which linux would accept XP personal files & email transfer
 

I am trying to find out which linux would be capable of transfering my XP pro files[everything in My Documents] and email[Outlook Express 6.] I do not want to dual boot. I must be able to have these files on the new OS. I am not married to XP but I do need these files.
My computer is custom built. here is the system report:

OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13GHz, x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 6
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 1005 Mb [I will upgrade it to 5GB now and eventually to 8GB]
Graphics Card: Radeon X1300 Series, 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 76316 MB, Free - 55790 MB; D: Total - 152444 MB, Free - 123957 MB; E: Total - 476929 MB, Free - 310890 MB; L: Total - 476929 MB, Free - 429617 MB;
Motherboard: Intel Corporation, DG965WH
Antivirus: avast! Antivirus, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

I am also completely confused about all the terms, capitalized letters, and names being discussed. Is there a list of terms used I could study?

Thanking you all, Judles

almost any linux O/S can replace your XP.
but, if you are going to upgrade the ram, to 5Gb or more, then use a 64bit version.
- use it's installer to erase the whole drive,- this will erase everything on that drive !.

use thunderbird for your eMails, but - you will need to configure it's settings, with your eMail user & pwd deails,
but it will not be able to collect any existing eMails from the XP.
- only those that exist on the isp's server.

Member Response
 

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

You can import mail from Outlook Express via Thunderbird's import wizard as longs as the Outlook Express mail are accessible locally in Xp's local folders.

EDIT: You can import just about everything from the mail client via the tools> import by clicking the necessary option.

Look at: http://email.about.com/od/mozillathu...hunderbird.htm

Another link to look at: How to Import Your Emails from Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail or Outlook Exp...

For web mail: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...to-thunderbird

For Microsoft Office work, I suggest you consider LibreOffice. Most modern Gnu/Linux will offer LibreOffice package for the distribution.

Please look at the Newbie Sticky: Newbie alert: 50 Open Source Replacements for Windows XP

Hope this helps.

transfer of files & email to Linux OS
 

Dear Gary, (pierre2)

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply and sending the appropriate links to study on how to import the email and my personal files. I will certainly study these sights. This may take some time.

'My Documents' contains many different files, my pictures, scanned pictures and documents, Word documents [.rtf], Works [.wps, .dbs,] documents and Office 2000 [.doc] documents and these are what I need to transfer and be able to use in the new Linux OS I end up choosing. Though these belong to different software programs I hope they can be transfered and opened, edited, not just read. There are some others as well such as dowloaded .exe program installs, which I may or may not need.

I do not exactly understand what you mean about the email being accessible in 'XP's local files'. I need to open Outlook Express to open the email files or if I copy an email to MY Documents, then it will open in Outlook Express.

Thank you for the links to the Open Source Replacements for XP and the Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide. About the Command Guide, hopefully I do not have to use commands much, as I am was not too good at that in Dos. I stated using computers in win 3.1

Your help is very appreciated! Judy, Judles

Member Response
 

Hi,

Your welcome.

A few more resourceful links for you to read from Slackware®-Links;
Most email clients do use local folders that are stored on the hard disk or storage media selected by the user. When I mentioned local folders, it was relating to where your Outlook is storing the emails.

As to your downloaded '*.exe' files, you can sometimes use 'WINE' to run MS Windows programs. Not always since incompatibilities or system issues can exist. Sometimes you can find a Gnu/Linux equivalent for a MS program to hopefully perform the desired task(s).

Linux-Newbie section of Slackware®-Links is another good resource.

Hope this helps.
:hattip:

Almost all Linux distros come a a live disk/usb, so you can try before you install and make sure that the hardware and peripherals work OK. Try Linux Mint — no-one ever seems to dislike it.

Do you have your files backed-up (including saved emails)? If so, you can just use the Linux installer to wipe the hard disk and use the whole of it. Then you can import the data into the Linux programs (Office suite, e-mail client) and save the result on the hard drive.

If you don't have one, I'd recommend investing in an external USB hard drive large enough to hold the files you want to save and copying the files over to it; once you have Linux set up, you can copy the files back (as well as keep backup copies on the USB).

USB drives are relatively inexpensive these days.

Hi. Yon can shrink you winblows while installing for a dual boot then transfer files from NTFS to EXT4 while in Linux and then wipe Xpee finally resize Linux to fill the drive but should still do backups first. Best wishes and have fun. :) (Also second link in my signature. ;))

Dear Frankbell,
Thank you for your suggestion. I do have an external USB drive but it is only 160GB and contains all the images & backups of my 2 Laptops. Not my desktop.
I have 3 disks in the desktop. Could I use the backups on these disks when transferring all my Data? Drive E: & L: already have images & backups of all my data. Wwould the Linux OS recognize the files and images from Acronis [.tib] and Second Copy?

Hard Drives: Disk 0 Active primary partition C: Total - 76316 MB, Free - 55790 MB; This contains all Windows system files, programs only.
Disk1 Logical extended partition D: Total - 152444 MB, Free - 123957 MB; this contains all my Data, MY Documents, email, pictures etc, everything.
Disk2 Logical extended partition E: Total - 476929 MB, Free - 310890 MB; this contains all my Acronis True Images of C:\ & D:\ Daily, weekly, monthly backups.
Disk2 Logical extended partion L: Total - 476929 MB, Free - 429617 MB; this contains my Second Copy backups of D:\ daily

Should I move the contents of D:\ where all my data is stored, to L:\ and put the Linux OS on that drive as active and change the booth sequence and maybe dual boot for a while till I can get everything set up and moved to the Linux OS? Is that possible?

Judles, Judy

Dear Onebuck, Garry May 5th
Thank you for all the info and links. Will study them. I have 3 separate disks in the desktop computer.
All my email and data are stored on another disk on the desktop computer. D:\
Plus everything is backed up to images [Acronis] on yet another disk E:\, plus another program Second copy also backs up all my data to L:\.

Must I back up everything again? Jamison20000e said that when I install 64bit Linux, it will wipe everything on that drive. So should I move the contents of that drive elsewhere to be safe then when all is installed and my data files transferred to the various programs, I can then delete it? I would hate to loose everything if I do not like that particular Linux OS and want to try another.
Judles, Judy

Dear David McCann
Thank you for your advice. The Linux Mint sounds good, I have read a little about it. A friend just started using Ubuntu and he loves it, I might try that one too.
Yes I have everything backed up on other drives in the desktop computer. I have 3 disks in it.
I have one more question. If I put on a 64-bit version or change to 64-bit when adding the new 4 GB to the now 32-bit system, is that going to effect the data on the other disks I have on the computer? The ones where I have all my Data and backups? It is so complicated! Appreciate all your help.

Judles, Judy

Think I said, you can shrink your winblows partition for a dual boot (link==e.g;) then move files to Linux and then get rid of Xpee and finally expand Linux partition...