Look on your desktop. Do you see a folder called; Old Firefox?

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

No, there's nothing by that name on my desktop, so the past fixes suggested here on the forum don't seem to apply.

How many profiles should be on your computer?

Type about:profiles<enter> in the address bar. How many profiles are listed?

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

Thanks... there's just one profile (Profile: default), with the top entry underneath the header saying "Default Profile: no." The Profiles page also gives me two options: Restart with add-ons disabled or Restart normally.

Places Maintenance {web link} Allows to run Maintenance tasks on the database that drives Places, the bookmarks and history module behind Firefox.

Open the Add-ons Manager. Locate the add-on and press the Options button. Then follow the directions.

Did this, thanks, but history and bookmarks are still gone. Anything else I can do?

Is it just history, or is there a problem with the bookmarks?

History and cookies can be removed or not recorded several ways;

• 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
• 2) Privacy settings; (Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar.)
• 3) Many disk cleaners and anti-virus type programs can remove data from browsers. Open their settings and have them leave the browsers alone.
• 4) Mal-ware.

No, it's both history and bookmarks. I've checked all the other issues, and have done a full security scan, so the possibilities you named seemed to be ruled out. It's starting to look like I'm not getting my lost data back :( Thanks for your efforts, though -- I appreciate it!

Type about:support in the address bar and press enter.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile.

Look for this file: places.sqlite : History and Bookmarks. What is the size of the file?

Restore Bookmark Backups

To open the Bookmarks Manager, press the Alt or F10 key bring up the tool bar, and select Bookmarks. Hot key is <Control>(Mac=<Command>) <Shift> B.

Once the window is open, at the top of the page, press the button labeled Import and Backup. Select Restore. From the list, pick the file you want and click it.

The backups are stored in a jsonlz4 file named something like this; bookmarks-2016-06-29_1424_enD1GTHya0JmicnYWg4V4g==.jsonlz4 In this example; 2016-06-29 = date created, 1424 = number of entries.

Thanks! places.sqlite is 10,240KB (probably what I've accumulated in new history since last one crashed). There's also a places.sqlite.corrupt -- which I suspect is my old history -- that's 71,680KB.

Haven't tried restoring bookmark backups yet, but will attempt that next.

ebishirl said

There's also a places.sqlite.corrupt -- which I suspect is my old history

COPY this file to a safe location. You may be able to recover the information. I called for more help.

FredMcD said

How many profiles should be on your computer? Type about:profiles<enter> in the address bar. How many profiles are listed?

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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

How can I avoid being in ebishirl like situation?

Please have a look at my question: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1152310

sherdil.me There are several responses to your question. If they don't work for you, just say so on your question.