Mac 10.11.1 wiped all local mailboxes

[rcastain]

Hi folks

Last night, my computer automatically installed the 10.11.1 update. This apparently wiped away all the local mailbox folders that I had created when I recovered from the lost email problem of 10.11.0, including all mail I had stored since doing 10.11.0.

Is there any way to recover from this disaster? There was no warning or opportunity to backup before this happened.

Thanks
Ralph

 

[honestone]

Did you make a backup before the "automatic" update?

Also, you most likely have a setting that "allows" such automatic updates. I would turn that off, if I were you.

 

[rcastain]

No, I didn't have a backup yesterday right before the update hit. I agree that I need to turn off automatic updates, but a destructive minor release??? That seems like something which should never have been allowed to be distributed.

There is an expectation of possible data loss at major releases - e.g., upgrading Yosemite to El Capitan. But a minor bug release shouldn't wipe the users stored files.

I'm hoping someone relocated them, or maybe changed the default Mail folder location and all we have to do is re-import them.

 

[honestone]

I don't use Apple's Mail program (prefer Outlook), so I cannot help you much with that. While this seemed like a "minor" upgrade, quite a lot of it was devoted to correcting issues with Apple's Mail program. Also, given that the update first appeared, in beta, in early August, it certainly "steered" me to not install OS 10.11 when it first came out on September 28th, but instead to wait for the final release of OS 10.11.1 (as it is, I had to wait anyway, as one of my critical programs I use, TechTool Pro, was not updated for El Capitan compatibility until early last week, and in fact, just a day before 10.11.1 was released).

In any event, it is just about mandatory to have a backup before any OS release, whether it's a new OS (like 10.11), or an update.

 

[rcastain]

FWIW: I have located a backup of my mail on my Timemachine disk - not fully current, but better than nothing. However, iMail fails when trying to import them. It thinks it did the import, but the resulting folder is empty.

When I double-click on any message, it is properly displayed - so the messages themselves look to be fine. Somehow, it's the mail client that isn't recognizing them or properly ingesting them.

 

[honestone]

Have you tried another EMail program?