[kdepim-users] Problem with Kmail after upgrade to KDE 4. can't read all emails

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Friday 16 January 2009 06:40:19 am Claus Hausberger wrote:
> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
>
> > Datum: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:44:17 +0100
> > Von: "Ingo Klöcker" <kloecker at kde.org>
> > An: kdepim-users at kde.org
> > Betreff: Re: [kdepim-users] Problem with Kmail after upgrade to KDE
> > 4.	can\'t read all emails
> >
> > On Thursday 15 January 2009, Claus Hausberger wrote:
> > > Hello
> > >
> > > > On Wednesday 14 January 2009, Claus Hausberger wrote:
> > > > > Hello
> > > > >
> > > > > I upgrade to the latest OpenSuse 11.1 with KDE 4.1. Before I used
> > > > > OpenSuse 8.2 with Kmail from KDE 3.
> > > > >
> > > > > I made a backup of the old $HOME/Mail folder where all my Emails
> > > > > are.
> > > >
> > > > How did you create the backup? Onto which medium did you copy
> > > > $HOME/Mail?
> > >
> > > I copied everything to a mounted windows partition (FAT 32) as root.
> > > Before I copied it back to the kmail directory, I changed the user
> > > and group back to the original user.
> >
> > I feared that you could have done this. Unfortunately, it is very likely
> > that the backup does not contain the messages you are missing, i.e.
> > they are lost. I'm terribly sorry. :-(
> >
> > The problem with FAT32 is that it does not like filenames containing
> > colons. The filenames of the files your mail was stored in most likely
> > have contained colons (because KMail uses the Maildir format for
> > storing mail). Those files are stored in folders called "cur" and "new"
> > below the filesystem folders corresponding to your mail folders.
> > Copying those files to the FAT32 partition will have failed.
> >
> > Two suggestions for preventing similar catastrophes in the future:
> > - Create a partition for the system and another partition for the /home
> > folder. This way you can easily reinstall the system without having to
> > backup /home. Of course, you should still backup /home anyway before
> > you do the upgrade/reinstallation just in case something goes wrong.
> > - Whenever you backup data, verify that the backup actually worked
> > correctly. An easy check is comparing the number of files and their
> > cumulative size. Konqueror shows those numbers in the folders'
> > Properties dialog.
> >
> > I know that those tips come too late. I'm sorry. :-(
>
> thanks, Ingo. So I blame Microsoft :-)
> the cur and new directories are indeed empty.
>
> what would happen if I use tar/gz to zip the mail folder and then move it
> to FAT 32. when I copy it back to ext3 before unzipping it, the files
> should still be ok. Right? that would be useful if I want to carry my mails
> on a USB stick which is FAT 32 formatted.
>
> Claus
>
> > Regards,
> > Ingo

That's exactly what I did recently when I wanted to back up my mail to one of 
those memory sticks...

Only I used an archive utility instead of tar,  for convenience.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin
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