well did they get transferred? Some shops do not transfer the contents of the appdata folders as they are hidden when they "transfer all data"

Would taking the old hard drive, putting it in an hd enclosure to use as an external hd work as i'm thinking i could look for the app data profile & delete unnecessary files for storage?

Would taking the old hard drive, putting it in an hd enclosure to use as an external hd work as i'm thinking i could look for the app data profile & delete unnecessary files for storage?

all you need is access to the original appdata profile files, either through the copy process or as an attached drive. The process of copying the profile is fairly trivial once you locate the profile. See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb#w_where-is-my-profile-stored

have tried the app data search, no luck. if a hidden file where would it be if all files were transferred?

The issue is what was copies and what was not. The only way to know really is ask the people who did it.

Note that search in Windows is absolutely useless and using it misses more than half the files on your hard disk as files in hidden folders are not searched. Enable the display of hidden files and folders before you waste more time looking for things Microsoft simply don't look for.

See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files#show-hidden-files=windows-7

looked up that, & show hidden files & folders was checked. will check with shop that set up the new computer & see what they tell me.

spoke with computer shop, they don't look to transfer app data files. are going to search old drive for tbird profiles & make it an external hd. will see how that goes.

got the old profile & old hd as an external now how to get tbird to use old profile? copy to disc, delete new profile then it has to use old one?

got the emails & folders but no address book. isn't it stored in your profile? if not, where?