Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

How do I access older sync points with the new sync?

Cujonautics
Cujonautics
more options

After getting a new computer, downloading firefox, and signing into my account, none of my saved bookmarks or add-ons have synced from my previous computer. Instead, the sync seems to have just saved the fresh version of firefox with no data.


How can I access an older sync point so as to restore the older data for bookmarks and addons?

After getting a new computer, downloading firefox, and signing into my account, none of my saved bookmarks or add-ons have synced from my previous computer. Instead, the sync seems to have just saved the fresh version of firefox with no data. How can I access an older sync point so as to restore the older data for bookmarks and addons?

Chosen solution

There are no "older sync points" - only one set of data is on the Sync server.

Sync is not a 'storage cloud', it is intended to store one data set for synchronizing across multiple devices. Your data should still be on the older device; and you can connect back to Sync with that device to "recover" your data to the server using the current Sync password.

As far as losing the data that was on the Sync server from your old device originally, that can happen when a Password reset is done. That data becomes useless when the account Password is changed; that data was encrypted based upon the Password - a different Password wouldn't be able to decrypt the saved data, rendering that data useless to anyone. Therefore the Sync server wipes the old, useless data to allow the user to continue using that Sync account and / or clear out corrupted data for a clean start with that Sync account.

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (1)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

Chosen Solution

There are no "older sync points" - only one set of data is on the Sync server.

Sync is not a 'storage cloud', it is intended to store one data set for synchronizing across multiple devices. Your data should still be on the older device; and you can connect back to Sync with that device to "recover" your data to the server using the current Sync password.

As far as losing the data that was on the Sync server from your old device originally, that can happen when a Password reset is done. That data becomes useless when the account Password is changed; that data was encrypted based upon the Password - a different Password wouldn't be able to decrypt the saved data, rendering that data useless to anyone. Therefore the Sync server wipes the old, useless data to allow the user to continue using that Sync account and / or clear out corrupted data for a clean start with that Sync account.