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Can't restore my bookmarks, tried several troubleshoots

  • 11 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by bn2004

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i tried deleted sqlite and location.rd file. copy pasted my bookmark file into the bookmark backup folder. reinstalled firefox and restarted computer 2+ times. checked if the file is a "read only". nothing works

note - this file was recovered from a formatted hd. im guessing that's the problem?

i tried deleted sqlite and location.rd file. copy pasted my bookmark file into the bookmark backup folder. reinstalled firefox and restarted computer 2+ times. checked if the file is a "read only". nothing works note - this file was recovered from a formatted hd. im guessing that's the problem?

All Replies (11)

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Which file do you mean with: this file was recovered from a formatted hd

Is that the file that you used to restore the bookmarks?
Is that a JSON backup or the places.sqlite file?

Recovering places.sqlite successfully is almost impossible because of its file size.

If a JSON backup is damaged then it is usually possible to extract some bookmarks.

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i forgot to backup some files when i formatted a hd but i found a way to recover them. one of those files was the bookmarks file that firefox wont restore.

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Hi bn2004, can you give the exact file name? For example, a recent file from the bookmarkbackups folder would have a name like this:

bookmarks-2013-07-28.json

Is that the kind of file that will not restore?

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yeah thats right. its a json and has the date on the file name

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If you open this file in Firefox or in a text editor, does the file look like a plain text file (i.e. contains only ASCII characters)?

Note that you may have to rename a copy of the file and add a .txt file extension: bookmarks-####-##-##.json.txt

In Firefox you can use Firefox > Web Developer > Page Source or Tools > Web Developer > Page Source (Ctrl+U) to inspect the page source and use View: Wrap Long Lines

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yeah its in plain text, here's an example "[{"title":"","id":24,"parent":2,"dateAdded":1213470934312500,"lastModified":-9223372036854776000,"type":"text/x-moz-place-separator"},{"index":1,"title":"Get Bookmark Add-ons","id":25,"parent":2,"dateAdded":1207819357566444,"lastModified":1207819357582069,"type":"text/x-moz-place","uri":"https://en-us.add-ons.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/bookmarks"

i'll try your suggestions

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btw i tried an older version of firefox, same error

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Did you check the full file?

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what do you mean by this...

In Firefox you can use Firefox > Web Developer > Page Source or Tools > Web Developer > Page Source (Ctrl+U) to inspect the page source and use View: Wrap Long Lines

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Has anyone created a repair tool for broken Firefox JSON files? It could be handy...

I did find a site that makes hard-to-read JSON data prettier so you can better analyze any problems with it. I haven't tried it myself, and please bear in mind that if you view your bookmark data as highly personal, you need to make your own assessment about using this or any other site to analyze your JSON file.

http://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/

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close this thread. i just used another recovery software and now everythings good. thx for help anyway