[pmmail-list] PMMail for Win2000 & OS/2

[David Forrester]

I've been sharing my mail between OS/2 and Windows for a couple of
years.  I've done it in several ways:

- Across the network with OS/2 and a Win95 desktop.  Both versions of
PMMail were installed into the same networked drive pointing at the
mail folders in the same directory.

- On a laptop with OS/2 and Win95.  PMMail was installed in a FAT32
partition that was seen by both operating systems.  Each OS ran their
own version pointing to the same mail folders.

- By copying across the network from the desktop to the laptop.  The
mail would be received on the desktop (either machine mentioned above)
and I'd copy the mail folders over to the laptop to read on the bus
going to work.  In the evening, I'd mark as read all the mail using 
one of the desktops.  I'm still doing this, but in the other direction
as a backup mechanism.

- New laptop with OS/2 and Win2000.  Otherwise, it's setup the same as
the old laptop, but I handle all my mail here as well.  At least once a
week I copy it back to the desktop for backup purposes.

I've never had any problems with this so long as I stuck by one rule:
- NEVER open two copies of PMMail pointing at the same mail folders at
the same time.  

This is easy to handle on the laptop, but on the networked desktops,
we've managed to have both open at the same time.  Luckily it's not
catastrophic, simply close both copies and open another (after swearing
a bit when all your mail disappears and then yelling at the other
person when you realise they've done).

When I am copying the mail folders between machines, I always make sure
PMMail is closed on both.  And I am copying the complete mail folder
for an account.  The only thing I don't copy is the acct.ini file for
the account.  This stores details like whether to fetch when the
account is opened.   And I only want this done from one machine.  When
you copy like this, you do not need to re-index the account. 

Lastly, to speed up the copy, I use a Windows program called InSync
from www.dillobits.com.  I have this set to only copy the changed
files.  Cuts the copy time down by a lot.  I do this from the Windows
desktop as I've never found a decent OS/2 program to do this.

David Forrester


>>
>>I'm running OS/2 PMMAIL v 1.96a and testing a Windows 2000 version of pmmail (2340 build).
>>
>>I'm trying to read the messages from my OS/2 box on the winders box. I've copied the directory to the windows machine 
>>and then installed the windows pmmail program, (like the readme says) and when I start the pmmail program, I get a 
>>message that says errors have occurred.
>
>Hi Mark,
>
>I copy my messages (only the *.MSG files !) very often from OS/2 to Win
>and from Win to OS/2. It is only a
>suggestion (not tested): Do you copy the hole directory (with the
>folder.* files) or only the *.MSG files?
>In the first case: Copy ONLY the *.MSG files !
>
>My way:
>
>1) I create a TEMP dir in to right PMMail account
>   (you can find it under e.g. XXXXX0.ACT/TEMP0.FLD/)
>2) Copy ONLY the *.MSG files into this directory
>3) reindex this directory
>
>Then I rename the TEMP folder in PMMail or move the old messages into
>their right places.

--
David Forrester
davidfor@terrigal.net.au
http://www.os2world.com/djfos2/

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