Upgrading to Mountain Lion Pre Install Questions

Question

HI:
  I will be installing Mountain Lion Next week.
I have read through many of the turotrials and quired most of the following  I still have a few questions.
  I have some concerns in particular regarding the contents of my mail boxes and mail.
I have backed up unto an external harddrive using time machine. When I click on the mail app I can't access it and see if the contents are there. I just get a window showing the specs.
  From what I have read all my documents applications and system info are backed up.
1} Will the contents of Mail Inbox and personal Mail Boxes be either on the external drive or in Mail itself after I upgrade?
2} Will I need to up grade iWork  and other Mac programs after the upgrade?
3} Does time machines automatic backup, back up everything or do I need to do a manual back up for some thing?
4} Will I need to load new drivers for external devices such as my printer and mouse?
5} Will I need to reload third party soft ware such as Adobe Elements 9?
6} Will my bookmarks and homepage be saved in Safari?
Lot's of Questions, I have limited broad band width and will need to do most of this from a friends and internet cafes so I need to be prepared time wise and finanancialy as some things will have to be done at home and are going to push me into the next teir of my flex plan, possibly past the final teir.
Any and all advice will be appreciated.
Pantheria

Answer 1

1. You have a backup of your mailboxes in Time Machine that you can restore, but Mail won't modify your mailboxes during the upgrade. The first time you open Mail after the upgrade, it will upgrade your mailboxes to be able to work with that new version.
2. If you upgrade from Snow Leopard, you should know that there's a newer iWork '09 version for Lion and Mountain Lion that make it compatible with iCloud, so you will have to install updates for iWork at least. Respecting to other apps, you have to consult it with the developer.
3. Time Machine makes a backup of everything in your OS X partition, and it makes automatic, hourly backups. If you want, you can also make a clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or Disk Utility's Restore feature in another external disk. The advantage is that you can start the Mac from it.
4. Theoretically, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion use the same printer drivers. Respecting to the mouse, if you are using a third-party mouse, you have to consult with the developer if your mouse is compatible with OS X Mountain Lion.
5. Third-party apps won't be deleted unless they aren't compatible. See > http://www.roaringapps.com
After downloading OS X Mountain Lion, I recommend you to make a bootable copy with Lion Diskmaker, so you won't have to download OS X Mountain Lion each time you have to reinstall OS X Mountain Lion