Reformatted, need to restore Mail.app from external USB drive

I just reformatted my Macbook, and I'd like to restore my Mail.app to its former glory without having to reinstall every single email account (I've got 7).
If I copy ~/Library/Mail on my backup into the same directory on my Macbook, will Mail.app just start working again? Or is it not that easy?
Thank you for your time!
Macbook (White 1.83ghz) Mac OS X (10.4.8)

After another couple rounds of Googling/Knowledge-Basing, I found this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301239#mail
I only needed to copy two sets of files: ~/Library/Mail and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist . I copied both of those from my backup to my Macbook, and my mail is right where it was last night.
Thanks...uhh...me. And Apple. And that sweet knowledge base search function. Gotta love that.

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Hi,disc wiped ,OSX10.9 back on ,how do I restore my data from external hard drive ?Any help welcome .

Hi,disc wiped ,OSX10.9 back on ,how do I restore my data from external hard drive ?Any help welcome .

There's Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant. The cleanest way to do it is Setup Assistant, but you only get that option once when you fire up a fresh install of OSX. If you're past that, you could reinstall OSX by booting with Command-R, or you could use Migration Assistant.
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I had a problem with the internal drive on my iBook G4 that could not be repaired easily. I therefore backed up the drive using Superduper to an Iomega USB drive. I then reformatted the internal drive and fixed the faulty sector with Disc Utilities. I tried to restore the drive from the USB drive using Disk Utilities. The problem is that the OS (10.3.9) will not mount the disk saying that there is no disk image. I can open the USB drive on a Macbook Pro without any problem and Disc Utilities on that machine can also see the disk image.
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One of the problems that could come up, may be in the format selected for use in
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Import/Sync Photo's from external USB drive

I would like to sync photos that are stored in a external USB drive. In iTunes the files are greyed out and I am unable to select them unless I first import them into iPhoto. That is a waste of space. Is there a workaround for this?

Check your permissions for the drive, folders and files you are trying to use. Are the photos in the correct format on the drive.

How to restore my computer from external hard drive

I recently had to re install a new hard drive and I'm trying to restore my computer from my external hard drive... how do I do that?

S_Higg wrote:
I recently had to re install a new hard drive and I'm trying to restore my computer from my external hard drive... how do I do that?
hold c boot from the 10.6 disk, Erase the drive with Security option > Zero: Partition Option: GUID Format: OS X extended J, quit install 10.6, reboot
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3251
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or
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Hard Drive Crash--Restoring music files from External Hard Drive

My hard disk crashed, but I think (at least I hope) that I'm backed up. I had copied all of my Itunes music onto an external hard disk before the crash, although I'm not sure I copied everything that you are supposed for a full backup (i.e. all files in the Itunes folder). I'm uncertain as to the process to get everything restored.
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If you copied the entire iTunes folder to the external, then all you have to do is install iTunes like normal, then start up with these instructions and point it to your backup on the external...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
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Backup and restoring itunes library from external hard drive?

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Try this...
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
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tt2

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Transferring Mail/iPhoto FROM External Hard Drive to iMac

Pretty new to our Mac but loving it. Also have never posted anything anywhere so hope I'm doing this correctly. ;/
We are trying to transfer our Mail and iPhoto programs FROM a new WD external HD back to our iMac. (We had to reformat it.) It were able to transfer our Documents but we can't access our saved Mail program or iPhotos.
When we click on the Mail icon we get the recent Mail program (not the one we saved). Same with iPhoto. We also tried to "Import Mailbox" from File menu (Mail program) but the Mail option can't be highlighted.
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For TM help post in the forum for your OS - and see https://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/ and http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html and http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Depends on undisclosed information
With the current OS and iPhoto you switch library using the switch library command - with any version you can switch libraries by holding the option key down while you launch iPhoto which brings up the select library window
And generally it is not a smart idea to have multiple iPhoto libraries - it generally has no advantages and makes things much more difficult and complicated and often leads to user errors that cause major problems
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LN

Need to move iTunes library from external hard drive to Mac desktop.

I moved my iTunes library from my Mac desktop to an external hard drive. I needed to do this so the Apple Store could do maintenance work on my computer and I didn't want to lose my files. How do I move the iTunes library back to my Mac desktop?

Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) so you get a prompt to select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.
If you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)

Can't restore itunes library from external hard drive

Prior to my hard drive crashing, I dragged my entire itunes folder (with all sub folders) to a firelite external hard drive. I replaced the power book HD, and I want to put my backed up library on the new HD. I dragged the folder from the firelite to the music folder (in place of the itunes folder that was already there). Unfortunately, the itunes library is still empty. Am I missing something?

Yes, the relative location is the same, the user account has the same short and long lame as before.
I did try to use the preferences to point to the backed up itunes folder. Once when it was on the eHD and once when I put it in the music folder. Unfortunatley no luck.
I will try your idea about using "Consolidate Library"
One other interesting thing I tried a few days ago was to follow the procedure outlined in the apple support section about restoring the library. It has you move the libray xml file to the desk top, trashing one of the other files (I forgot which) and then choosing the xml file placed on the desk top upon starting itunes. I thought it was kind of odd to select the very xml file I was having trouble with so I chose the backed up xml file. It put all of the playlist folders back in duplicate, but the library was still empty (probably becuase the xml file is just a reference file and I hadn't loaded any actual music files) If the consolidate doesn't work, mabye I'll try that again, but also put the folder with the actual files on the computer as well
I'll let you know how "Consolidate" works, thanks for your suggestions!

Need help moving music collection from external hard drive to Macbook Pro

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One problem is that iTunes for Mac can't handle WMA files, iTunes for Windows will convert them, but not iTunes for Mac. When you add unprotected WMA files to your iTunes library (Windows only), iTunes converts them to new files that iTunes can play, based on your import settings. See if you can use your friend's PC to do this. If the borrowed PC has iTunes, create an alternate iTunes library so you don't mess up your friend's library. This explains how: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
This support document might be helpful: iTunes: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1347

Reformatted, need to restore Mail.app from external USB drive

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