Sync is empty
I have reinstalled my windows, installed again Firefox, logged in to my account which is connected and synced on my PC for around last 10 years. After I have logged in and clicked Sync (like many times before when I reinstall windows) nothing happened, there is nothing, I lost 10+ years of passwords, usernames and bookmarks. I cant go to restore previous date, because I have fresh windows with no dates accept today. I cant import from file, because my computer crashed and had to format and reinstall windows without planing to do that, so I didn't had chance to export file. I was hoping that Sync will do it's only purpose and have my bookmarks synced. But it didn't, it didn't even gave me some previous version of sync, it gave me nothing... What should I do now?
All Replies (4)
Hi igorrelic,
Thank you for your question about the Firefox Sync service.
It appears from your question, that you are using Firefox Sync as a back up service. This is not what Sync is designed to do. The Firefox Sync service takes a copy of the data you wish to include and transfers it to a second device (typically a mobile device such as a tablet or a telephone) running a copy of Firefox. The storage in between all attached devices is both temporary and fragile and is not stable enough to be (and is not designed as) a reliable backup service.
If you have a copy of your Firefox profile for desktop Firefox, you may be able to recover your bookmarks and other data. Please have a read of this article.
If you have a copy of your data on a mobile version of Firefox, please follow these instructions to connect it to Firefox Sync to copy your data.
Since your information is saved locally and not on a cloud, unless you have access to your old profile on your hard drive, you will not be able to restore your information.
Josh
Hi Josh, thanks for reply, I guess it's my fault I thought sync is meant to be a backup. I'll have to collect my data manually than, hope I will remember everything in next few months. Can you tell me is there a way to save my passwords, bookmarks and everything else on other way than manually doing export every day and saving it to flash drive, since I never got notification from my hard disk or windows that they are planing to crash soon and I should back up my stuff?
Hi igorrelic,
I'm sorry this is the case for you! There are a couple things that can be done to backup your information so you still have it in the event of a crash. Firefox Lockwise is an add-on that will securely save your passwords even if you need to format your hard drive.
There is a support article [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox...] that goes over how to backup the rest of your information. One way to do this without putting it on a flashdrive everyday is to upload the profile folder to Google Drive. There are other cloud saving services available that you could upload this folder to as well. I hope this helps!
Josh
Any possibility that the Windows re-installation created a Windows.old file or folder-set in C:/ which might contain your former user data from the previous installation of Windows?
See if either of these help you: https://superuser.com/questions/1210451/what-does-windows-old-folder-contain