I aam TRYING to move from Thunderbird under Windows XP to Thunderbird under Ubuntu. I have copied the thunderbird profiles (I think) to a disk. Now I want to copy or load these files into the Thunderbird home directory under Ubuntu. I have opened the cdrom and see the inode id. I have tried to copy that to the umbuntu file but wwith little success. Can you tell me exact language. I have tries several times using the console but with no success. Apparently my syntax is wrong.

I don't know what you mean by "inode folder" or "inode id".. can you be a bit more specific? I mean, be more specific about what you're actually doing, e.g. how have you "opened the cdrom"?

Using the console, you should just be able to do "cp -R source destination", where source and destination are to be replaced with the relevant directories. If you're getting error messages, you need to be specific about what those are - not doing so makes it more difficult to help you.

I have created a cdrom copy of the Thunderbird profile from Windows XP.

I then load the disk and click on it and it gives me a folder called "iyz2403k.default". I want to copy this folder to the Thunderbird/Ubuntu profile " /home/bob/.mozilla-thunderbird/tfyu90gh.default/Mail/Local Folders ".

I do not know how to correctly syntax the copy command, particularly where the folder is on another device. I understand that linux does not need locations like "D" or "E" for cdroms but that is where I get confused.

Since you're already using the GUI, why can't you just use that to copy the directory to where you want it?Does something happen when you try to do that? If so, what? Again, please give error messages if any occur.

OK. The filesystem is like a tree, with the directory / being the root of the tree. CD-ROMs, USB disks, etc. are accessed by mounting them. This means to attach the filesystem on them to the main filesystem, so you can access them as if they really were part of the main filesystem. So, you need to find out where the CD-ROM is mounted.

Two ways to do this are

1. Looking in the /etc/fstab file (run "man fstab" in a terminal to learn about this file) and looking for a line that starts /dev/cdrom (or something similar). The entry on that line in the second column tells you where the CD-ROM is mounted, e.g. in my fstab file, I have

which tells me the CD-ROM is mounted on /mnt/cdrom.

2. Run "mount" in a terminal and see where it's mounted. Here's one line of output from running mount on my machine:

/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=continue,data=ordered)

This is not my CD-ROM (because I don't have one), but it tells me that my hard disk (/dev/sda1) is mounted on / (i.e. that's my main filesystem).

So, if I had a directory "stuff" on the CD-ROM that was mounted on /mnt/cdrom and I wanted to copy it to my home directory (/home/nick), I would do

cp -R /mnt/cdrom/stuff /home/nick

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the quick reply.

in ubunti I believe when you load the cd it is automatically mounted. That is why I can read the file id.

I just tried a "cp -r" (disk folder id) (destination id). I then hit enter and I now have a flashing cursor but no prompt. I see and hear no other sign of any activity. Seems to be waiting.

Yes, but you still need to know where it's mounted.

What exactly do you mean by "file id"?

Perhaps it is doing something. I should have said to add a v to the options (i.e. "cp -rv source destination") - the v option gives you more verbose output.

Edit: also, what was the exact command line you used?

cp iyz2403k.default home/bob/.mozilla-thunderbird/tfyu90gh.default

Then I got this:
cp: cannot stat `iyz2403k.default': No such file or directory

Three things:

1. That error message is likely generated because you're not in the directory in which the directory you want to copy resides. So, you either need to change to that directory (with the cd command, e.g. "cd /mnt/cdrom" will take you to /mnt/cdrom) or use the full path to the directory (e.g. if it's in /mnt/cdrom, then you need to use /mnt/cdrom/iyz2403k.default).

2. Your destination argument to cp is slightly wrong - it should start /home/bob - note the slash (/). By default, cp will look in the current directory for the directory called "home" and of course, home is in the root directory, /. The error you get from cp about the directory not existing is exactly this problem - cp is looking in the current directory.

3. You need -R to copy directories, otherwise you'll get a "directory omitted" message.

Edit: also, you probably don't want to put your other profile in your existing profile directory - just copy it to /home/bob/.mozilla-thunderbird.

You need to cd to the directory containing iyz2403k.default for that command to work -- and you need a leading / on /home.