See this search for "import bookmarks" for KB articles.

why is it so easy to import safari or chrome but not my old firefox bookmarks?

Do you still have access to this drive?

You would have to locate the Firefox profile folder.

• /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/

In Mac OS X v10.7 and later, the ~/Library folder is a hidden folder.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders#Mac_OS_X

You can either restore the places.sqlite file with the bookmarks and the history or restore the lost recent compressed .jsonlz4 backup in the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

• Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup (third/last button on the toolbar in the Library)

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/restore-bookmarks-from-backup-or-move-them
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox

I didn't know I was supposed to back up bookmarks, never had to do that before so I guess they are gone?

These instructions keep me going in circles! Why can import easily from other browsers but not firefox? I found a places.sqlite file but you don't tell me what to do with it!

Did this: "Click the Bookmarks button Bookmarks-29 and select Show All Bookmarks to open the Library window. In the Library window, click the e3f62ffc25d52f883aa490cc65d71e2d-1252097598-804-1.png Import and Backup button and then select Restore. Select the backup from which you want to restore:

   The dated entries are automatic backups.
   Choose File... lets you restore from a manual backup (see above). 

After choosing a backup, your bookmarks from that file will be restored. Close the Library window. "

But just my old Chrome bookmarks showed up! I want my bookmarks from Firefox last week before my computer died!!!

You need a bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item count>_<hash>.json backup from the old drive to be able to restore the bookmarks.

If you have a copy of places.sqlite from the time you had the old bookmarks then you can place this copy in the profile folder to replace the current file. You need to remove the places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal files.

You can use this button to go to the currently used Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox