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How The Heck Does Synch Work??

  • 2 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Lloxie

Lloxie
Lloxie
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I am trying to easily migrate my settings, bookmarks, etc. to a new computer from my old one. I figured Firefox's Synch feature might help. Sadly, the instructions for Synch only tell you how to use it, not what it actually does. After looking through other questions, I've seen many responses that are utterly meaningless to me. I want to set it up so that it uses the settings on -this- computer to copy over to my new one, using this one as a "master" to base any future devices off of. However everything I read suggests that there is no "master" and all devices share the settings equally. That confuses and concerns me greatly.

How can I ensure that my new computer will copy the settings from this computer, and that this one won't instead change everything to the default settings the new one has, losing everything I'm trying to copy over?

I am trying to easily migrate my settings, bookmarks, etc. to a new computer from my old one. I figured Firefox's Synch feature might help. Sadly, the instructions for Synch only tell you how to use it, not what it actually does. After looking through other questions, I've seen many responses that are utterly meaningless to me. I want to set it up so that it uses the settings on -this- computer to copy over to my new one, using this one as a "master" to base any future devices off of. However everything I read suggests that there is no "master" and all devices share the settings equally. That confuses and concerns me greatly. How can I ensure that my new computer will copy the settings from this computer, and that this one won't instead change everything to the default settings the new one has, losing everything I'm trying to copy over?

All Replies (2)

guigs
guigs
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Hi Lloxie, Yes, this is a data loss concern. At the moment, new sync accounts first sync the data of the current profile you are setting it up in. What this means for your scenario is that you can set up the new sync account on a computer with the data you want to sync already there.

Also, the current set up for Firefox Sync is that there is no master computer. This only happens on the first sync. So for example, when you add a second device the items on both devices are merged. (bugzilla 966530)

How can you ensure all the data transfers: Two ways:Creating a local back up of your profile and setting up the new sync account on the old computer first or by copying the profile folder to the new installation of Firefox. Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles

Lloxie
Lloxie Question owner
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Thanks for the reply! I'll give the profile copying trick a shot.