Backup only local folders?
I would like create a back up of my local folders (26 years of emails) in the cloud. Reading questions posted here, the recommendation is to backup the complete 'Profiles' folder. However, when I try and do so, I am not successful because at some point the backup process glitches out. (I am trying to upload the folder to a Microsoft OneDrive folder and have tried on both my PC running Windows 7 Pro and a Macbook running OS Monterey.) I suspect that my internet connection is not stable enough to copy 30 GB (about the size of the 'Profiles' folder). Is there any alternative to backing up the complete 'Profiles' folder?
Chosen solution
If you're trying to upload a 30GB profile, it's probably going to be constrained by the daily upload limit imposed by the cloud provider. I would suggest uploading folders one at a time: Help/More Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder (Show in Finder on Mac). Close TB and open the Mail/Local Folders subfolder. Each mail folder is represented by an mbox file, a file with no extension and named after the folder, e.g. Archive2021. Look also in sbd (subdirectory folders) for mbox files and upload them as needed to stay within upload quotas. Restoring an mbox is just a matter of copying it into Mail/Local Folders on any TB profile.
You might also consider simply copying the entire Mail/Local Folders to a USB flash drive (~ $5 for a 32GB drive).
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (7)
Do the messages appear when viewed in the original 1997-2002 folder before the Sent History folder was created? If they do, select all (Ctrl+A) the messages, then Ctrl+S to save them as eml files outside of TB. If that's successful, try adding one eml to a subfolder of Local Folders by drag and drop from Explorer to the subfolder.
The error suggests you're short of disk space.
Queenmab100 said
I did as you suggested by creating a subfolder of Sent History named 1997-2002 and then tried to move all the emails (about 9400 of them!) from the original folder to that folder. I get the attached message. After doing as directed in the error message, I tried again and got the same message. I tried to move just one email from the original folder to the new subfolder. Although I did not get an error message, there's nothing in the new subfolder. Any ideas?
Just noticed this item in the release notes for TB 109b1:
Fixed: "Copying an email from one local folder to another local folder sometimes caused "Another Operation is using the folder" error on Windows 7" 1792071
This might be the bug you're seeing in TB 102. If it is, you can wait for the fix to possibly appear in the next release of the 102 branch, or use the suggested workaround of saving to eml files, then importing them by drag and drop.
Thanks for the suggestions and tips. I'm working on a computer with Windows 10. The messages do appear when viewed in the original 1997-2002 folder before the Sent History folder was created. Per your suggestion, I was able to copy them from the original 1997-2002 folder using Ctrl+A and then save them outside TB using Ctrl+S. However, when I tried to use Explorer to move one mail into the Sent History subfolder titled "1997-2002", nothing was moved. I think at this point, I've decided to forgo the subfolders and just copy the old emails into folders labeled "Sent 1997-2002", "Sent 2003", etc.
Okay, one last question, I hope. Now that I have everything I need in Local Folders, I seem to have some old folders hanging around that I cannot seem to delete. I can delete them, but when TB is closed and re-opened, they come right back. How do I get rid of them permanently? See screenshot attached.
Open the profile, close TB, move the repeating mbox and .msf files out of the profile, then restart TB and see if they are permanently gone.
Thanks. That worked!
Does backing up a Profile using Export also include Local Folders?
Thanks, Graeme