reply)
Wayne
Sep 20, 2013, 5:04:44 AM9/20/13
to
On 9/15/2013 10:13 PM, Robert Miles wrote:
> I'm seeing signs that I may need to disagree with something in that
> article - the part about no limit on the number of folders. My
> observations indicate that there is a number of folders above which
> emptying deleted folders folders from Trash gets very slow - enough
> that shutting down Thunderbird, then restarting it with the folders
> emptied from Trash, is actually faster than waiting for the Trash
> to be emptied normally.
That would be a problem, perhaps a bug, a limitation if you must. But
> I'm seeing signs that I may need to disagree with something in that
> article - the part about no limit on the number of folders. My
> observations indicate that there is a number of folders above which
> emptying deleted folders folders from Trash gets very slow - enough
> that shutting down Thunderbird, then restarting it with the folders
> emptied from Trash, is actually faster than waiting for the Trash
> to be emptied normally.
not a "limit".
> The number of odd problems increases as the
> number of folders (counting all levels of the folder hierarchy)
> increases. For example, many folder suddenly lose their message
> counts, and with an even higher number of folders, some folder
> start suddenly losing their contents. The number of folders at
> which this occurs is too many to count - probably a few thousand.
Another thing to consider, does this reproduce with Thunderbird in safe
mode? (or minimal addon)?
> My last two newsreaders (Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail) had
> enough problems with a 4G limit on file size that I'm now watching
> for very large files, and trying to avoid them unless they are used
> only by programs running in 64-bit mode.
Wayne
Sep 20, 2013, 5:44:19 AM9/20/13
to
On 9/20/2013 5:04 AM, Wayne wrote:
> On 9/15/2013 10:13 PM, Robert Miles wrote:
>> I'm seeing signs that I may need to disagree with something in that
>> article - the part about no limit on the number of folders. My
>> observations indicate that there is a number of folders above which
>> emptying deleted folders folders from Trash gets very slow - enough
>> that shutting down Thunderbird, then restarting it with the folders
>> emptied from Trash, is actually faster than waiting for the Trash
>> to be emptied normally.
>
> That would be a problem, perhaps a bug, a limitation if you must. But
> not a "limit".
"A limitation if you must" doesn't convey very well what I meant. An
> On 9/15/2013 10:13 PM, Robert Miles wrote:
>> I'm seeing signs that I may need to disagree with something in that
>> article - the part about no limit on the number of folders. My
>> observations indicate that there is a number of folders above which
>> emptying deleted folders folders from Trash gets very slow - enough
>> that shutting down Thunderbird, then restarting it with the folders
>> emptied from Trash, is actually faster than waiting for the Trash
>> to be emptied normally.
>
> That would be a problem, perhaps a bug, a limitation if you must. But
> not a "limit".
inconvience of poor response time is closer.
Robert Miles
Sep 30, 2013, 5:14:46 PM9/30/13
to
On Monday, September 16, 2013 3:12:39 AM UTC-5, Ken Whiton wrote:
> *-* On Sun, 15 Sep 2013, at 21:13:34 -0500,
> *-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
> *-* Robert Miles wrote
> *-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
[snip]
> *-* On Sun, 15 Sep 2013, at 21:13:34 -0500,
> *-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
> *-* Robert Miles wrote
> *-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
> > The other computer (64-bit Windows 7) appears to be running low on
> > free space on the C: partition (which is on an SSD drive and
> > therefore fast but not especially large). It also has two nearly
> > empty hard drives that I could move the Tb files onto if I had more
> > information on how to do that.
>
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
[snip}
> > free space on the C: partition (which is on an SSD drive and
> > therefore fast but not especially large). It also has two nearly
> > empty hard drives that I could move the Tb files onto if I had more
> > information on how to do that.
>
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
> Ken Whiton
I tried that link (using Firefox) and got this error message:
ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved
While trying to retrieve the URL: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
The following error was encountered:
Connection Failed
The system returned:
(110) Connection timed out
The remote host or network may be down. Please try the request again.
Your cache administrator is root.
Generated Mon, 30 Sep 2013 21:09:32 GMT by sunrise-squid.mz.osuosl.org (squid/2.5.STABLE11)
Robert Miles
Sep 30, 2013, 5:20:51 PM9/30/13
to
Robert Miles
Sep 30, 2013, 5:55:18 PM9/30/13
to
On Monday, September 16, 2013 3:12:39 AM UTC-5, Ken Whiton wrote:
> *-* On Sun, 15 Sep 2013, at 21:13:34 -0500,
> *-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
> *-* Robert Miles wrote
> *-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
[snip]
> *-* In Article <6KydnYNVIZDJ9KvP...@mozilla.org>,
> *-* Robert Miles wrote
> *-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
I created another profile today. This made the new profile the
default profile. The other profile does not seem to be deleted,
only hidden.
How can I make the old profile the default, and create a way to
start with the new profile only when I want to?
This should NOT involve logging on as a different user, since that
would interrupt the very long program and make it lose what it has
done in the last 2620 hours.
Torsten Villnow
Oct 1, 2013, 3:17:35 AM10/1/13
to
Am 30.09.2013 23:55, schrieb Robert Miles:
> I created another profile today. This made the new profile the
> default profile. The other profile does not seem to be deleted,
> only hidden.
>
> How can I make the old profile the default, and create a way to
> start with the new profile only when I want to?
Thunderbird can be started with a profile manager like this:
> I created another profile today. This made the new profile the
> default profile. The other profile does not seem to be deleted,
> only hidden.
