I have made a big mistake.
I selected by error in Mail Preferences "Delete sent mail after a month", believing my mailbox content was safely backed-up under Time Machine.
In fact, it was not. Mail Outbox in Time Machine are empty. So all my mail sent since inception of iCloud account last june are lost.
Is there a way to recover it ?
I didn't know IMAP accounts didn't save nothing on HD. 👿
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), 16 Gb
quantxxx wrote:
I have made a big mistake.
I selected by error in Mail Preferences "Delete sent mail after a month", believing my mailbox content was safely backed-up under Time Machine.
In fact, it was not. Mail Outbox in Time Machine are empty. So all my mail sent since inception of iCloud account last june are lost.
Is there a way to recover it ?
I didn't know IMAP accounts didn't save nothing on HD. 👿
Imap accounts do save on the HD, and you elected to delete the content of the sent folder after a month, so now they are deleted.
Outbox is not where sent messages are saved, they should be (any that are left at least) in the sent folder!
Not so clear. Preferences for "Sent" says :
- Store sent messages on the server (tick)
- Delete sent messages when : (here I selected "never" again).
What I understand :
- Messages are stored on server.
- If I selected "Delete" after say one month, it meant to me I deleted from server, but preserve a copy on HD
(exactly as it was with my former ISP, where I deleted messages from their server after a month and kept it on my HD)
My concern here is when I go back to Time Machine and look for the content of Mail folder, Sent messages aren't there.
They should be, because I opted wrongly for deletion just a week ago. How come Sent messages from 2 month ago
are not in TM backup ???
😮
Preferences says :
Csound1 wrote:
quantxxx wrote:
I have made a big mistake.
I selected by error in Mail Preferences "Delete sent mail after a month", believing my mailbox content was safely backed-up under Time Machine.
In fact, it was not. Mail Outbox in Time Machine are empty. So all my mail sent since inception of iCloud account last june are lost.
Is there a way to recover it ?
I didn't know IMAP accounts didn't save nothing on HD. 👿
Imap accounts do save on the HD, and you elected to delete the content of the sent folder after a month, so now they are deleted.
Outbox is not where sent messages are saved, they should be (any that are left at least) in the sent folder!
IMAP saves on HD, did you say ?
There are no pictures in your posts.
Imap accounts keep local (cache) folders so that you can access your mail when offline, (only if selected by the user)
If you delete from the Imap server you also delete from the Imap client.
How did you insert the pictures because they are not visible.
One more thing, iCloud is NOT a backup system, if you are relying on it to do that you don't have a backup, so get one.
I can see the pictures perfectly in the thread while replying to you. These are two screen captures (.png), inserted through normal procedure (click on the camera icon, choose, upload).
- if you read what I wrote, I mentioned Time Machine as back-up, not iCloud.
- my question is plain and simple : why my TM back-up has no "Sent messages" in the Outbox folder back-up ? This folder (dated from last september, prior any deletion from iCloud) is empty. Why ? It should contain hundreds of sent messages, because in last september my Sent Messages Box was full.
You did not reply to that question…😕
I did not reply to your TM question because I do not recommend using TM as a sole backup method.
One of your pictures show in your second post but is of no value, they do not apply to iCloud Mail.
Wait here for a TM expert to join in.
I also have a second backup (a four drive Sonnet). Same question : Outbox there is empty under Library/Mail/V2 Folder. Why ? 😍
quantxxx wrote:
I also have a second backup (a four drive Sonnet). Same question : Outbox there is empty under Library/Mail/V2 Folder. Why ? 😍
As I said, things like this are why I do not rely on TM, as for your second backup, how are you making it? (it doesn't matter how many drives, what matters is what is selected for backup).
Question:
Have you gone to www.icloud.com, logged in and checked the server sent folder?
Check these settings, if they match mine your sent mail should have been saved locally as well as on the server, do they?
Backup on Sonnet is done through Chronosync, not TM. Two methods, to avoid TM shenanigans.
My settings match yours [see screenshot below]. I'd already checked iCloud.com. All sent mail are deleted there too.
Notice that Inbox were not deleted. Outbox only.
So Outbox has been deleted from server and locally. Absurd.
For the last time The Outbox SHOULD be empty, unless an email is in the process of sending, please understand that.
You set the sent items to delete, they were (per your command) deleted, so now they are gone.
quantxxx wrote:
I have made a big mistake.
I selected by error in Mail Preferences "Delete sent mail after a month", believing my mailbox content was safely backed-up under Time Machine.
As for your backups did you ever test any of them?
Yes, but why are they also gone in a backup that has been made prior to deletion from iCloud ?
All sent mails prior to deletion should be on backup… as backup is not affected by settings made after backup, is it ? 😉
So where are these Sent mails that I backe up prior deletion from server…? In Library/Mail, they are nowhere to be found.
Update
Finally found it (uncomplete as there is one month missing). I was looking for them in the alias account backup, and not
in the main root account. 😝
quantxxx wrote:
Yes, but why are they also gone in a backup that has been made prior to deletion from iCloud ?
All sent mails prior to deletion should be on backup… as backup is not affected by settings made after backup, is it ? 😉
So where are these Sent mails that I backe up prior deletion from server…? In Library/Mail, they are nowhere to be found.
Answer my question please
Did you ever test one or both of your backups for content. and, which Library (there are two) they should have been in your user Library.
As said in my update to prior reply, I finally found it. 😉
quantxxx wrote:
As said in my update to prior reply, I finally found it. 😉
Good.
Mailbox lost
