Had to reset, tried to undo, lost everything
I was having problems with a virus so I reset Firefox back to its defaults. This didn't solve the problem, so I thought I would undo the reset and go back to the settings I had it at to begin with. When following the instructions on how to do this, I copy pasted everything in the "Old Firefox Data" folder on my desktop (which was supposed to be there because of the reset right?). The only problem with this is that I had apparently reset it before sometime last year and the "Old Firefox Data" folder on my desktop only had the data from last year, not from the recent reset. So all of my bookmarks and extensions and settings and everything are set back to the way they were last year, which means I lost EVERYTHING up until then. I can't find a secondary "Old Firefox Data" folder that was supposed to come with the new reset and I can't find anything with my original settings. Is there ANY way I can undo this? (I had A LOT of bookmarks that I'm probably never going to find again. I NEED to undo this.)
Chosen solution
Is there only one profile in the location where Firefox stores the profiles?
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
If you restored all data from a really old profile from a year ago then I'm afraid that your data is likely gone.
If you copied your old personal data to that folder then you may have JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder if the reset had preserved those, so you can check that folder to see if there are still some. It is however possible that Firefox has cleared those if that number has exceeded the maximum specified in the browser.bookmarks.max_backups pref.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox
You can also check if Windows still has shadow copies of some files.
- Right-click: Properties > Previous Versions
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Previous-versions-of-files-frequently-asked-questions
All Replies (3)
Chosen Solution
Is there only one profile in the location where Firefox stores the profiles?
- C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\
If you restored all data from a really old profile from a year ago then I'm afraid that your data is likely gone.
If you copied your old personal data to that folder then you may have JSON backups in the bookmarkbackups folder if the reset had preserved those, so you can check that folder to see if there are still some. It is however possible that Firefox has cleared those if that number has exceeded the maximum specified in the browser.bookmarks.max_backups pref.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Lost_bookmarks
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox
You can also check if Windows still has shadow copies of some files.
- Right-click: Properties > Previous Versions
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Previous-versions-of-files-frequently-asked-questions
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 backup of files that you choose.
OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences
That worked!!! Windows did have a shadow copy and I've gotten all of my bookmarks back. Thank you so much!!