Cannot recover history or bookmarks
After a force quit today, I restarted Firefox only to find it appeared to have forgotten me completely -- all of my bookmarks were gone, my history was wiped clean, I was logged out of various websites, my homepage was reset to the default...
Following the preexisting advice, I refreshed Firefox, which created a new profile but did not return my data, and I have attempted to restore my bookmarks, which results in a message saying "Unable to process the backup file." I have been running the Places Maintenance add-on for some time now and it has yet to move on from the "checking integrity..." stage.
This is the second time Firefox has deleted my history, but the first it has taken my bookmarks. I am extremely frustrated and upset.
I am running Firefox 46.0.1 on a MacBook Pro with OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)
All Replies (8)
Look in the Old Firefox folder on your desktop. How many folders are in it? What are their dates?
Old Firefox Data has one folder in it created today at the time of the refresh. It's 233.9 MB.
Now open C:\Users\==<UserName>==\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ How many profiles and their dates?
I'm on a Mac, so it's in ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/ . There is only one profile, which was created at the same time as the aforementioned one. 21.9 MB.
Sorry about that. Your last chance is the recycle folder or backup files. :-/
These can't get your data back, but will help in the future.
These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox
FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backups of files that you choose.
OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences
Dangit. Thanks for your help anyway, Fred.
You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.
See also:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox
If you use the Time Machine then try to restore file(s) from that backup.
Like I said, I've run Places Maintenance and it hasn't done much of anything. I'm currently away from my Time Machine, but once I get back I might try to recover from that.