See if this article helps. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them

Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox? Look inside. Look for the folder with the latest creation date.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/recovering-important-data-from-an-old-profile

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-run-firefox-when-profile-missing-inaccessible

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

jscher2000 has a tool on his website to extract out your bookmarks and save them to an HTML-format bookmark export file. If you want to try it, here is the page:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/bookbackreader.html

To open the bookmarkbackups folder in Finder, use the "Open in Finder" button in the first table on the Troubleshooting Information page, and double-click into bookmarkbackups where you should see several dated files. From there you can drag and drop onto the conversion tool.

To import the HTML file, see the steps in this article: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file.

Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.

Hi, thx for your answers,

I have tried to import backup on FF in step2.

and tried "jscher2000 bookbackreader tool" also but my JSON files seems broken: failed JSON parsing: SyntaxError: Unexpected token in JSON at position 21928, on step3. I'll look into others URL you mentionned.

Thank you.

I have had success with just cutting and pasting the newly generated profile and exchanging it with my copy of my old Firefox data. However if your copy isn't complete and or doesn't work properly because it is lacking somewhere you can either try to use system restore to go back to an earlier time where the old profile and your old bookmarks are all there and working like they used to. If those two things fail you can always try using a data recovery program to search through your HDD and hopefully everything that you need hasn't been corrupted.

I would recommend using File Scavenger 3.2 from QTek. the demo version won't be much use other than to find the files you are looking for but it will tell you if it's worth buying the program, the demo version only recovers files of under 75mb. I can PM you a link to pro version for a discount that won't cost you a bunch of money or open you up for being spammed through completing some dodgy offer.

The program is amazing I have literally had a 2gb flash drive that I deleted it's contents put on new stuff then deleted that 2gb and have been able to retrieve all 4gb of data and every file I checked worked. Every other data recovery software I have used fails pretty much all of the time. That is for programs that can be bought by the public which don't require a clean room and guys dressed in smocks to retrieve it.

I also tried this : https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/places.sqlite_Database_Troubleshooting#How_to_(try_to)_recover_from_a_corrupt_places.sqlite

the places.sqlite goes from 80MB to 32kB and if I put it in FF Profile, it stays firefox is locked on startup.

silou said

the places.sqlite goes from 80MB to 32kB

Do you still have the 80mb file?

Yes to be excact , I have a copy of all the following files:

1) Files recovered with Recuva Sofware for deleted files 2) For Windows 10 Shadow Copy , Files recovered with "Shadow Explorer" and "System Restore Explorer"

( I Created A new FF profile - launched it, closed IT, just to replace ONLY places.sqlite file)

I tried to recover "places.sqlite" using this https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/places.sqlite_Database_Troubleshooting#How_to_(try_to)_recover_from_a_corrupt_places.sqlite

• • • • From Recuva recovered deleted files => DIDNT WORK

F:\RESTORE\sqlite-tools-win32-x86-3270100\Recuva>..\sqlite3.exe places.sqlite SQLite version 3.27.1 2019-02-08 13:17:39 Enter ".help" for usage hints. sqlite> PRAGMA integrity_check; Error: file is not a database sqlite> .clone places.sqlite File "places.sqlite" already exists. sqlite> .clone places.sqlite.new Error: (26) file is not a database on [SELECT name, sql FROM sqlite_master WHERE type='table'] Error: (26) file is not a database on [SELECT name, sql FROM sqlite_master WHERE type!='table'] sqlite> exit

• • • • From : Shadow Explorer Backup: Repair steps worked but when I copy the places.sqlite on FF Profile, FF says red bar with Firefox Locked

F:\RESTORE\sqlite-tools-win32-x86-3270100\Shadow Copy SE\05-02>..\..\sqlite3.exe places.sqlite.original SQLite version 3.27.1 2019-02-08 13:17:39 Enter ".help" for usage hints. sqlite> PRAGMA integrity_check; Error: malformed database schema (?) sqlite> .clone places.sqlite sqlite> sqlite> sqlite> PRAGMA user_version; 52 sqlite> .exit

F:\RESTORE\sqlite-tools-win32-x86-3270100\Shadow Copy SE\05-02>..\..\sqlite3.exe places.sqlite SQLite version 3.27.1 2019-02-08 13:17:39 Enter ".help" for usage hints. sqlite> PRAGMA integrity_check; ok sqlite> PRAGMA user_version = 52; sqlite> PRAGMA journal_mode = truncate; truncate sqlite> PRAGMA page_size = 32768; sqlite> VACUUM; sqlite> PRAGMA journal_mode = wal; wal sqlite> .exit

FredMcD said

jscher2000 has a tool on his website . . . .

Try using this on the recovered files.

It doesn't work.