>
> How can I make the old profile the default, and create a way to
> start with the new profile only when I want to?
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p
Similarly you can start Thunderbird directly with a selected profile:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p default
The name of the profile needs to match the name in profiles.ini:
[Profile0]
Name=default
Using this approach you could create program shortcuts to start
Thunderbird with the desired profile.
--
Torsten Villnow
Robert Miles
Nov 20, 2013, 9:30:32 PM11/20/13
to
commands.
They both started the released Thunderbird rather than the Earlybird
I normally use. Changing "Mozilla Thunderbird" to "Earlybird" made
it reach the correct program.
The shortcut creation method does not allow entering anything after
the program file name. I tried creating a batch file with Notepad;
it created a text file with a .txt extension, and I did not find a
way to rename it to a .bat extension.
Where is profiles.ini? I could not find it. A Start and putting
its name in the Search programs and files box found a few news
messages mentioning it, but not the file itself.
In the profile creation step, where do I enter the drive that the
profile is located on? It appears to assume that the files for
all profiles are located on either the C: drive or whatever drive
Earlybird or Thunderbird was installed on - I can't tell which;
they are the same drive for me.
I found the link:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
It gives somewhat different instructions for creating an additional
profile, but also requires adding something after the program
name in the shortcut, and also requires finding profiles.ini and
editing it. Also, it appears to be written for an older version
of Windows that offers run instead of Command Prompt.
Peter Holsberg
Nov 21, 2013, 5:10:59 PM11/21/13
to support-t...@lists.mozilla.org
Robert Miles has written on 11/20/2013 9:30 PM:
Now you can type arguments in the "Target" window.
> On 10/1/2013 2:17 AM, Torsten Villnow wrote:
>> Am 30.09.2013 23:55, schrieb Robert Miles:
>>> I created another profile today. This made the new profile the
>>> default profile. The other profile does not seem to be deleted,
>>> only hidden.
>>>
>>> How can I make the old profile the default, and create a way to
>>> start with the new profile only when I want to?
>>
>> Thunderbird can be started with a profile manager like this:
>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p
>>
>> Similarly you can start Thunderbird directly with a selected profile:
>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p default
>>
>> The name of the profile needs to match the name in profiles.ini:
>> [Profile0]
>> Name=default
>>
>> Using this approach you could create program shortcuts to start
>> Thunderbird with the desired profile.
>
>> Am 30.09.2013 23:55, schrieb Robert Miles:
>>> I created another profile today. This made the new profile the
>>> default profile. The other profile does not seem to be deleted,
>>> only hidden.
>>>
>>> How can I make the old profile the default, and create a way to
>>> start with the new profile only when I want to?
>>
>> Thunderbird can be started with a profile manager like this:
>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p
>>
>> Similarly you can start Thunderbird directly with a selected profile:
>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -p default
>>
>> The name of the profile needs to match the name in profiles.ini:
>> [Profile0]
>> Name=default
>>
>> Using this approach you could create program shortcuts to start
>> Thunderbird with the desired profile.
>
> They both started the released Thunderbird rather than the Earlybird
> I normally use. Changing "Mozilla Thunderbird" to "Earlybird" made
> it reach the correct program.
>
> The shortcut creation method does not allow entering anything after
> the program file name.
After creating a Win 7 shortcut, right-click it and select Properties.
> I normally use. Changing "Mozilla Thunderbird" to "Earlybird" made
> it reach the correct program.
>
> The shortcut creation method does not allow entering anything after
> the program file name.
Now you can type arguments in the "Target" window.
Robert Miles
Nov 22, 2013, 1:36:08 AM11/22/13
to
Today, I tried the instructions at:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_mail_storage_location_-_Thunderbird
They allowed finding the profiles.ini file, after I noticed that
Win 7 was not showing the .ini part of the file name. It has
DOS ends-of-lines, rather than the UNIX type many of the other
Thunderbird files use, so Notepad could edit it without changing
the ends-of-lines first.
The profiles.ini editing didn't go quite right - when I started
Earlybird, it used the old copy of the profile, rather than the
new copy. I'll try your method tomorrow.
Robert Miles
Nov 22, 2013, 11:33:54 PM11/22/13
to
right profile. Today's my birthday, so thanks for the birthday
present.
Ken Whiton
Nov 24, 2013, 4:13:33 AM11/24/13
to
*-* On Wed, 20 Nov 2013, at 20:30:32 -0600,
*-* In Article <pbGdnYyBEqLX7RDP...@mozilla.org>,
[ ... ]
> The shortcut creation method does not allow entering anything after
> the program file name.
Peter Holsberg addressed that for you.
> I tried creating a batch file with Notepad;
> it created a text file with a .txt extension, and I did not find a
> way to rename it to a .bat extension.
I note that you're using Windows Vista. In Windows Explorer (AKA
Computer (or My Computer in earlier versions of Windows)) right-click
on the file and select "Rename" from the menu.
*-* In Article <pbGdnYyBEqLX7RDP...@mozilla.org>,
*-* Robert Miles wrote
*-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/26.0
*-* About Re: Splitting the Thunderbird database?
[ ... ]
> The shortcut creation method does not allow entering anything after
> the program file name.
> I tried creating a batch file with Notepad;
> it created a text file with a .txt extension, and I did not find a
> way to rename it to a .bat extension.
Computer (or My Computer in earlier versions of Windows)) right-click
on the file and select "Rename" from the menu.
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