I used sync about a month ago. Now I signed in with clean PC, but I'm not receiving my bookmarks and passwords?
My PC ran into trouble about a month ago and had to be sent off for repairs. I knew there was a good chance the drive would be wiped, so I signed into Firefox and did a sync. I then signed in on another PC to verify that I'd have the bookmarks, and I did.
Now, several weeks later, I have the PC back, and the drive was wiped as expected. When I reinstall Firefox and sign in, sync doesn't seem to do anything. How do I get my bookmarks and passwords back?
Opaite Mbohovái (6)
Firefox Sync is not a backup system, it shouldn't be used as such. It is only to be used for synchronizing data between existing machines, not backups. You should always have a physical backup of your data.
That's a fascinating lecture on PC backups, but doesn't answer the question at all. Do you mean to say it just didn't keep the data?
A proper software backup system will make save points. Firefox Sync does not do that. By logging in with a fresh system without another one that has your data on it, it can wipe the Firefox sync data. That's why I reiterated that Sync is not a backup system and there is no way to get your data back.
matt,, Did you have any problem when signing into Sync? Did you request a new Password?
What about that other PC that you used to "verify" with? Your data still should be there.
Ed,
I did have problems signing in, and did request a new password. Do you think that has something to do with it?
Unfortunately I no longer have access to the other PC, so I'm probably out of options. Thanks for trying to help though.
Sorry, requesting a new password was a fatal mistake. Sync encrypts the user data before sending that data to the Sync servers and uses the same "key" to decrypt that data when it comes back your your devices - the the "key" is based upon the current account password. The system flushes the data when the password is changed, due to the "key" being changed.