See:

• https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox

• XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
• Vista/Windows 7: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\

The "Application Data" folder in XP/Win2K and the "AppData" folder in Vista/Windows 7 are hidden folders.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

Thanks, Cor-el, As you suggest, I looked in the saved wreckage of my old drive C for C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ " but found only User> App data. Nothing inside. Could it be hidden?

The other idea you posted talked about restoring lost bookmarks but I see I can do so only as far back as yesterday when my Windows re-install was done. Can bookmarks in use before the re-installation of Windows be restored? I still have the old Windows files plus associated programs. Shouldn't old Firefox bookmarks still be located somewhere in the Mozilla folder in Programs?

To begin with the later.
No. Firefox doesn't store any personal data in the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\).
All user data is stored in the \Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ folder in App Data.

Did you check the Users\<user>\AppData directory for the correct user?

If nothing is there then that data might not have been saved, possibly because AppData is a hidden folder.
If you still have access to that original drive then you can give it another try or see if chkdsk.exe reports error for that drive (be careful with repairing such errors).

Thanks again Cor-el Ok so if that file is hidden, how can I access it? jw

You're welcome

I posted a link to a KB article that explains this in one of my previous posts.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders

Again, Cor-el, thanks for your guidance here. I did un-hide subfiles in the Appdata folder but inside was able to find only "Roaming", and inside that only "Macromedia", "Media Center Programs", and "Microsoft". Nothing inside these files seemed to relate to Mozilla, Firefox, or Profiles as you'd advised me earlier. So does one need to actively save Mozilla Bookmarks in order to keep them at this Appdata location?? Do saved bookmarks self-delete when Windows is erased and then re-installed? jw