Sync is not meant to be used as a backup.

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.

Thank you, Fred McD -

I will try what you suggest. It will be just one more thing to do daily.

Hello Juanaquena,

Also, Firefox backs up your bookmarks every day, automatically. See here: Restore bookmarks from backup

Thank you for response, My_Cheese_Is_Slippin -

Right now, I am hacked off because of the time I need to take to save my profile information, so that I can re-install it when there is a new Firefox installation.

Prior to Firefox 67.0.3, I did not have to do that. The bookmarks, extensions, etc. all transferred with the new installation. I just may decide not to install any new Firefox version starting with ver. 67.0.3.

I may choose to drop Firefox as a browser all together and use Chrome all the time.

Hi Juanaquena, Having choices is great, isn't it? You can set Firefox to let you choose to install updates when they are available. That way you can prepare a copy of your profile only when you need to. Update 67.0.3 was only a security patch. I don't understand why anyone would have issues with something like that. Maybe anti-virus? Maybe Windows 7? Maybe because it was on a Tuesday - who knows. Chrome is making a lot of changes lately. You might find it interesting to visit their forum before you decide to switch. Anyway, make good choices.

Today, 7 Jul 2019, I decided to try to update my Firefox installation. Before I did so, I set a restore point. Then, I went to Firefox.com and chose the installation option for me (Windows 7 64-bit.) When I did so, I received a pop-up window cautioning me that my profile information would not automatically transfer to the new installation (67.0.04) unless I had my profile information synced. Following is the information I found:

[Quote] Changes to your Firefox profile

What changed?

This installation of Firefox has a new profile. A profile is the set of files where Firefox saves information such as bookmarks, passwords, and user preferences.

In order to make it easier and safer to switch between installations of Firefox (including Firefox, Firefox ESR, Firefox Beta, Firefox Developer Edition, and Firefox Nightly), this installation now has a dedicated profile. It does not automatically share your saved information with other Firefox installations.

You have not lost any personal data or customizations. If you’ve already saved information to Firefox on this computer, it is still available in another Firefox installation.

What are my options?

If you do nothing, your profile data in Firefox will be different from profile data in other installations of Firefox.

If you would like all of your profile data to be the same on all installations of Firefox, you can use a Firefox Account to keep them in sync. [End quote]

This information was not initially provided when I tried to install the Firefox update version 67.0.3 on 19 Jun 2019.

You can copy files like these with Firefox closed to the current profile folder to recover specific data.

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

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

• bookmarks and history: places.sqlite
• bookmark backups: compressed .jsonlz4 JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder
• cookies.sqlite for the Cookies
• formhistory.sqlite for saved autocomplete Form Data
• logins.json (passwords) and key4.db (58+) or key3.db (57 and older) (decryption key) for Passwords saved in the Password Manager
  if you only have key3.db then make sure to remove an existing key4.db
• cert9.db (58+) or cert8.db (57 and older) for (intermediate) certificates stored in the Certificate Manager
  if you only have cert8.db then make sure to remove an existing cert9.db
• persdict.dat for words you added to the spelling checker dictionary
• permissions.sqlite for Permissions and possibly content-prefs.sqlite for other website specific data (Site Preferences)
• sessionstore.jsonlz4 for open tabs and pinned tabs (see also the sessionstore-backups folder)