can I use sync to get my data back to the 1st device registered? They are still on a 2nd device. I synced after loosing my login data, nothing re-appeared.
What will happen to the data stored by syncing, if these data were lost on the 1st device (assuming there is one main device, cciiw), but still available on a later connected device? This happened to me: my Firefox data were gone as a result of some Linux problems. On my Windows Firefox, everything was still there, and also on my Android phone, both were synced recently. Now I tried to 'sync them back' to the 1st device, my Linux computer. No saved logins re-appeared. Then I started to think: maybe there is a hierarchy, and a preferred direction for deleted data. Suppose for example, that I want to delete the logins from my phone, for security reasons. I would not want to loose them the next time Firefox is synced on my computer. But there has to be a way data are deleted from the account, otherwise deleting would have to be done on all the devices in one run, before any device is synced. After thinking this, I temporarily 'froze' my Android Firefox, because that may be the only place where the logins are still present. And I would hate to loose them, in case syncing sends data from the 1st device to other devices, and not vice versa. Detail: there was a master password at first on my computer, I removed that and tried again. Same result. There is NO master psw on the phone, which must change asap, but maybe my luck not to have it this time.
Chosen solution
It would be better to copy the information to a thumb, then copy to the other system overwriting the current files.
If you have sync, and there is a problem anywhere, Shut Down Sync Immediately On All Devices to prevent the problem from spreading. Once the problem is fixed, perform the same repair on all computers before using sync again.
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Chosen Solution
It would be better to copy the information to a thumb, then copy to the other system overwriting the current files.
If you have sync, and there is a problem anywhere, Shut Down Sync Immediately On All Devices to prevent the problem from spreading. Once the problem is fixed, perform the same repair on all computers before using sync again.
Thank you for your quick reply. Yes I realized that 'sync' may in this case mean spreading of deletion, but I don't know if it works that way. It does in Dropbox, the cloud following what is done on a subscriber's device. So I took the phone off the internet and gave Firefox kind of quarantaine there. Disconnecting from the FF account would have been sufficient.
The files you refer to, are they the same in different OS'es? I read which files I should try to save or find back: some 'key' file, and a JSON file. In Windows, I must be able to find them, in Android it could be a problem (no root access). Most of it or maybe everything is in the Windows machine, and I also have them taken in by Chrome, installed for that purpose. So, if everything else fails, I will import them back to Firefox again, de-install FF from the Linux computer, and re-install, then sync.
But first I will do as you suggest, copy and replace the mentioned files. Mentioned in the Firefox troubleshooter.
Copying did the job. But only after I created another user on the same Linux computer, logged in as that user - to have the same version of Firefox and therefore compatible files - and connected FF to my own syncing account. And then synced. I am not quite sure, but I think after just copying the 'logins.json' file, the job was done. Could be that I also copied 'key3.db'.
This still leaves the question open, what will happen if I delete all the logins from one connected device (or as one user on the same device), and then sync. Will those 0 logins replace the (some dozens of) logins, i.e. wipe them from my stored data in the account? Or will Firefox on that device - or when logged in as that user - get the deleted data back?