Vista - How to write Thunderbird mail files to DVD?

Little problem backing up my mail files to a DVD. I prefer to make a read-only DVD, just to assure a more permanent backup.

Thunderbird mail files are stored as Application Data. To surface the Application Data files on Vista, you can hit the start button and then type "%AppData%" into the search panel. The Application Data files, which include the Thunderbird profile files, then become visible.

I suppose you could then hit the "burn" button, but this writes an erasable file to the DVD.

What I need is a way to access the "%AppData" from within the Nero-like Windows utility that writes files permanently to a DVD.

This utility asks that you drag and drop the desired file into a list of files to be written. However, since Application Data does not normally show up on the Explorer file list, there is no evident way to surface or drag Thunderbird files into the list.

Can Application Data files be made visible at all times in Explorer? Maybe this would help. Otherwise, is there some Nero type utility that would do a better job than the Vista's built in data file DVD utility?

I used to use Nero, and Roxio, but I am not sure what to use under Vista 64 Ultimate.

Thank you for your insights.

John

my suggestion would be to not direct the program to the appdata folder, but in thunderbird, save the mail: file > save as > file. i do the same thing for mail that involves anything i bought online.

i just remembered this: when you burn files to a dvd using vista's built-in mechanism, you should be given the option to burn the disc as a live cd/dvd or as mastered cd/dvd version. the live cd/dvd can have files added and/or removed from the disc and the mastered cd/dvd version makes a permanent burn (cd/dvd rom).

just click on the button "show formatting options."

Also you can use MozBackup to back up not only your mail but any addons you have in Thunderbird. I would stay away from disc burns with "sessions" as they are very unreliable compared to standard cd and dvd burns. If you buy your discs online by the spindle then it's not such a big saving to have multiple sessions on one disc. Plus it's a big bummer when you can't read the multi-session disc back when you need to.

I'd recommend Imgburn to burn a "data" dvd using Build Mode.

Hi,

Similar to Miles' suggestion I can recommend the Smartsave add-on, (on the ADD-ONS Site), which allows you to selectively save folders of emails, one saved to a chosen location on the hard disk that may be transferred to DVD using whichever program you prefer