I was cleaning trash, spam etc. and also emptied All Mail. But now all my folders or saved Mail boxes are empty.
Can I retrieve them?
iMac (21.5-inch Late 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.5)
Depends on whether you have Emptied the Trash or not:
Recover Files in The Trash
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as MAC Data Recovery, Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads. Recovery software usually provide trial versions that enable you to determine if the software would help before actually paying for it. Beyond this or if the drive has completely failed, then you would need to send the drive to a recovery service which is very expensive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
Depends on whether you have Emptied the Trash or not:
Recover Files in The Trash
If you simply put files in the Trash you can restore them by opening the Trash (left-click on the Trash icon) and drag the files from the Trash to your Desktop or other desired location. OS X also provides a short-cut to undo the last item moved to the Trash -press COMMAND-Z.
If you empty the Trash the files are gone. If a program does an immediate delete rather than moving files to the Trash, then the files are gone. Recovery is possible but you must not allow any additional writes to the hard drive - shut it down. When files are deleted only the directory entries, not the files themselves, is modified. The space occupied by the files has been returned to the system as available for storage, but the files are still on the drive. Writing to the drive will then eventually overwrite the space once occupied by the deleted files in which case the files are lost permanently. Also if you save a file over an existing file of the same name, then the old file is overwritten and cannot be recovered.
General File Recovery
If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as MAC Data Recovery, Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads. Recovery software usually provide trial versions that enable you to determine if the software would help before actually paying for it. Beyond this or if the drive has completely failed, then you would need to send the drive to a recovery service which is very expensive.
The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.
Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.
Is the Trash mailbox empty? If so, what backups do you have?
Yes I emptied the trash. Really 'cleaned house'. But......
I do have my back-up to help me.
What I was really wondering too is:
Why would my emails (that I dragged and dropped ) in all the ---what are they called Mailboxs on the left side of the email page?
I surely did not think emptying 3 year old trashed emails would affect my personal Mailboxes !!
Do you back up with Time Machine?
I have an external hard drive for back up. Seagate.
I was planning to check this history on this, to see my Mailboxs.
But, again, is this normal activity, for all mailbox to be emptied out when one deletes All Mail?
There is no built-in "All Mail" mailbox. That sounds like Gmail. It means what it says, so if you emptied that, you deleted all messages. You still haven't told me how you back up, but I'll assume that you do use Time Machine.
Bring the Mail browser window forward, then enter Time Machine. You'll see a series of Mail windows cascading back in time. Each one represents a snapshot of the Mail database.
Scroll back to the most recent snapshot containing the messages you want to restore. Select the messages, then click Restore. The messages will be restored to a new mailbox. From there you can move them wherever you like.
Yes I emptied the trash. Really 'cleaned house'. But......
I do have my back-up to help me.
What I was really wondering too is:
Why would my emails (that I dragged and dropped ) in all the ---what are they called Mailboxs on the left side of the email page?
I surely did not think emptying 3 year old trashed emails would affect my personal Mailboxes !!
ok so now it's sunk in. All Mail in the Gmail on the Dock........means......ALL Mail.
I saw emails from 3 years ago so I thought I'd lighten it's load and delete them.
Well, there went my mail in Personal, Family etc. folders !
Thank you.
I'm going to check my external back up system and check out if I really need to restore any of these items. Or just start fresh.
Thanks again.
I was cleaning trash etc. and also deleted all mail in All Mail. Now all my folders are empty. Can I retrieve them?
