How do I get ownership of my mailboxes.

[Eric Weir]

On 4/30/2008 Eric Weir wrote:

>  I recopied the Thunderbird mailboxes and folders from the Thunderbird
>  profile, instead of from the backup on the other drive. Now all the
>  mailboxes and folders open  but one. When I check it, it is still owned
>  by /root. The original from which I copied, however, is owned by me.
>
>  I've double-checked this: before copying, the folder is owned by /eric;
>  after copying it is owned by /root.

Still looking for help with this: why does ownership of the file switch 
from ownership by /eric to ownership by /root when I copy it? The 
copying takes place within /home. Why does ownership change to /root? 
How can I keep it from happening? Or, once it's happened, get it changed 
back?

Also, with what seems a related issue to me, how do I mount a second 
drive so that I retain ownership, so that it isn't handed over to /root? 
The current mounting is /media/sdb1. [Yes, that's actually a partition 
on sdb, and it's the partition that I'm concerned about.]

I want to use this partition to backup data files in my /home folder. 
[Perhaps I ought to just backup the entire /home folder.] Could I create 
a folder in home called /backup and mount the partition to it? Or is 
there a more orthodox way to do it?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA  USA
eeweir at bellsouth.net