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I created a sync account in 2012 and synced it periodically. In January 2014, my hardrive was reset- how do I pull in my synced info/acct on reset pc?

becala
becala
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I created a sync account in June 2012 and synced it periodically. In early January 2014, I was having some pc issues so I backed up all my data on my pc and dropped it off to Best Buy/Geek Squads. My pc has been repaired and returned back to me today. However, it has been reset to factory settings, which meant I had to reinstall Firefox. Of course I no longer had my original recovery key so I had to choose the "no longer have my device" option so that I could recover the recovery key code. So now I am trying to pull in my synced data from the synced Firefox account and I see nothing. I know I am not doing something right. I am not trying to sync on a second device- it is technically the same device. I am just trying to pull in what was previously synced. I feel like a lot of the other forums are for pairing. It's almost as if once I logged into my Firefox account today and recovered the code- like there is a new account. I need to access my bookmarks- they are very important. Thanks!

I created a sync account in June 2012 and synced it periodically. In early January 2014, I was having some pc issues so I backed up all my data on my pc and dropped it off to Best Buy/Geek Squads. My pc has been repaired and returned back to me today. However, it has been reset to factory settings, which meant I had to reinstall Firefox. Of course I no longer had my original recovery key so I had to choose the "no longer have my device" option so that I could recover the recovery key code. So now I am trying to pull in my synced data from the synced Firefox account and I see nothing. I know I am not doing something right. I am not trying to sync on a second device- it is technically the same device. I am just trying to pull in what was previously synced. I feel like a lot of the other forums are for pairing. It's almost as if once I logged into my Firefox account today and recovered the code- like there is a new account. I need to access my bookmarks- they are very important. Thanks!

All Replies (3)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
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It's a "2nd device" if Firefox and all Firefox data was removed. If you don't have the Sync Key / Recovery Key that was used to encrypt your data as it was uploaded to the Sync server your data is useless and can't be downloaded to that device.

becala
becala கேள்வியின் உரிமையாளர்
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So if I am able to recover the 1st sync key (hoping it is saved on my backup disc)- at that point what do I do?

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Does your backup contain your entire old Firefox profile folder? This is a hidden folder under 

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

To ensure that you can view the full contents of your backup, you may need to turn on viewing of hidden files. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hidden-files.

If you find the folder, one option would be to set it up as a second profile on your new installation of Firefox to access the old information. That's probably easier than fishing around among the files if it works.