I also tried to recover those files with lz4 tools:

• • • mozlz4a.py https://gist.github.com/kaefer3000/73febe1eec898cd50ce4de1af79a332a

Result: failed

Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-19_2392_mKZssqkWMZt+Mqt-HOi68A==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 283097 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-20_2404_SrXi06vL+76Ygw+wWwGQqw==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 284629 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-21_2405_-LR7BnLQLp8G++fAun6Meg==.jsonlz4': Decompressor wrote 405239 bytes, but 782826 bytes expected from header Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-23_2408_woHIqvCoIGTQwKSclUQymQ==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 285128 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-25_2408_SU-9xwNUXrsRp4qqX-0KcQ==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 285168 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-01-26_2409_nVBujOYQiHpn1sO3zNT2tQ==.jsonlz4': Decompressor wrote 407833 bytes, but 784040 bytes expected from header Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-06_2409_dUFddcyJx1at8fLqCepNXA==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-08_2412_A0dG8r63dpcA5Okx2YPyFg==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 285507 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-11_2411_imi7SJ-7OQDGGouncsgTZQ==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-13_2415_zywpE+HtrTEfFdItM4s-vw==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-14_2418_1LhCofKpLxuuheDV+o4Zxg==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 287009 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-15_2419_pulEsio3CqZ0Bt998gMJGw==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-17_2419_tk2-cTcKQ55e0y3P7mmsNw==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-19_2419_rCCJlzmK4mHQiVKlxZhWVA==.jsonlz4': Decompression failed: corrupt input or insufficient space in destination buffer. Error code: 287208 Could not compress/decompress file `bookmarks-2019-02-20_2425_I6IT4n1EbIhUv1p-xsI8BA==.jsonlz4': Invalid magic number

• • • dejsonlz4 https://github.com/avih/dejsonlz4/releases

Result : failed dejsonlz4.exe "from shadow explorer 21-02-2019\bookmarks-2019-02-20_2425_I6IT4n1EbIhUv1p-xsI8BA==.jsonlz4" Error: unsupported file format dejsonlz4.exe "from shadow explorer 21-02-2019\bookmarks-2019-01-23_2408_woHIqvCoIGTQwKSclUQymQ==.jsonlz4" Error: decompression failed: -285128

I called for more help.

You didn't use undelete software to recover these bookmark backup files?

See also:

• /questions/1205358 Can't decompress recovered jsonlz4 session file

I used the 2 types of software:

1 for recovering Undelete files like you mentionned : Recuva ( https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva ) 1 for Accessing Kind of Hidden Backup in Windows called Shadow Copy ( Got 3 Backups on different date 2019-02-05 , 2019-02-13, 219-02-05 ) It's like 1 month before...

Thx for helping me guys.

Btw I have also opened a case in bugzilla : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1530155 ( If you have access )

Saved as: "C:\Users\Emmanuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla-21-02-2019\Firefox\Profiles\ny3vcykx.default-1550955061559\bookmarkbackups\bookmarks-2019-02-19_2419_rCCJlzmK4mHQiVKlxZhWVA==.jsonlz4.json" debugger eval code:25:7

Error: uncaught exception: Invalid content: Decompression stopped at 0 - Data: C:\Users\Emmanuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla-21-02-2019\Firefox\Profiles\ny3vcykx.default-1550955061559\bookmarkbackups\bookmarks-2019-02-19_2419_rCCJlzmK4mHQiVKlxZhWVA==.jsonlz4

Not the same error but still

Saved as: "C:\Users\Emmanuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla-SE-13-02-2019\Firefox\Profiles\sdk0x9p6.default-1517349405277\bookmarkbackups\bookmarks-2018-12-27_2384_gYx675cfHspjPy5979BlUQ==.jsonlz4.json" debugger eval code:25:7

Error: uncaught exception: Invalid header (no magic number) - Data: C:\Users\Emmanuel\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla-SE-13-02-2019\Firefox\Profiles\sdk0x9p6.default-1517349405277\bookmarkbackups\bookmarks-2018-12-27_2384_gYx675cfHspjPy5979BlUQ==.jsonlz4

I tried this also : https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/mozlz4-edit/

If you use recovery software then there is no guarantee that you get the original file. It is always possible that clusters have been reused and that the original content is lost. If you get the files from a shadow copy then you should get valid files.

Do thees file fail as well?

The compressed files should at least start with a "mozLz4" header.

Did you check the files with a hex viewing utility?

It is no use to create a bug report about this if you aren't sure that the files weren't corrupted.

ABout Recuva (Undeleted files recovering) I Agree with you. Thats why I used Shadow Explorer to recovery MS Backup and since there is 3 of them over this timespan , we should assume atleast one of the files may be working?

Like I can see others files too. I can access them normally.

Just opened (was OK) with yout code 10KB mozlz4 file : file:///C:/Users/Emmanuel/AppData/Roaming/Mozilla-13-02-2019/Firefox/Profiles/sdk0x9p6.default-1517349405277/crashes/store.json.mozlz4.json

I put an answer I wrote in Bugzilla to someone: Hello, thanks for your answers

I have this profile for a very long time , I mean years, maybe it have something to do with that.

On my hardware, (BTW I'm a Network & Sys engineer // open source. Yes I have win10 at home, we could debate on this :-p ) I have checked it. (Even CHKDSK for disk, no error). That's why I think its software related.

About JSONLZ4 Bookmark backup files, I have been have to get 1 or 2% of those with from one of the files. But from, my of point of view , something is wrong with them, even with <NULL> padded stuff in there I had to remove because of data corruption and failure to recover to Text. We aren't near the total data size that should be there. (And, All the files are about the same size, which is good when everything is normal.. But something seems, off, like maybe backup stopped because of some data in my bookmark or other stuff ..). Please tell me what you think.

Thanks for offer on those JSON. I will upload them.

And About SQLITE, any idea on what we can do ?

When I run https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/places.sqlite_Database_Troubleshooting#How_to_(try_to)_recover_from_a_corrupt_places.sqlite on the files, It gets emptied. Got any SQLite expert on your side?

Thank for your help by the way.

BTW ( I have uploaded bookmarkbackup and places.sqlite ) if you need.

Multiples one in fact, one for each backup and software.