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Cell phones have revolutionized the way that we use the phone system. No longer are we tied to using our home phone and missing important messages
or phone calls. We can use our cell phones anywhere, anytime.
Unfortunately, we are still well behind this curve with e-mail. Sure, we can get some basic stuff on our cell phones but we still can’t do everything that
we would like on them. We are still tied to a specific computer, especially if we want all of our contacts, old e-mails, etc.
Many people turn to web clients as the solution to this problem. Unfortunately, web clients are usually restricted to some basic send/receive situations
and do not allow you to store a lot of e-mail at one time. Thus, if you need to check something that was stated in an e-mail from three years ago, you are
probably out of luck.
1 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
Your system should now be ready to go. You can unplug the USB drive and plug it back in.
In your system tray, you should see an icon that looks like an envelope with a couple of arrows around it.
This is the interface for miniRelay. You can manage all of its functions from this icon. You should not need to make any configuration changes for the
system to run. The only thing that you would do with this icon is exit miniRelay by right clicking on the icon and selecting Exit.
When Thunderbird Portable starts, you will immediately be prompted to set up your e-mail account.
2 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
3 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
Enter your incoming mail server (you should have gotten this information from your Internet service provider) and enter localhost for the outgoing
server. It is very important that you enter localhost because this tells the mail client to use the miniRelay for sending e-mail. Click Next.
Enter your incoming user name as provided by your Internet service provider. The outgoing user name does not matter. Click Next.
4 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
Enter a name for the account. This can be anything you want it to be so enter something descriptive. Click Next.
The final screen summarizes your account. Click Finish to complete the wizard.
Conclusion
Within a few minutes, you can have a fully functioning mail system that you can carry in your pocket! And all for free!
Please feel free to comment on this article and your success/challenges/failures with it.
5 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
1. Mystech Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 11:33 am
Another great, clear and concise article, Tim. Thanks again. I’ve been considering something like this myself. I generally love and endorse Gmail,
but the lack of offline access and encryption can be a real deal breaker for some folks. Speaking of the later, any thoughts on Enigmail
http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ for Thunderbird?
Btw, Dugg!
2. Jeff Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 11:34 am
You should mention the compact folders option. Thunderbird folders can get rather large with it turned off.
Mystech,
Thanks for the Digg update (and kind comments on Digg).
Tim
4. dave Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 11:48 am
Jeff,
Good observation. When disk space is at a premium, it is always good to turn this option on.
For those of you who are interested in doing this, it is available in Thunderbird under Tools -> Advanced -> Offline & Disk Space. Simply select
the Compact folders when it will save over and fill in the amount (100 KB by default).
Please be aware that this may slow down the startup of Thunderbird a bit but it is probably worth it.
Tim
6 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
From time to time, depending on who you are sending e-mail to, you may receive an error that your e-mail was rejected. Some mail servers do not
allow them to receive e-mails from mail servers on dynamic IP addresses. This will cause your e-mail to get bounced back to you.
The line should read, “MOST mail servers do not allow them to receive e-mails from mail servers without a MX Record.”
When sending email using this method, the receiving mail server will conclude that mail is being sent from a spam relay and either bounce or black
hole the email.
Only when you are sending email to a recipient “on the same system/network” is this likely to work.
Joe Jackson,
Your experience seems to be different from mine. I have used this solution (or variations thereof) for about three now and I find that only about
3-5% of my e-mail is rejected. This could be a result of the type of people I send e-mail to regularly or the type of ISP or business that they work
for. It is hard to say.
I would be interested to hear from others experiences to see what amount of mail gets rejected by such a system.
Tim
8. Rassi Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 12:56 pm
If I were to use such a system here, it would be blocked as our ISP blocks all port 25 connections. That is a smart anti-spam decision, and I can
only see it becoming more common in the future. Why would you not just send thru your ISP’s secure port via TB or from like a Gmail account
(via smtp)?
I have been running my email on a portable drive for 6+ yrs. I started out on a Zip disk, progressed to removeable HD, then to flash memory card,
and now I use a USB
memory stick. It is a great way to do things, but I don’t understand why you’d make it more complicated than necessary using the other SMTP
method.
Rassi,
I came up with this solution to resolve a problem I had when working as a consultant. I would be at various different offices each with different
ISPs. It was a real pain to reconfigure my e-mail each time I was connecting via a different network.
The Gmail idea is a good one but it is not available to everyone in all areas (I just tried to create a Gmail account and was told “No way!”). But, for
those who do have an account, I think this could definitely be a viable alternative.
I also like the secure port option but that is not available for all ISPs (Just checked mine and no luck). Again, if you have this available, you may
want to look at it as an alternative.
Tim
Great application! However, one thing is incomplete and took me a few minutes to figure out - SMTP setup.
You need to complete the set up of the SMTP server as follows:
1. Tools->Account settings->Outgoing server
2. Select the server you defined (localhost) and click ‘edit’
3. Uncheck the “Use name and password” box
4. Select “No” for the “Secure Connection” option
5. Click OK
6. You’re good to go!
It works great but the autorun.inf overwrites the autorun for Help! I’m lost.
