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User profile for user: izzydoraboo
izzydoraboo Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Restoring address book data and mail

I wonder if anyone can help. I lost the hard drive of my iMac PowerPC G5 to a crash, from which no recovery was possible. Fortunately I had backed up all my data to a LaCie external hard drive. I have had the iMac hard drive replaced, and in the process the OS was upgraded from Tiger to Leopard.
I am now trying to restore data from the external drive to the iMac and am finding it challenging. I have found the address book data file but the icon is like a blank sheet of paper i.e. a file in an unsupported format. I have tried dragging and dropping into address book, but to no avail. I would also like to find my Safari bookmarks as well but worry that I will have exactly the same problems.
Alternatively should I just be dragging the whole library (myusername/library) into library on the new hard drive?
Any thoughts on this plus general tips on how to restore data much appreciated.

iMac PowerPC G5, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 24, 2011 6:28 AM

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10 replies
User profile for user: izzydoraboo
izzydoraboo Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 24, 2011 1:21 PM in response to BDAqua

I used the Lacie set-up assistant to format the drive when I first bought it. I assume from checking in the manual that it will be HFS+. I have used Disk Utility to check, and it says Mac OSX Extended (Journaled), if that clarifies.
I backed up to the Lacie by using the back-up programme that came with the drive - it runs a Lacie programme, which creates the back-up file in the hard drive.
The back-up captures everything in the myusername file - so library, music, photos, documents etc.

Does this help? Sorry not to be more precise - I am not an expert.
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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
238,973 points

Jan 24, 2011 1:46 PM in response to izzydoraboo

Well if you want to try replacing them, the files/folders are...

On Mail...

First Quit Mail.

Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail

Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail Downloads

(Could be a different folder here if you chose such in Mail Prefs)

Only the plist is separate.

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

For Address Book, quit AB...

Files...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist

Folders...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/
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User profile for user: Carolyn Barnett
Carolyn Barnett
User level: Level 1
9 points

Jan 6, 2012 9:52 AM in response to BDAqua

I have just followed your instructions for restoring Mail and Address Book files after I did an Erase and Istall. I didn't do a restore from my back up but reinstalled all the software from discs and am carefully bringing files back into my clean laptop bit by bit.


I got my address book files back but I don't have all the Mail files back....just my Inbox and Smart Mailboxes. I don't have the emails I put into all the files in my side bar....they are still empty.


Also, I could not find: /Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook/ on my back up.


Thank you


Macbook Pro. 10.6.8.

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Restoring address book data and mail

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