Presently, my wife and I use:
• Wife: a PPC DP 800, 10.4.11
• Moi: a 24” C2D Intel, 10.6.3

When the new iMac is released, I’ll buy one and then give my machine to my wife.

In preparation for that day, I am gathering info re what I’ll need do to ensure a smooth data transition.

Most high on my list (and hers) is ensuring her Mail is moved from her old machine to her “new” 24” C2D Intel, 10.6.3.

I thought about creating a new Mail account on the iMac for her, and then just moving her ~/Library/Mail folder from old machine to her new iMac.

But I am wary of doing that as her Mail is from a PPC and a much older version and other gotchas may be lurking.

So, what is the best way to move her Mail from her old machine to her new iMac?

Is there some reason you won't just be using the automatic migration?

How do I migrate just a Mail account from an old PPC to a new(ish) iMac?

I didn't think that was doable. But if I can use MA, that would ideal.

Harv,

Is there a particular reason you might not want to move her entire account onto the new machine?

I just performed a long-distance migration under nearly identical circumstances for my wife's Mom, migrating her entire account (minus Applications) from a 10.4.11 configured Pismo onto a new (to her) 2007 Snow Leopard configured Intel iMac......it required Skype to my wife's machine (from here in Afghanistan) to direct the process from afar, but the end result was a flawless migration of all documents, data and e-mail to the new machine.

edited to add Snow Leopard equipped.....

MacManiac,

The reason I am apprehensive to migrate my wife’s content to my machine is that she has different apps. Some apps (and their fonts), plug-ins, etc., are not 10.6 compatible as she is still on 10.4, and some apps are the PPC specific versions.

Ergo, I fear that migrating her apps to my machine would cause devilish problems I could not find & resolve.

All that needs moving is her Mail. And I am hoping there is an easy way to do (just) that.

Alas, there is much I do not understand.
• Will MA me to allow migrate only her Mail?
• What is wrong with the method I originally suggested, e.g., just moving her ~/Library/Mail folder from old machine to her new iMac?

And my wife wonders why her cooking sherry evaporates so quickly…

P. S. Indeed a hearty thanks for your service. I spent 20 years (and 4 days) running loose in the USAF

Have you looked at this?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1872713

you just need to copy the ~/Library/Mail/ folder over.

the plists in the prefs folder only deal with window positions etc but you can copy it also if you like. all the mail and server settings are in the above folder.

mail should auto-update the mailboxes if you're running a newer version of mail on the new machine.

A migration can focus on just the user account, so —unless these apps you're worried about are in her home folder —then they won't enter the picture at all.



Nope.



Perhaps that will work. If her account already exists on the new machine, then that may even be mandatory at this point (i'm unsure as to how Migration Assistant interacts with existing accounts).

For sure the best way is to use MA to copy/create the account in the first place. [plus doing a migration that way also provides a full backup of that account's docs, bookmarks, events, notes, music, etc., ... not just email.]

Hmm...I don't think so. Try moving com.apple.mail.plist out of ~/Library/Preferences and relaunching Mail. You'll find all your accounts gone (except your MobileMe account, if you have one).

Or, in Terminal, take a look at the output from

defaults read com.apple.mail MailAccounts

(Gee, this rings a bell!)

As Yogi Berra would say: “it’s like déjà vu all over again”.

Humm-

Since what my wife only needs from her present Mail is her Inbox and Sent mail, would this work?

1. On her new machine, create a new Mail account with the same name etc., as her old one.
2. On her old machine archive both her Inbox and Sent mail.
3. Copy/move these archives from her old machine to her new machine.
4. On the new machine, import the recently created archives.

Of course, her preferences would need resetting, but her stuff should be there, shouldn’t it?

Update: I also discovered today that copying ~/Library/Mail/ only copies the mailboxes, not the account configuration. So you also need to copy over ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist over

If you've already launched mail on the new computer, you will be overwriting these things, otherwise they won't exist yet.

Thanks V1.

When the time comes, I'll give that a go. And then report back of my success (or not).

And thanks too to all the others that have chimed in. Your counsel as to what works (and doesn't) is both educational and mirthful.

When the time comes, I'll give that a go. And then report back of my success (or not).

one take: Do or do not. There is no try.

alternate take: oh, you doubt me?

$DO || ! $DO ; try