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My hard drive failed, what file can I locate my old Bookmarks in if possible?

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  • Last reply by aldra

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Hard drive was erratic and replaced but old one is still operable with many files visible via USB to old drive. I have not reloaded Firefox yet on the new hard drive, I'm using my wife's exact same computer minus all my Bookmarks. I had a large number of Bookmarks I dearly miss. Windows 7 Pro Firefox version 54.0 Plugins * Shockwave Flash 26.0 r0

Thank you.

Hard drive was erratic and replaced but old one is still operable with many files visible via USB to old drive. I have not reloaded Firefox yet on the new hard drive, I'm using my wife's exact same computer minus all my Bookmarks. I had a large number of Bookmarks I dearly miss. Windows 7 Pro Firefox version 54.0 Plugins * Shockwave Flash 26.0 r0 Thank you.

Chosen solution

Do you have access to your old drive as an external or additional drive? Let's call it "E".

First, set Windows to show all hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

Ideally you would grab a copy of everything on drive E under this path and back it up somewhere safe:

E:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

But if the only thing you want is bookmarks, drill down further into the semi-randomly named profile folder (or if there are multiple folders, check each one), then into the bookmarkbackups folder and copy a few recent backups to your desktop for easier access.

Note: These files are compressed and can't be opened by other software.

Once you have those recent files, you can replace the current set of bookmarks in your current Firefox profile using the "Restore" process described in this article: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer. If the first one works, you're done. If you get an error, try a different one.

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Chosen Solution

Do you have access to your old drive as an external or additional drive? Let's call it "E".

First, set Windows to show all hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

Ideally you would grab a copy of everything on drive E under this path and back it up somewhere safe:

E:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

But if the only thing you want is bookmarks, drill down further into the semi-randomly named profile folder (or if there are multiple folders, check each one), then into the bookmarkbackups folder and copy a few recent backups to your desktop for easier access.

Note: These files are compressed and can't be opened by other software.

Once you have those recent files, you can replace the current set of bookmarks in your current Firefox profile using the "Restore" process described in this article: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer. If the first one works, you're done. If you get an error, try a different one.

Success?

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aldra said

I have not reloaded Firefox yet on the new hard drive, I'm using my wife's exact same computer minus all my Bookmarks.

Whoops, just noticed this. You will need to install Firefox on the new drive to use the Restore feature.

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Thank You, My massive bookmark folder has been recovered and working great on the new drive. I really appreciate all the timely help and precise instructions. Thanks again, AL