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 to recover bookmarks form an old harddrive?

Runeknight
Runeknight
more options

About a year ago i replaced my hard drive and thought i had backed up my bookmarks to a usb stick. Recently i realized that i lost the usb stick. I still have to the old hard drive and a way for me to connect it to my computer so i can access the old files if needed. Is it possilbe to access the old bookmarks from it?

About a year ago i replaced my hard drive and thought i had backed up my bookmarks to a usb stick. Recently i realized that i lost the usb stick. I still have to the old hard drive and a way for me to connect it to my computer so i can access the old files if needed. Is it possilbe to access the old bookmarks from it?

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Most likely, yes.

First, if you haven't done so already, you'll want to change a Windows setting so that hidden files and folders are visible. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hidden-files.

Next, see what you find under this path (switching the italicized parts to the correct values for your system):

For Windows Vista and 7: 

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

For Windows XP: 

drive:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Here you may find one or more profile folders. Explore inside each of them checking for the bookmarkbackups folder. These contain JSON-format backup files with the creation dates embedded in the file names. Copy the most relevant ones to a convenient location on your C drive.

Before proceeding, did you want to replace all your current bookmarks with the backup (straight restore), or do you need to integrate your current bookmarks with the backup?

In the latter case, you'll need to do a 4-step procedure:

(1) Export current bookmarks to an HTML file (see: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks)

(2) Restore the old backup (see: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer, you'll use the Choose File option on the menu to get to that convenient location where you saved the backup)

(3) Import the file you created in step 1 (see: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file)

(4) Re-organize bookmarks to their desired locations