[m.brown]

I just turned on my PowerBook running 10.3.8 after a normal shutdown last night, and I've noticed that Mail.app is missing from my machine - it was there last night but now it has disappeared from my hard drive.

I have the firewall turned on, have not downloaded any suspicious packages etc.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what happened - and how can I replace Mail.app with the lastest version? Do I have to use pacifist to get Mail.app from my installation disks and then delete all OS upgrade packages and reinstall them again?

Thoughts?

Thanks, Mike

[Dr. Smoke]

Hi, Mike.

First, make sure you've not accidentally trashed Mail.app. If it is in the Trash, move it back to the Computer > Macintosh HD > Applications folder.

Files gone missing suddenly, such as you describe, often indicates directory corruption. I suggest you run Steps 1 and 2 of my Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption FAQ. Pay particular attention to any problems that cannot be repaired in Step 1.

If, and only if, your disk is OK, it is possible to reinstall Mail.app from the Mac OS X 10.3 Install Discs using the shareware application Pacifist. Pacifist has excellent documentation, so you should have no problems with it. You would then want to apply the Mac OS X Combo Update corresponding to the version of Mac OS X you are running to pick up all changes made to Mail since it was first distributed on the Install Discs. See my Mac OS X Standalone Updates FAQ for a list of all available Mac OS X standalone updates -- both Individual (aka Delta) and Combo updates -- for both Panther and Jaguar.

[m.brown]

Thanks for the reply and fixes. I can't be 100% certain that I did not accidentally move Mail to the trash and empty the trash. The directory structure was fine. In the end I decided to go for an "Archive and Install" which preserved most of my user settings and restored Apple's core applications - I could then apply the OS updates and security updates.

Originally posted by Dr. Smoke:
Hi, Mike.

First, make sure you've not accidentally trashed Mail.app. If it is in the Trash, move it back to the Computer > Macintosh HD > Applications folder.

Files gone missing suddenly, such as you describe, often indicates directory corruption. I suggest you run Steps 1 and 2 of my Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption FAQ. Pay particular attention to any problems that cannot be repaired in Step 1.

If, and only if, your disk is OK, it is possible to reinstall Mail.app from the Mac OS X 10.3 Install Discs using the shareware application Pacifist. Pacifist has excellent documentation, so you should have no problems with it. You would then want to apply the Mac OS X Combo Update corresponding to the version of Mac OS X you are running to pick up all changes made to Mail since it was first distributed on the Install Discs. See my Mac OS X Standalone Updates FAQ for a list of all available Mac OS X standalone updates -- both Individual (aka Delta) and Combo updates -- for both Panther and Jaguar.