'New Sync' account deleted 'Old Sync' data?
Here's the thing. I previously set up 'Old Sync' in FF26, and saved the Recovery Key in a .txt file.
I had some problems connecting to Internet so I thought I'd uninstall FF26 completely ("Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" option), install newest Firefox and use Sync to retrieve all my data.
But to my surprise that was not possible - my Recovery Key just wouldn't get accepted.
I then created new Sync account using the same e-mail address and tried to retrieve my data, but no luck again.
It was only logical that the next step should be: 1) Uninstall FF30 2) Install FF26 3) Use 'Old Sync'. However, nothing happened. No bookmarks, no saved passwords, no nothing.
Is there a way for me to get that data back? I repeat, I used "Remove my Firefox personal data and customizations" when uninstalled FF26 (thought that some of the add-ons or something might be the problem).
All Replies (8)
Sync is not a backup system, nor was it ever meant to be one. You should have created a physical backup of your data.
Unfortunately in this case, It doesn't appear that there is anything that can be done.
Next time you have an issue with Firefox, please feel free to visit this site and we can help you resolve your problem while saving your data.
'Seamlessly sync your bookmarks, history, passwords and more and access them from any device.'
I thought this meant I can get my bookmarks, history, passwords... wherever and whenever I want?
You can, but it says Sync, not backup. You connected an empty profile to the Sync account, there were no other profiles with data connected, so it wiped everything out.
Sorry, the Sync feature was changed for Firefox 29. Many positive improvements were made in the new API.
Wish you would have checked with us before you tried to connect to Sync with Firefox 30. The correct procedure would have been to install Firefox 28 (the last version using the old Sync), then connect to your Sync account to recover you data. Once your data was back on your PC, then you could have updated to Firefox 30. Too late now, but .... Sync your Firefox bookmarks, history, passwords and more
If you didn't remove your old Sync account or generated a new sync key in Firefox 26 then this data should still be on the Sync servers. The new Sync that is used in the current Firefox releases uses different servers and you won't be able to access data used by the previous Sync version.
To access that data you would have to install the Firefox 28 version like posted above and connect to the old Sync account.
I've tried it with re-installed version 26. First it returned 'Failed to connect to server', and after one more click on 'Next' it returned 'Wrong Recovery Key'.
After that I did get to new key generation window, but I canceled it when prompted 'Change Recovery Key'. (I just tried all this with Firefox 28, didn't work.)
Maybe if I changed the Server: Default Mozilla Firefox Sync server?
PS Firefox Setup Stub 28.0.exe installs only Firefox 30.
Modified by willWork4Food
Sounds that you didn't save the correct sync key or used a different e-mail account.
Yes! There is an old saying: 'Two heads are smarter than just one'. It was a different e-mail account I was using to Sync. But I guessed there would be a warning like 'Wrong username and/or password'.
It is all there. It even updated itself to Firefox 30. Should I use the new Sync now?
And, thanks for your patience.