Moving Mail Files

I reformatted a hard drive, before I did that I moved the entire user folder from the old hard drive onto an external hard drive. I now have a new installation working. I am attempting to move the "Mail" folder from the user's "Library" folder on the external hard drive into the new Library folder. Now when I open mail the inbox is empty and it seems that mail has created a new POP folder inside the Mail folder and begins downloaded new messages from the server. Why doesn't mail look exactly like the old mail I had if I moved the entire mail folder over exactly as it was?
Thanks,
B.

Why doesn't mail look exactly like the old mail I had if I moved the entire mail folder over exactly as it was?
The answer depends on a number of factors, including whether or not you moved the Mail folder from another version of Mac OS X (i.e., Snow Leopard, Tiger or Panther) and whether or not you moved the supporting files for Mail as well, which includes the preferences file. If you didn't do that, Mail doesn't know anything about a prior installation, so it will do unexpected things like this.
Did you try quitting Mail, then going to Home/Library/Mail and deleting the Envelope Index file(s)? If not, do that, then restart Mail and see if your messages show up again.

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