local backup of FM stored email for Mac

[camner]

I'm looking for a way to provide a local backup of my FM mail store. I'm trying to protect against user error, not an FM glitch. I recently discovered that either I or my wife accidentally deleted an imap folder (and thus its contents) rather than an individual message, using the email client we use at home (Postbox). I know that if one notices this quickly, one can get the folder restored by FM, but in this case we didn't notice it for several weeks (it is a rarely used folder). So, it's gone and lost forever.

I've found some (seemingly) good options for Windows, but we're running Macs here.

Any ideas?

[William9]

From Postbox support files -
"Mac Solutions

Time Machine
Users running Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or above can use the built-in Time Machine utility to back up their system. By default, Time Machine will create hourly backups while the designated external hard drive is connected. Time Machine makes it easy to restore the Postbox profile to a specific date and time. Click here to read about Apple's Time Machine Utility.

Email Backup Pro
In addition, Email Backup Pro by Squashed Software is an excellent third-party email backup tool with support for Postbox. It features scheduled backups, easy restoration, and backup compression. Check it out here: Email Backup Pro by Squashed Software"

[camner]

Originally Posted by William9

From Postbox support files -
"Mac Solutions

Time Machine
Users running Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or above can use the built-in Time Machine utility to back up their system. By default, Time Machine will create hourly backups while the designated external hard drive is connected. Time Machine makes it easy to restore the Postbox profile to a specific date and time. Click here to read about Apple's Time Machine Utility.

Email Backup Pro
In addition, Email Backup Pro by Squashed Software is an excellent third-party email backup tool with support for Postbox. It features scheduled backups, easy restoration, and backup compression. Check it out here: Email Backup Pro by Squashed Software"

I don't understand how a Time Machine backup would work with an imap account. If I accidentally delete a folder (or, for that matter, individual emails) on the FM imap server, restoring the local mail store from a TM backup just puts back the emails into the appropriate local folder. That isn't going to induce FM to pick those up and reupload them to the FM imap server, right?

[Mystakill]

Originally Posted by camner

...restoring the local mail store from a TM backup just puts back the emails into the appropriate local folder.

You can have Time Machine restore the files to an alternate location by right-clicking on the file/folder in the backup timeline and selecting 'Restore "file/foldername" to...' You can then import the messages/IMAP folders into Thunderbird from the alternate location.