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Can't Restore Retrieved Bookmarks!!!!!

  • 16 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Accidentally delete & updated to newer version Firefox...

Successfully retrieve a bunch of bookmarks using Piriform Recuva, store them in a new folder(still in originally json state), then only to find that bookmark manager can't process it.... (PISSED!!!!!)

Follow instruction by MozillaZine on changing folder names to "places.sqlite", but all that files didn't existed & are named "places.sqlite", so didn't change that...

Reboot & restarted my lap. didn't solve problem...

What am I still missing ??? Someone pls help!!!

Accidentally delete & updated to newer version Firefox... Successfully retrieve a bunch of bookmarks using Piriform Recuva, store them in a new folder(still in originally json state), then only to find that bookmark manager can't process it.... (PISSED!!!!!) Follow instruction by MozillaZine on changing folder names to "places.sqlite", but all that files didn't existed & are named "places.sqlite", so didn't change that... Reboot & restarted my lap. didn't solve problem... What am I still missing ??? Someone pls help!!!

All Replies (16)

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Do you see any http links in the JSON files that you restored?

You can try if you can retrieve some links with a bookmarklet.

See this MozillaZine forum thread.


javascript:(function(){var E=document.getElementsByTagName('PRE')[0],T=E.innerHTML,R=/("uri":"([^"]*)")/g,i=0,r1,r2,t;t=new Array();while(R.test(T)){r1=RegExp.$1;r2=RegExp.$2;if(/^(https?|ftps?):/i.test(r2)){t.push('['+(i++)+']:<a href='+r2+'>'+r2+'<\/a>');}}with(window.open().document){write(t.join('<br>\n'));close();}})();
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o.k.... gone through all info on both links u given me... try open json files with tab browser, one of the latest date did show something like a unicode, but shown no http links... the rest of the json files I click on kepts askin : "What should firefox do with this file", I click "OK" with "firefox(default)" and it kepts goes on & on & on opening new tab with each time askin the same thing....

I still dont get a damn clue, am I still missing something else... I understand viewing json files get to view its http links source too, am I right??? So, how I'm suppose to view those files properly???

Can provide me step-by-step on how to use the bookmarklet that u described... I'm no advanced user, so pls be more detail...

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And by the way I'm using FF 9.0.1, and by the way... I need to ask, is it crucial for loading up all the recovered bookmarks into a brand new profile... Cuz what I did is I simply retrieve & directly stuff into my existing profile( in the bookmarkbackups)... I didn't make a new profile... Do I need to create a new profile just for the recoverd bookmarks to be work??? If so, how about other files inside the profile, do i need to move them too???

Modified by aesvegrn

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Try to rename the file and add a .txt file extension if Firefox refuses to open the file in a tab or add a view-source: prefix to to link in the location bar (view-source:file:///c:/ etc.)

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Alright, I did two trial version, one with adding .txt and the other one without rename... but I did open both files with a prefix as u suggested... the result were sort of hard for me to described, I'll just copy & paste one fragment of it : INDX(� �¹QF‹?���?�������(���À?��è?������ (with .txt) ; $Ní„CIþû;3’|ŠC۽繮ç5’F£Ñh4: (without .txt)

So, is it mean that I'm very close now for solving my problem???? Pls further assist...

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And it doesn't shows up a http link either, all are like unicode text.... Do I need to convert it or what....

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That is binary data, so Recuva didn't succeed to restore those files and what you got were corrupted files that are useless.

A JSON backup is a text file and should start with

  • {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded":

You can also compare that with an existing JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

You can try to do a low level search for that data with Recuva to see if that brings up a file with that content, but then you may only get the first cluster if the file is fragmented.

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" may only get the first cluster if the file is fragmented " meaning what??? With all that said : Can I still manage to restore my bookmarks again??? Isn't there any other option for me, even if its just to view the web links???

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You can only get your bookmarks back if you manage to recover a bookmarks.json file that isn't corrupted. Chances are not very high if Recuva didn't manage to do that and you are not experienced enough to use low level means to recover files.

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hey, Cor-el... Just found something that sparks me off!!!! I manage to view couple of the JSON, u mention JSON are text file that should start with {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded": , so here one small section of it, see if this is exactly what we're looking & hoping for :

/*******************************************************************************
**
**  File Name:    ss_wdg_contentqualifiers.js
**
**  Summary:      Qualifiers to help localization determine which pieces of
**                content are applicable and "qualified" for the page.
**
**  Description:  For instance, some pieces of content may not apply to
**                all operating systems, or may only apply when
**                a particular product is installed on the server.
**
**  Dependencies: TBD
**
**  Copyright SupportSoft Inc. 2006, All rights reserved.
*******************************************************************************/
/*
  Operating System Flavor Filters
*/

And another one :

LL2");
    if (!isIE)
        document.getElementById("divFooter").innerHTML = footerText;

    if (isIE && counterHiddingFooter == 2) {
        document.getElementById("divFooterWrap").style.display = "none";
        document.getElementById("imgParagraph2").style.display = "none";
    }

};

function onFinish() {
    var ansArrPersonalComps;
    try {
        if (arrPersonalComps.extraOptions && arrPersonalComps.extraOptions.dialogMode == "welcomeonly") {
            ansArrPersonalComps = arrPersonalComps;
        }
        else {
            ansArrPersonalComps = {
                email: { visible: false, checked: false },
                weather: { visible: false, checked: false },
                radio: { visible: false, checked: false },
                facebook: { visible: false, checked: false },
                extraOptions: {
                    HomepageIsSet: { visible: false, checked: false },
                    FFSearchIsDefault: { visible: false, checked: false },
                    FixPageNotFoundErrorsChecked: { visible: false, checked: false },
                    AlertEnabled: { visible: false, checked: false }

Modified by cor-el

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Is this JSON file still in good condition for restore back my bookmarks??? Or am I wrong??? And by the way, forgot to mention that I'm also using I.E. as well... so, I'm not sure that I've retrieved FF JSON backup along with IE... But pls give me some advice...

1 more thing... Is it me or my browser seem weird like the forum thread just went " overwhelming "....

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File Name: ss_wdg_contentqualifiers.js and Copyright SupportSoft Inc. 2006, All rights reserved.

That is not a Mozilla Firefox file.

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Cor-el, I manage to view one JSON file that is "single-line-text", but it doesn't start with the header < {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded": >

It started like this : 412-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9};{90E00C04-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9};{90E00804-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}; ........

Is this a firefox bookmark file??? If it is, what I need to do next???

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No, I'm afraid not. Only a file that starts with {"title":"","id":1,"dateAdded": could be a valid JSON backup. You can open a recent bookmarks.json copy in the bookmarkbackups folder to see what it looks like.

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one question : Using Recuva, am I supposedly retrieving deleted bookmarks.... or looking for bookmark backups, which one??? And where should I looking for... is it on recycle bin??? or is it on the user Appdata???

As far as I remember, all the bookmarks that I retrieved are from the recycle bin...

over thousand of bookmarks been retrieved, how come not even a single one that is useable.... isn't there any possibility that one out of those thousand is useful/good condition??? I only been uninstall FF for half & a day, only a couple minutes after-that reinstall & retrieved the bookmarks by recuva.... that's only been a split second of time...

tell me, Cor-el... what else do I still can do to recover my lost bookmarks...

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If the profile folder is gone then you first need to recover (undelete) that folder and then try to restore the files in it.
For the bookmarks you need to recover the bookmarkbackups folder with the JSON backups in it.