Main in inbox and sent folder gone after recreating mail account in prefs

Question

I called my ISP when I was getting outgoing mail server error messages. Their tech person said that I had to recreate that email account. They had me delete the existing account then basically make the account again. Expletives deleted. The result for this brilliant advice was that all the mail in my inbox (800 messages) and sent mail copies (maybe 4000 messages) is gone. Apparently over written by a new account with the same name as the old one. I didn't expect that the mail messages themselves would be removed, just the account settings. Is there any sort of trash place that I might be able to recover them from? I've checked the obvious places in myuseraccount>library>mail.

Answer 1

Hello David.
Your ISP gave you some not so good advice without being familiar with the Mail.app account and associated mailbox filing structure at the Finder level. Not good news but don't shoot the messenger.
Before deleting an account in Tiger Mail, the following warning message is provided:
Are you sure you want to remove the (account type here) account “XXXXXXXXXX”?
This will permanently delete the account setup information, mailboxes, and messages from your computer. Copies of messages on the mail server, if they exist, are not affected.
This is usually ignored or not completely understood but is based on the Mail.app filing structure so now the long winded answer for the reason.
Many other email clients utilize a single large database which is not dependent on individual account and associated mailbox filing.
When creating an account in Mail, an account named folder (named by the user name and incoming mail server for the account) is created in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail using the Finder.
For POP type accounts, the following mailbox (mbox) folders are created within the account named folder when the function is used by the account: INBOX.mbox, Drafts.mbox, Sent Messages.mbox, Deleted Messages.mbox and Junk.mbox (when Junk mail is set to automatic). The mbox folders within the account named folder represent the account named mailboxes under In, Drafts, Sent, Trash and Junk (when Junk mail is set to automatic) in the Mail.app mailboxes drawer.
When deleting an account in Mail, the account named folder at Home > Library > Mail is deleted at that time and as the warning message indicates, the associated account mailboxes within the account named folder are also deleted. You must select OK after the warning message appears.
It would be preferable for the account named folder to be moved to the hard drive Trash can which requires an additional step to delete but this is not what occurs.
To have any hope of recovering your data, you need to immediately stop using your system and then purchase a copy of a recovery tool such as Tech Tool Pro (Micromat) or Data Rescue (Prosoft Engineering), both of which have data recovery tools. I've not used Data Rescue, but I've seen reports that it recovers files that the others cannot, so it might be your best hope. The chances generally aren't really good even so, but short of sending your drive to a data recovery service (expensive), such utilities are your only hope.
Note that the more you use your system before you attempt recovery, the more likely it is that the system will overwrite the sections of the drive where the data you want to recover is stored, rendering it unrecoverable by any means. You should therefore stop using the system completely until you get and try to use one of the file recovery tools.
This also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a regular backup of the Mail folder and other important data.