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All date from firefox gone after reset

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

jolzevolt
jolzevolt
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So i just gave my PC a reset which i do every 6 months and had to reinstall everything, upon reinstalling Firefox i logged in and forgot my password and had to reset it. And when i logged it all my Saved passwords and bookmarks were not there anymore even after sync. What do i do and get all my data back. Cause i am sure my firefox syncs itself every now and then.

and i also have the SGT backup thing in my downloads if it can help

So i just gave my PC a reset which i do every 6 months and had to reinstall everything, upon reinstalling Firefox i logged in and forgot my password and had to reset it. And when i logged it all my Saved passwords and bookmarks were not there anymore even after sync. What do i do and get all my data back. Cause i am sure my firefox syncs itself every now and then. and i also have the SGT backup thing in my downloads if it can help

All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator
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Hi

Thank you for your question about the Firefox Sync service.

It appears from your question, that you are using Firefox Sync as a back up service. This is not what Sync is designed to do. The Firefox Sync service takes a copy of the data you wish to include and transfers it to a second device (typically a mobile device such as a tablet or a telephone) running a copy of Firefox. The storage in between all attached devices is both temporary and fragile and is not stable enough to be (and is not designed as) a reliable backup service.

If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you may be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. Please have a read of this article.

If you have a copy of your data on a mobile version of Firefox, please follow these instructions to connect it to Firefox Sync to copy your data.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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What reasons did you have to refresh Firefox?

Note that resetting the password for the Firefox Account will remove all data stored on the Sync server because this password is used to encrypt your data before it is uploaded to the Sync server and only this password can decrypt this data.

You can check if you have an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop in case the Refresh feature in Firefox has been used and a new profile has been created.

You can copy certain files with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to transfer or recover personal data. Note that best is to avoid copying a full profile folder.

  • bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
  • favicons: favicons.sqlite
  • bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
  • cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
  • formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
  • logins.json (encrypted logins;32+) and key4.db (decryption key;58+) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
    key3.db support ended in 73+; to use key3.db in 58-72, make sure to remove key4.db
  • cert9.db (58+) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  • persdict.dat for words added to the spell checker dictionary
  • permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)