[ReneVillela]

Thanks in advance for you help. Also forgive me if I am posting in the wrong place.

Situation: Around 6 months ago I changed the HD on my MacBook Pro (2007 model 2.16 GHz). I bought a Hitachi one and it worked fine until 2 days ago when it crashed. I bought another HD and set ip up. When I started setting up my computer I didn't want to use Time Machine and set it up manually. I recovered everything with the exception of some mail that I had in two mail boxes. One named TEMPORARY and one named SAVE.

After I set my computer Time Machine is not working the way it used to. For example, to recover my DOCUMENTS folder I had to open finder, click Time Machine. Time Machine only showed me one folder: Macintosh HD, then I clicked it, go to users, my name, and then restored the DOCUMENTS folder. Same with MUSIC, PICTURES, etc.

Now the problem is I don't know where to find the mails I had saved in those 2 folders I mentioned. I recovered the 2 mail boxes but after i restored them they are empty. i need to know where their contests are to restore them.

Hopefully you guys will understand what I meant.... thank you so much for your help. Rene'

[Rcovell]

If you can access the HD where your TM backups were stored, and it sounds like you can since you've recovered other data, then, try opening Mail on your current desktop, then, click Time Machine (my TM icon is in the dock, yours may be elsewhere). You should see TM open and display a list of your backups. Select the date you want, perhaps a recent one that has your two mail boxes and see if they have your info. You should be able to restore from there if you need to.

Bob.

[ReneVillela]

Rcowell.... Thank you for your help but. Well, that is how Time Machine is supposed to work but it isn't working that way. Any how I managed to recovered the mail. Everything is fine now. Thank you anyway! Rene'

[Rcovell]

Glad to hear you recovered your mailboxes.
Did you do anything you can share with us?

Bob.

[ReneVillela]

Hello Recovell.
I will try to explain from the beginning but I am not a computer expert.

After I installed OS X I chose NOT to use Time Machine to set up the computer coz I thought it was going to take to long time so I did it manually.

I installed all the software. Then I backed up bookmarks, preferences, addressee book, keychain, etc from .Mac (MobileMe).
After the computer was set up I went to Time Machine to retrieve all my date.
Right away I noticed that Time Machine was acting strange. For example, if I opened FINDER went to MUSIC and click on Time Machine, Time Machine would open and I would get a screen that said TODAY but there was nothing else behind, no history. Then I while in Time Machine (Today window) I had to click on Macintosh HD and then all the history in Time Machine would appear. I went from there to retrieve everything in DOCUMENTS, MUSIC, PICTURES, etc. I didn't know what folder to retrieve to get all my mail back.

Finally while in TM I went to Macintosh HD, USERS, MY NAME, LIBRARY and restored the folder MAIL.

After I did that, I opened my mail and a screen poped up telling me that I was opening Mail for the first time. And viola, all my stuff was there. A very happy ending!

Hopefully this can help someone one day! :)

Thank you for caring Recovell. Cheers!