Can you get the the /Users/YourName/Library/Mail directory on the old drive? You must be able to do this. You can rename the mail directory on the new drive just in case something goes wrong and copy the mail directory to the /Users/YourName/Library/Mail on the new drive. Then you have everything. In the Mail directory there is the individual mbox files for Mail. There are individual directories for each account and the mbox files for that account. Now you know where to explore. It isn't that hard to copy the directories but I haven't tried extracting individual messages from the emlx files yet. You can open the emlx files with mail by just clicking on them.

Mac doesn't afford the kindness of backward compatibility.

That's the first negative comment I have read about a Mac on CR4.

Backups need to be made on Macs as well, great!!

It is true... even Mac's need to be backed-up. However, they are more backward compatible than any Windows based computer. I'm still running a few apps from System 9.x on the latest OS X release (on a non-intel based Mac). And using Virtual PC, I am running Windows 200 and Windows XP for those pesky Windows apps that haven't been ported to the Mac.

When my Mac hard drive went bad -thanks to lightening- I removed the old HD put it in an external HD case and connected it to my Mac with the new HD and used the Migration assistant to move everything over to the new HD. The new HD was running a newer version OS X than the old HD and it worked.

I'm getting ready to upgrade my HD again and I will be doing the same procedure.

So I use PC instead.

That is one of the major reasons why Mac's have pretty much avoided viruses in OSX.

Yes, Macs can fail, and do need to be backed up regularly. So far I've had very good luck with a 300G Firewire 2.5" external drive and Time Machine. It has saved me when I intended to do a "Save As:" and Did "Save" instead.

YES it does. Its called Migration Assistance. Look under/ Go/Utilities/Migration assistance.app you should be able to setup your new Mac with every bit of your old Mac's info. What did the one Mac say to the other Mac? No problem. Migration.App what a wonderful Tool.

The Migration Assistant only works if both computers have functioning OSX. If the Old computer had OS9 or earlier, it does not work at all. If the old one had OSX that somehow became unbootable, it might still work by connecting the old Mac by Firewire and starting it in Target mode (Hold down the 'T' key while powering up).

Peter's post is a good start, but...

I've done this several times recently, but not from a dead prior Mac. First, I assume the prior Mac was running some version of OSX; if not, it's a whole different ball game.

Did you try the Migration assistant? (Applications/Utilities)

If the prior Mac had multiple users set up, you may not have access to the files. I copied the files over a network, connecting the new Mac as a server visible on the old Mac, so the access privileges were correct. Then I used Import in Mail and Address book to add the data to the new versions.

Since you say the old drive is on your desktop, I suspect you have it mounted in either a USB or Firewire enclosure. If it is a Firewire enclosure, you could borrow an older Mac (like an aluminum PowerBook), connect the old drive via Firewire, and boot from it (hold down the Option key during bootup to select the startup drive). Once booted from your old drive, you will have access to the files, and can copy them from the old drive to the new Mac over a network, or to a USB memory stick, and then import them.

Good luck!

Download from this site will open the addressbook

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/omniweb.html

I don't understand the problem. I just bought a new mac. I copied the mail directory from the old Mac to the new Mac. It was that simple. The OP hasn't made it clear whether he is using OS 9 or some earlier version of mail but I have found migration to be painless.