Restore IMAP content to server after provider crash

[TheKidd]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel
Email Client: imap

I normally have several thousand emails in several mailboxes stored on my hosting provider IMAP server. I sync to several local Entourage accounts (one 2008, the others 2004) and I have backups of all of the locally stored data.

My hosting service (ixwebhosting, not the greatest, but cheap) had a server crash this week. My account is up again, but they have lost all of my mail. Before I knew what was going on, Entourage faithfully synched to the newly working server and deleted everything.

I had to upload to restore my old mail once before, but frankly, I forget how I did it. It also ended up showing all of my old mail as received on the day I did the upload, not the correct original mail date - I would like to avoid this if possible.

Can anyone suggest a procedure I can follow to complete this restore?

Thanks

 

[Diane Ross]

I had to upload to restore my old mail once before, but frankly, I forget how
I did it. It also ended up showing all of my old mail as received on the day I
did the upload, not the correct original mail date - I would like to avoid
this if possible.

Here are some notes I have:

You have to sort by sent not received.

Drag from folders "On My Computer" to IMAP folders.

The safest way to import mail to an IMAP account and have all the metadata
intact and unchanged is to have the server administrator help you do it at
the server level, not via the client.

I have another "solution" - copy mail to local folders with thunderbird then
upload again with thunderbird. Dates are fine following that.

C# Upload .eml File to IMAP Mailbox
<http://www.example-code.com/csharp/imap_AppendMime.asp>

Other things to consider:

Create an archive Identity in Entourage and use that for your old mail. Easy
to access using Switch Identity plus if the Identity is open and indexed by
Spotlight, you can find messages using Spotlight in the finder. You will
have to switch Identities to view it though.

You also might want to consider using a free Gmail IMAP account for backup.

Easy Way to Import, Upload, Backup or Store Email Messages into Gmail for
Archive » My Digital Life
<http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/11/02/easy-way-to-import-upload-backup-o
r-store-email-messages-into-gmail-for-archive/>