You can restore a more recent compressed .jsonlz4 backup.

• Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup

The name of a JSON bookmarks backup file includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once.

• bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.

I think your other computer -- the one you originally used to populate your Sync account -- probably has a usable backup you could restore. Is that still accessible? Or a backup from it?

jscher2000 said

I think your other computer -- the one you originally used to populate your Sync account -- probably has a usable backup you could restore. Is that still accessible? Or a backup from it?

sadly, no. firefox was installed on an ssd that died recently

cor-el said

You can restore a more recent compressed .jsonlz4 backup.

• Bookmarks -> Show All Bookmarks -> Import & Backup

The name of a JSON bookmarks backup file includes a total item count (folders and separators included) and an hash value to prevent saving the same backup more than once.

• bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.jsonlz4.

could you elaborate on that a bit more? I included a screenshot

There are only two recent backups showing in your screenshot (Aug 9 and Aug 10). As you can see they only have 14 and 17 bookmarks.

If you do not have a backup with all your bookmarks (on this device or on another device) then I'm afraid that they are lost.

Do you still have your old computer with these bookmarks?

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

In case you have an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop then you can also look there for backups in the bookmarkbackups folder.

You can check if you have an orphaned profile that isn't registered in profiles.ini and that does not show in the Firefox Profile Manager. You can check that by opening the current profile folder and go up one level.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/profiles.ini_file

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

cor-el said

There are only two recent backups showing in your screenshot (Aug 9 and Aug 10). As you can see they only have 14 and 17 bookmarks. If you do not have a backup with all your bookmarks (on this device or on another device) then I'm afraid that they are lost. Do you still have your old computer with these bookmarks?

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

In case you have an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop then you can also look there for backups in the bookmarkbackups folder. You can check if you have an orphaned profile that isn't registered in profiles.ini and that does not show in the Firefox Profile Manager. You can check that by opening the current profile folder and go up one level.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/profiles.ini_file

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

My SSD with old firefox data died, so sadly I can't access it in any way. Also I didn't find any other profiles.. I guess that's it then?

Unfortunately, Sync doesn't keep backups, it's just real-time, so that would already have been overwritten.

The bookmarks downloaded from Sync would have been saved in places.sqlite, the database file that stores history and bookmarks together. I suspect that the restore from backup wiped the database clean of the bookmarks acquired from Sync. Windows may create a snapshot of the places.sqlite database when doing system updates (or whenever it creates a restore point), but I fear there was not enough time between the addition of the bookmarks to the file and their removal for that process to have run.

So... it's not looking very hopeful.

jscher2000 said

Unfortunately, Sync doesn't keep backups, it's just real-time, so that would already have been overwritten. The bookmarks downloaded from Sync would have been saved in places.sqlite, the database file that stores history and bookmarks together. I suspect that the restore from backup wiped the database clean of the bookmarks acquired from Sync. Windows may create a snapshot of the places.sqlite database when doing system updates (or whenever it creates a restore point), but I fear there was not enough time between the addition of the bookmarks to the file and their removal for that process to have run. So... it's not looking very hopeful.

Well, yeah I guess I will have to deal with it then. Still, could you elaborate a bit more on the places.sqlite and how to check if it maybe somehow got my data?

The places.sqlite file is your live bookmarks+history file. That is the file that is modified if you do a restore of an old bookmark backup.

You can use a third party utility to check for a snapshot of your profile folder in a Windows restore point:

(1) Turn on viewing of hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

(2) System Restore Explorer: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/

Look along the same path as your live profile folder:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

I suggest copying out any potentially useful files to a neutral location and only then try to replace files in your profile folder. See: Recovering important data from an old profile.

Ok, seems that they are lost then, can't get them through any of these means... thanks for the help anyways!