How can I use Migration Assistant to read a backup stored in a folder on an external drive?

My MacBook Pro (Mountain Lion) died on me. I removed the hard drive and copied all the folders under my /User/stewart to an external hard drive.
I have an IMac which has just been upgraded to Mavericks. I want to transfer some of the data from my MacBook Pro to the iMac. I want to transfer my email from the MacBook Pro to the iMac, including:
- All stored emails
- All account settings
I assumed that migration assistant could do this for me. But when I tried to use it, there was no option to read from a disk that wasn't a Time Machine backup or a startup disk.
Is there any way I can move just the email onto teh Mavericks machine.
The Macbook Pro is just about to be shipped off for repair. I could get the disk out of it again and then run Migration Assistant with it. It would be very time consuming as I don't have it with me at the moment.
So I am hoping someone can help me with a quicker way.
Many thanks in advance.

Migration Assistant will recover data from a system disk or a Time Machine backup.
Since you moved the files yourself to the external drive, you are going to have to move what you have back yourself.
The files for email are stored in ~/Library/Mail. Since you did not copy them to the external, your emails are now lost.
The same goes for your account settings.
Allan

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How can I use Migration Assistant to read a backup stored in a folder on an external drive?

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