Export "groups" and emails from Mail in OS 9

Question

Hi, I recently zeroed and formated my hard drive to OS 10.4.6 and thought I had lost all of my mother's emails (which were in OS 9.2.1 and OS 10.2.6) and addresses. But as fate would have it I have classic on my iBook G4 (OS 10.3.7) and I found that the files on OS 9 actually contain the emails and address book! I saved a Contacts Export, Microsoft User Data, and Mail (application 5.02).
I was wondering how to export the messeges in sent and inbox so as to upload them onto the OS 10.4.6 version of Mail?
Also is there anyway to know what the "groups" are that were in the Address Book? Because I have the (email)addresses in the program but with like 10,000 email addresses I'm told that they are useless without the groupings they were in. And yes, I mean 11,814 email addresses. Yeah, I know.
Anyway please...PLEASE help.

Answer 1

This is from another topic but it has relevance to what we are talking about.
I'm not sure if this is a "big discovery" or not but I actually did copy the system folder and applications (Mac OS 9) from my iBook G4 running OS 10.3.7 to my iMac G3 running OS 10.4.6. I buurned it onto a CD and to my amazement it works!
I went into Classic in preferences and it found the Macintosh HD (I had restarted a few times, while going through to each step)
I put the system folder and application of OS 9 in to the Macintosh HD just like they were on my iBook.
When it was in Classic and it found the folder, I started it up, it said something about needing to update the folder, and it wouldn't affect boot folder (or something of that nature), so I clicked OK and it started up and I was running Classic.
That is only the half of it. And I had called up a person in Tech Support at Apple earlier in the day and they told me I would need to "Install" off the original 2nd CD (additional software)and that would give me Classic. But I bypassed that and just took the folder from my iBook and put it onto OS 10.4.6.
I restarted.
The whole reason for me doing this stuff with classic was to be able to use my mother's "Mail" application (Outlook Express 5.02) and get her emails and address book back with all of her "groupings" (she has like 10,000 email addresses).
So what I did from there was to get the copy I made of my mother's stuff (I had made a copy of Microsoft User Data, Contact Export, and the Mail application). I then proceeded to swap out the Microsoft User Data That I had on the new OS 10.4.6 with that folder from the OS 9.2.1 and put the old one in documents with the new one on the desktop.
I went to Classic in System Pref. and started it up.
I then went into the Identities folder in the Microsoft User Data (old one), Main Identity, then Messeges (outlook express file). Clicked on it and it said something like "rewriting strings" or something along those lines. It said something about starting up the email again and I ignored all of it because at this point I could see that I successfully got my mother's mail back in classic.
I looked and saw that her address book was there with all her groups. (I should note that I already knew the mail would work because I checked by uploading the same files/folders onto my iBook with Classic's help).
But now I had an operational mail off of my iBook and back onto my mother's computer.
I then decided to press my luck and see if the computer could boot off the OS 9 system folder. I went into Start Up Disk in System Pref. and sure enough OS 10.4.6 was there along with the new OS 9.2.2 system folder. Hmm, should I try it will it work? The guy online I think said it wouldn't work and the "pot-head" guy in Apple Tech Support (he did sound stoned) said I won't be able to do any of this. F*ck it.
I restarted on OS 9.2.2.
It actually booted up and I was on the desktop and I went to see if I could actually use Outlook on this desktop and clicked on it, there was an erroe that said I needed to copy the identities folder from Users:my name: basically just get the identities folder, and move it to the outlook express folder. I did so by copying (option key).
I went back to the outlook express, clicked on it and started it up. It worked, it works, just like it did originally (I should note I already had the Mail set up in OS 10.4.6 to our ISP and it is a POP account, it was set up before I tried any of this). I sent myself an email to anotherr account and it worked.
I had talked on the phone with tech support people for at least a couple of hours, coming to the conclusion that I had improperly backed-up my data (emails,etc.) on both (my iMac G3 was running OS 10.2.8 and OS 9.2.1 before I zeroed and formatted it to OS 10.4.6) OS 10.2.8 and OS 9.2.1 and since I didn't have Classic in OS 10.4.6 I coudn't look and see what had and would have to reinstall from the original install CDs then upgrade to 9.2.2 and then "upgrade" to OS 10.4.6 to even have a chance of seeing what I had; and even though I told them what files I had they couldn't tell me if it was correct. My mother was freaking out on me, I won't go into details but she was extremely upset with me. I felt horrible I couldn't even load the stuff from OS 10.2.8.
I thought I had failed and resigned that it was lost. Then a couple of days later I thought "hmm, I see that my comp has Classic I wonder if it would work if I uplloaded it onto my comp" I found out that both of the back ups I made worked, and that I could import the stuff I had in OS 10.2.8 into my Mail (1.3.9) on OS 10.3.7 on my iBook G4.
I am absolutely ecstatic about the fact that Classic works beyond the bounds of what you guys and everyone else said. I would have wasted a lot of time reinstalling all the OSs onto the computers just to have CLassic and now that I'm upgrading four Macs in my house to OS 10.4.6, I can now have classic without absolutely taking HOURS to upload the installers and do damage control. But thanks to you guys who helped and actually I still need help with exporting and importing messages and exporting my address book in OS 9 but now it is easier and alleviates future problems with other systems (I think ). Thanks anyway.