Recover accidentally deleted mailbox from Backup Drive?

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Level 1

24 points

Recover accidentally deleted mailbox from Backup Drive?

I posted a reference to this in another, tangentially-related thread, but no response, so here goes...

After installing 10.7.3 last night I encountered problems with Mail "losing" my password. In an attempt to fix that, I inadvertently deleted one of my mailboxes. I have no Time Machine drive in place, but I do have a backup boot drive which still boots in 10.7.2.

My question is, how can I get the "lost" mailbox into Mail on my 10.7.3-running Mac HD from the 10.7.2 backup drive?

Any suggestions gratefully received

Jim

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Feb 7, 2012 9:33 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 7, 2012 9:39 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

Which Mailbox and did you have mail in it? You can either copy it back or recreate it if you have no messages. Is it Imap or POP?

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Answer 2

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 7, 2012 9:38 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

If you can open the ~/Library (user library) on your backup boot drive you can navigate to your Mail folder and copy it over to your 10.7.3 install. Rename the 10.7.3 Mail folder then copy the other Mail folder in.

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Answer 3

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 7, 2012 9:55 AM in response to keg55

Thanks for your responses, guys

Glenn Leblanc-

It was an inbox, a POP type, bringing mail from my web host

keg55-

I thought of doing that, but I can't access the user/Library folder on the backup.

As it's reaally all history stuff, I'm wondering if I can do something like this:

Boot from Backup drive, open Mail and Export the relevant Mailbox to a blank partition (I have one for a Photoshop scratch disc)

Re-boot from main Mac HD, open Mail and Import Mailbox from the blank partition. It'll then sit in the Import section of the l/h panel

Will that work, do you think?

Jim

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Answer 4

Feb 7, 2012 10:02 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

Try the import feature under File in the Mail menu. Follow the steps and choose the backup to import from.

And you should be able to navigate to it and copy the whole folder and replace on your main drive.

Backup Drive>Users>Your User>Library>Mail

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Answer 5

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 7, 2012 10:08 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Hi Glenn-

I tried that, but the problem is that Lion hides Library folders, and so I can't navigate through File>Import Mailbox to the User Library on the Backup drive

So maybe if I go the Export from backup then Import to Mac HD route???

Jim

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Answer 6

Feb 7, 2012 10:20 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

Yes you could do that.

Also, if your Mail was up to date, just copy the Mail folder from the backup to the desktop of your user on the Main drive. Then you could just replace the whole mail folder, the inbox, or use the import feautre.

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Answer 7

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 7, 2012 10:52 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

You can boot to your backup drive, open Mail, go into each Mailbox you want (one at a time) and Export (Mailbox->Export Mailbox) that Mailbox. Then go into your other Lion install and Import those mailboxes into Mail on that system.

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Answer 8

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 7, 2012 11:00 AM in response to keg55

Thanks Glenn and keg55, that's that one solved!

Now to try to figure out why Mail keeps asking me to re-enter my password for that mailbox, the problem that started me off down this road today, and that still persists...

Many thanks, once again

Jim

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Answer 9

Feb 7, 2012 11:09 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

Quit Mail. Open up Keychain. Find the password for that Mail account for incoming mail server. Delete it. Open Mail and enter the password when asked and save to KeyChain. Open Mail preferences for that account and the password should be there. If not, put it in and save.

If you still have problems, use the Rebuild Mailbox feature under Mailboxes in the menu.

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Answer 10

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 7, 2012 1:58 PM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Thanks Glenn - I'll try that out tomorrow and report back

Jim

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Answer 11

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 8, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Well, I spent several hours on this today, with the support of my web host (the excellent 3dpixelnet.com), and in the end it came down to a choice between a complete trashing of my Keychain, or a workaround. Nothing I did would get the server to accept my password, and it seems likely something got corrupted when I installed 10.7.3

So in the end I went for a workaround: on the server control panel, I added a new email account at the same domain. I then put a re-direct on the account that was giving the problems, to the new account.

Back in Mail, I set up the new account, and it now receives emails from the old and new accounts. In Mail, the old account is still there, but stays offline. And so it shall be, ever after...

All this has me wondering if my mistake was to do the upgrade in Software Update. In the past I've never used it - I've always gone for the combo update .dmg downloaded from the Apple>Support>Downloads. But this time, it looked like Software Update was offering the combo upgrade, not the stand-alone as it's done in the past. So I went with it, took the gamble, and lost!

Won''t be doing that again

Thanks again to Glenn and keg55

Jim

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Answer 12

Feb 8, 2012 10:15 AM in response to Jim Stewart1

Well, I'll say I have always used the software update in the past. Only once did I have to download the Update from the Apple site to correct problems.

This made the second time. I updated using software update and it crashed my computer. I had to long into my cloned drive and download the Combo Update and reinstall it again. That solved my problem.

Note: Apple has put a newer Combo Update since the original, even though it still shows the same date.

So, it won't hurt to download it and reinstall it over the software update version. The build version should change.

I think Apple still has a way to go on correcting minor issues that still seem to happen.

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Answer 13

Jim Stewart1 Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 9, 2012 1:47 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

That's interesting Glenn, and I never knew you could do that in About This Mac!

However, the build number I have is the same as in your screenshot, so I don't think I'll do anything to rock the boat further at this stage. Eveything seems to be running quite smoothly for now, at least on my old wired-in MacPro.

Given what I've seen in this forum about problems with wifi and bluetooth, though, I think I'll leave my wife's Mac Mini on 10.7.2 for a while - and definitely use the combo download when I do upgrade it!

Jim

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