7 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
Yeah, I find it’s best to use an external, authenticated SMTP server as the outgoing SMTP server. (Preferably with SPF records pointing to that
mail server too) Then you should not get bounced emails, rejections or problems with any ISP blocking port 25. Also simpler on the USB key end
to boot.
Kind nice of a idea though running an SMTP server on the key though, and would have worked well 10 years ago
policomm,
I knew that this issue was going to come up sooner or later! You need to combine the two autorun.inf files together so that they work in unison.
Unfortunately, only one item can be displayed at a time from the autorun.inf file in the AutoPlay window.
to the lost USB drive autorun.inf. Past them at the bottom of the file. This will still allow the system to pop up the lost USB item but if you right
click on the USB drive icon, the mail system will show up as an option.
Tim
Dan White,
I agree, this is not the most secure solution on the face of the planet but I believe it is better than none. I do not believe that SMTP authentication is
required for an SMTP server that resides on the same USB
drive as the client since most people will not be aware that it even exists. Also, it will appear “intermittent” to anyone out there who is not “in the
know” as far as what you are doing.
If we are truly concerned about security, I would suggest a solution that uses encryption between the client and SMTP server along with PKI
encryption via certificates for message security.
Thanks for the links along with the solid thought and theory behind your comments. It may be time for me to write a basic e-mail primer!
Tim
I don’t think Dan White was talking about AUTH-SMTP on the key-based local server, but about not using the local SMTP server to prevent
various spam false-positive problems (outbound port 25 blocks, blocks based on SMTP traffic from dynamic/residential IPs), and using an
AUTH-SMTP server elsewhere on the ‘Net. Gmail is one (free) way to go about it, but I’ve been very pleased with DynDNS’s MailHop
Outbound. At $10/yr for 150 outbound mails a day, it’s a great deal. Just set up your mobile Thunderbird to send mail via their SMTP server on a
non-standard port (they support several) with authentication, and you can still send your mail from anywhere without worrying about being
blocked or id’d as spam.
Many people turn to web clients as the solution to this problem. Unfortunately, web clients are usually restricted to some basic
send/receive situations and do not allow you to store a lot of e-mail at one time.
Seriously? My Gmail account has over 2Gig of storage on it, which is far more than the combined size of all my inboxes in the last 10 years! Plus I
can check that from my phone, my iPaq, work, net cafes… all without a USB key!
When I was writing the article, I had the president of the company that I work for in mind. He is constantly on the road and he racks up about 2 GB
in a few months!
8 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
But, you do make a very good point. Two GB is probably enough storage for most people. I guess I’m just a bit more paranoid than most and I
want to keep control (both physical and security) of my mail.
Tim
I actually don’t want my email stored on the USB disk. I have several email accounts and all I want is an easy way to check my emails and reply.
I leave all messages on the server and only download the headers and then open what is of interest. If I need to keep a copy of a message sent I
send that to myself for records. I imported the address book so that is up to date and i have records on hand always.
This is a superb, well thought and quick and easy solution for me to easily check and reply to emails on the fly.
A big THANKS!
Hey Tim,
Great..! Its just an excellent work. Keep coming up with these small nifty yet uself piece of codes. Its really worthy.
I am planning to add a link to the DialycupofTech on my website
Vini
I’ll go one better. Check out USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking. It tells you exactly how to set up the autorun.inf file to do exactly what you want!
I can’t send mail using miniRelay as SMTP server, i have done the procedure bellow:
1. Tools->Account settings->Outgoing server
2. Select the server you defined (localhost) and click ‘edit’
3. Uncheck the “Use name and password” box
4. Select “No” for the “Secure Connection” option
5. Click OK
It doesn’t work and i have the message “Error Socket Error # 10061
Connection refused” or “Error Connect timed out” in miniRelay. But if i use the SMTP server of my ISP, it work.
Please tel me how could i resolve this problem.
Thanks a lot.
Well the SMTP relay idea was good, but here’s another solution…
At home, i have to use my ISP’s SMTP server. At work, it’s open, i can use any SMTP relay EXCEPT the ISP’s, because it only accepts
connections from a ISP IP address. So, a bit of hunting found me this
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2234/
Plug it into Portable Thunderbird, and install the button into the gui. Then just click the switch server button. Result, and all in one click.
Hey Tim,
9 of 13 7/5/2007 14:57
Daily Cup of Tech » Build a USB Drive Mail System http://www.dailycupoftech.com/usb-mail-system/
A truly great site! It’s hard to decide which systems to try in what order. I want to try them all!
This system looks great, but when I unzip miniRelay.zip, NAV identifies EzUpdate.exe as a trojan horse downloader. The (translated) NetVicious
site is a bit tedious to read, but says EzUpdate is used to get application updates. I’m guessing that it isn’t required for the USB Drive Mail System,
but wanted you to know what was happening and ask for any additional information.
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