[Helpdesk] Upgrade to 10.4 and missing Mail

[Andrew Main]

Maureen,

 From what I've read, it seems a lot of users have had this problem  
(though I somehow avoided it, I don't remember how). As I recall,  
it's connected with the fact that Mail in 10.4 uses a different  
message storage format than previously: it used to keep all messages  
in one big ".mbox" file for each mailbox (Inbox, Sent, etc.) but in  
10.4 each message is in its own file, in a folder (which has the  
suffix ".mbox", but it's a folder, not a file) for the mailbox. (This  
is so that Spotlight can index the messages.) So old mailboxes must  
be converted to the new format, and apparently this sometimes doesn't  
work properly.

BTW, which version of 10.4 did you upgrade to? As usual with whole- 
number releases, the original 10.4.0 was very buggy; I'd strongly  
recommend updating to at least 10.4.2 or 10.4.3, or go ahead and  
update to the current 10.4.6, using the combo updater.

First, did you backup your mail before the upgrade? Always best  
before making such big changes. If you have a backup you can make  
sure to keep it while you work with copies to try to get Mail to  
import your old mail.

I assume you mean you looked in /Users/[your username]/Library/Mail,  
since that's where your mail is, not in /Library/Mail. Try doing a  
search fof "INBOX.mbox" to find where your mail is. If it turns up a  
FILE with a mailbox icon, that's the Inbox of your old 10.3.x mail.  
Look for other ".mbox" files with the mailbox icon and make copies of  
them to keep backups while you work with the originals. If it turns  
up a FOLDER with that name, that's the new 10.4 Mail.

Beyond this point, I'd suggest looking to the Apple Discussions for  
detailed help. Here's a search I did that seemed to find some useful  
info:

<http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa? 
objID=f753&search=Go&q=upgrade+10.4+missing+mail>

Looks like others have had the same problem, and there are  
knowledgeable users who can help; here are some samples:
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2573382>
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2560572>
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1474539>
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=303307>

If the information in these threads doesn't solve your problem, you  
can post your own query.

Andrew Main

On Jun 21, 2006, at 11:45 PM, Maureen Barraclough wrote:

> Hi!  My husband kindly upgraded my  3 year old 17" Powerbook to  
> 10.4 from 10.3.9 tonight.  When I got home and opened Mail, almost  
> all of the messages in my Inbox were gone.  There are a couple of  
> messages in there from today, but everything else is GONE!  If I  
> search for a message (that I can remember key words) on the hard  
> drive, it appears.  I can't tell where it is coming from though.  
> And I don't know how to retrieve all my messages and get them back  
> into my Inbox.  The messages in my custom mailboxes are all there,  
> it is just the Inbox that has the problem.
>
> I looked in /library/mail on my hard drive, but the missing  
> messages don't seem to be in those folders. Help, please!
> Maureen