mail- from panther to tiger

[mlecho]

hi guys...my buddy just had to rebuild his computer because of overlapping extent allocations (and a lot). While we are aware that reformatting/reinstalling is not a cure all, we have tried nonetheless. Before doing so, we backed up all Library's (system and user) and important files. Now we have installed the current version of os x, which seems stable. Rebuilding the addressbook was simple, but the mail app is giving some problems. i thought it would be as simple as moving the Mail folder from his user library to the newly created Mail folder in the same library. Not so true. Upon opening Mail, it asks us to the general first time user questions.

Any advise on how to install the previous configs/messages, etc for mail?
ps- i should add, i don't know for sure this is from panther to tiger. I do know he had the os before spotlight and dashboard...whatever one that was....thanks