# Apple Mail Inbox Deleted (NEED RECOVERY)



## simplegray (Oct 3, 2005)

Recently the college I attended discontinued service for all recently graduated students (like me). So I wanted to take the mailbox off of Mail but still have all the messages somewhere. So I hastily deleted the Inbox for that mailbox by going under "IN" and hitting delete (and then it asked if i wanted to, and i hit continue or something). 

I have gone into user/library/mail and i see the the junk mail, sent mail etc... there and the inbox. The inbox, however, is less than 1 megabyte in size. I realize i probably deleted the whole thing but I am determined to get it back. I have 4 years of great emails on that account and I would love to have them saved for longevity.

Please help me as best you can.

thank you so much,
simplegray


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Oct 3, 2005)

Did you check in the "Trash" folder in Mail?

If you truly want the emails back and are willing to pay money to get them back, there is software that can possibly recover deleted files.  Another choice would be a professional data recovery service, costing anywhere from a couple hundred dollars on up.

More than likely, though, if you deleted the mails and they're not in the Trash folder, they're gone without the use of data recovery like above, which is hit-and-miss at best.  If you do choose data recovery, the single best thing you can do now is stop using the computer entirely.  If you just now deleted the mails, leave the computer be and choose whether you want to try data recovery.


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## ksv (Oct 3, 2005)

Also check if there are any files in your trash bin in the dock if you haven't emptied it since you deleted the emails. Not sure, but Mail could be like iTunes and move the files to the trash instead of actually deleting them.


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## simplegray (Oct 3, 2005)

which file recovery should i use?

i have 10.3.9 and i need to get recovery on a mailbox.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Oct 3, 2005)

If you choose to try and restore the files yourself, Data Rescue II is a good choice:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/1133

If you want professional service, Drive Savers is good:

http://www.drivesavers.com/


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