Problems With Backup Firefox Files Restore

So I did something really stupid I uninstalled Firefox to get rid of some software that wouldn't uninstall on firefox then did a system restore, well I lost all my bookmarks, the system backs up to the previous date but the Firefox doesn't.
I have tried recovery software and the Firefox forums suggestions and nothing works.
Anybody here have any ideas, or did I lose it for good ?

The problem is that if you realise you have made a f-up with deleting something the worst thing you can do is to try and sort it out just turn the power off as even shutting down the machine can overwrite data areas and they may be the ones you want

Now either you can mount the drive in another machine as a slave or boot the machine from a USB/CD drive and use various recovery software but like most things theres an element of risk that the areas on the disk you want have been reused and thus overwritten as part of your uninstall process

But if you're very lucky - support.mozilla.org... may help you to find your data

Your backup bookmarks should still be on your comp. Umm -- but it depends on whether you've re-installed already.

Besides maxatoria's link , there's also one for finding just the backup bookmark files themselves. Where does firefox store the bookmarks files?. Just an extra link in case you need it.

Uninstalling ff should not have deleted your bookmark backups as they are held within the user profile. In fact if you want to delete all that you actually have to manually delete the ff folder that contains the profile folder and the profile.ini file. Otherwise it just sits there.

EDIT: Viz Removing user data and settings :

Removing user data and settings

Uninstalling Firefox with the default options does not remove your user profile, which includes personal information such as bookmarks, passwords and cookies. If you also want to remove this information, you should remove the folder that contains your Firefox profile, which is stored in a separate location from the Firefox program.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33
I messed up and did the same thing once. I ended up having to re-do all of my bookmarks. Good news is this time I copied them to file so if for some reason it ever happens again I can recover them that way. It was stupid of me to remove FF to start with as my problem ended up having nothing to do with my browser. :bnghd:

Mozzilla also has a cool little backup program for firefox and thunderbird...For next time.

mozbackup.jasnapaka.com...

Thanks for all the replies it seems from my research into these files that it has been overwritten with new info.
What I don't understand is why the total system restore didn't restore the original FF with the bookmarks, this baffles me.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33

Maybe there is some confusion of terms here. A system restore is to restore the system to an earlier date, but that restore should not have overwritten youf ff profile folder files. Uninstalling firefox itself also should not affect the profile folder as they're stored separately.

However, if you mean that you also re-installed ff (which is not the same as doing a system restore), that's a separate issue. Reinstalling ff probably would overwrite the existing profile folder's data with new data, meaning in that case the old data is probably lost or at least partly overwritten.

However I'm not 100% certain on that point. Maybe another member with more tech knowledge can help out, so don't give up all hope yet.

reply to post by JustMike


Yes that is what happened, silly me, uninstalled, reinstalled, system restored equals lost data, as the file backups don't have the earlier data. Well when it comes to computer tech sometimes you learn the hard way.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33

Yep, and I reckon we all learn that way sometimes. Hey, want to hear something dumb? I was once editing my main bookmarks folder in FF and by some stupid mouseclick I deleted it. The whole folder! And at that time, I didn't even know there was a backup folder!

So I went ahead and spent about three days searching and re-bookmarking about 400 sites! Then at work I mentioned it to a friend and he said, "Why didn't you just use the backup folder?"

"Duh -- what's the backup folder?"

I didn't know whether to hug him or scream.

So don't worry. You're not alone!

EDIT. Oh, as some members mentioned, it's worth backing up all your important stuff. Even backup that backup folder.

For future use, you might want to consider FEBE for backing up all your Firefox stuff. It can even be configured to backup everything automatically on a schedule.