Import 10.3.9 Mail 1.3.11 (v622/624) to 10.4.10 Mail 2.1.1 (752.3) probs

Question

Hi, I've troll this forum and have not been able to locate my specific problem. I've tried importing my Mail 1.3.11 (v622/624) from 10.3.9 10.4.10 Mail 2.1.1 (752.3) using a Firewire transfer, Network transfer, as well as the Import Mailboxes... function in the Mail 2.1.1 client. Strangely, mail during the interval between late December 2005 to yesterday, when I started using this client on the MacBook is not appearing in my respective mail file folder system. VERY STRANGE. Everything else about Mail 2.1.1 is working fine. What happened to the code during late 2005 - ?? that would create such an anomaly? Yeah, I keep all my email. ;^)
Any ideas what else I can do? I've tried rebuilding the Envelope Index file, dumping the Preferences in my profile and in the System folder, a complete reinstall,... What else can I do? I can certainly keep using my iBook G4 for mail and backward incompatible clients. But when it comes time to travel, it won't be an option to haul two laptops around. Any help or pointers would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Do you still have the use of 10.3.9 and Mail 1.3.11 with the original Mail folder you have tried to transfer? The condition of the mailboxes prior to trying to convert to Tiger and Mail 2.x is a key factor. I am pasting in some discussion about this -- please read, and ask any clarifications before actually doing anything:
The conversion process from earlier versions of Mail is flawed, especially if the mailboxes were NOT rebuilt before the upgrade to Tiger. To confirm that I have good basis for all of this, and for background, read:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301315
In a pre-conversion to Tiger mailbox, the only file that really mattered, in regard to message content, was the file "mbox". In a mailbox properly created and established in Tiger, the only thing that really matters is the folder named Messages.
Thus, if you are able to compare the size of both the mbox file and the Messages folder, at the time of conversion (a mailbox trying to have it both ways), and they are approximately the same size, then you can reasonably conclude everything was converted. There are some very minor exceptions to this comparative analysis, but it basically holds.
If you have a copy of a xxxxx.mbox folder with only a mbox file, or if any mbox file it contains is much larger than any Messages folder present, then it may worth trying an import command to check. If you make a Duplicate of the INBOX.mbox, and drag the copy to the Desktop, you can then import it into Mail 2.0, by targeting it, and saying it is a mailbox of type "Other" rather than type "OSX". Before attempting the Import, rename the INBOX.mbox copy to be OldInbox.mbox, and remove all the files within it EXCEPT the Info.plist and mbox files. When you do this, you can then access the imported mailbox, examine the messages, and transfer any you believe you need. At the same time, if you maintain the currently in-use mailbox, now altered to only have one Messages folder, you will have that to access as well.
If mailboxes in account folders do not convert properly during the upgrade to Tiger, then you don't use Import to recreate any mailboxes found in account folders, but rather only import to be added as On My Mac mailboxes.
If the pre-Tiger xxxx.mbox is stripped of all but the Info.plist file and mbox file, then recognition of relationships between messages received and the subsequent Reply may be lost, but not the messages. This is why the condition of the mailboxes (whether the index had been well maintained, which Rebuild does), in my opinion, matters at the time of conversion. For any index file leftover from the earlier structure to be helpful, it must be in good order. With nothing but the Info.plist and mbox file, an Import may be more successful, even though some messages linkage may be lost.
Ernie