How do you restore the bookmarks after an emergency backup that left only the bare leftover files of Mozilla?
Stats: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit operating system. Currently using Firefox 22.0.
Details: Prior to this, I had an outdated version of Firefox installed which I don't know which one it was. It may be 2-3 versions before version 22.0. I had a couple hundred bookmarks on Firefox when my computer unexpectedly went into blue screen and I quickly restored it using an emergency backup software that came built in with the computer. It basically restored the computer while backing up *MOST* of the files from the previous installation.
Fast forward, I went to see if I could get my bookmarks back but the only files left behind of value were in the APPDATA roaming and APPDATA local files. It's the profiles folders but there's pretty much nothing in it that can be opened or used. Like skeleton folders without any meat. There were thumbnails of the previous websites I visited on the last installation and that was about it.
i tried to see if I could copy the old empty profiles folder in an attempt to use the profile manager and paste it into the new Firefox installation but I couldn't open the profile manager.
I've read the articles that were recommended by the support website so feel free to submit your questions and help. Anything helps! I re-learned a helpful lesson, always save your bookmarks!
How can I get my bookmarks back?
Chosen solution
Oh not at all, it's all my fault for not being prepared. It's a good lesson to learn to always back up files especially with huge storage spaces nowadays. Back in the olden days, they'd use floppy drives that were considered the ultimate in storage technology!
Nope, I've never had a sync account with Firefox but will have to keep it in mind for future cases of lost bookmarks. However, what was lost can be found again! One way or another!
Thank you for the suggestions!
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (6)
Under the roaming branch profile folders, the most useful files would be in a bookmarkbackups folder (.json files). With one of those, you could use the method in this article: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer.
If those are missing or corrupted, if you can find a recent places.sqlite, that also would be worth a look.
Thanks for the reply! The (.Json files and places.sqlite files are all missing and the profiles folder really has nothing inside.
Not the best recovery software... did the process reformat the hard drive, or might an undelete utility still find something? You could try: http://www.piriform.com/recuva
I'm not certain what it was as it wasn't really a system restore nor was it a legitimate reformatting process. It seemed to delete everything except emergency backing up of some files that I was allowed to select. I could see the file names and locations but while halfway, I accidentally started the process halfway and it started the process. I could've turned it off but I knew better than to turn off a computer in a vulnerable state. Better to get some data and limit the mistakes.
It wasn't really a recovery, the computer was going into the blue screen and wouldn't boot into the start up menus, etc so I'm lucky that I was able to salvage most of the files with the built in emergency backup. I'm lucky because the last time I had another computer that died and I couldn't salvage a single file and there were thousands of files and bookmarks on it!
A good lesson learned, always backup and be ready to expect the unexpected! I tried the recuva program and it wasn't that thorough and I couldn't find my files. Thanks!
Sorry to hear that...
By any chance, did you ever create a Firefox Sync account? It's designed more to share data between systems (e.g., desktop and mobile) than as a backup, but it might be useful if you're hard on your computers. :-) Just make sure to save your "recovery key" or "sync key" somewhere other than the hard drive.
Chosen Solution
Oh not at all, it's all my fault for not being prepared. It's a good lesson to learn to always back up files especially with huge storage spaces nowadays. Back in the olden days, they'd use floppy drives that were considered the ultimate in storage technology!
Nope, I've never had a sync account with Firefox but will have to keep it in mind for future cases of lost bookmarks. However, what was lost can be found again! One way or another!
Thank you for the suggestions!