So I've already DL'ed the backup extension. Thanks to the authors.
For now, though:
* I searched for all instances of 'bookmarks' on my drive. Have it set to show hidden folders. What it brings back are not the bookmarks file I need. Backup version as well.
* Tried system restore - I cannot understand how it would not have given me a recent copy of the bookmarks I seek, but nothing - still the lousy, empty copy I have today. Even went back 1 day, 3 days, and 10 days.
* Went to profile manager - there's only one profile - mine, named 'default'.
* Checked TM; only one instance running.
* I have run virus scans and adware clients. Clean disk.
* I have not crashed, crashed FF, or otherwise screwed with my system (the only update I've allowed in the past two days was one for Sage).
I have read boards and researched, but no one can say why this happens, yet it has clearly happened to a bunch of people.
Any other help greatly appreciated.
EB
YrbkMgr wrote:I'm not going to be the most popular guy, but I seriously doubt that bookmarks are actually disappearing. I'm happy to be wrong, but before the conclusion is drawn that bookmarks are "gone", I've yet to see a user clearly enunciate the following:
We know that sometimes when you close Firefox, it isn't removed as a running process. In fact, we've seen reports of multiple instances of FF running in Task Manager. Based on everything I've seen to date, when you close FF and it is not ended as a process in Task Manager, re-starting FF (without a reboot) loads a new default profile. Now exactly what is preserved from the old profile and what isn't I can't say; but if this happens, your bookmarks are "lost" - FF essentially created a new profile with default bookmarks.
One of the first things to do, is to close FF, and make sure that there are no instances of FF running in Task Manager. Then, the user should start ProfileManager so that a dialog pops up asking which profile to use. If there's more than one (and they could all be called Default), then it is likely that the old bookmarks reside in one of those profiles.
Another procedure is to find the bookmarks.html files that exist on the hard drive. There are explicit instructions for where these would reside, but in consideration of the fact that some people may log on as a user (XP) and sometimes they may also log in as Admin, the easiest thing to do is to do a comprehensive search for the file across all folders.
Many people say that they've searched, and can't find them. But they never verify that they have set Explorer to view hidden files and folders, and that they have the search tool set to search in hidden files and folders. So when they say that they can't find them, I'm not convinced (yet) that they are searching properly.
But the point is, disappearing bookmarks is, in my opinion, a phenomenon of drawing conclusions without all the data.
I've had FF installed on countless user machines and have seen about every PBCAK error you can imagine (Problem Between Chair and Keyboard). I've heard my clients report that the bookmarks are missing, a boatload of times. In every instance I have personally been involved with, they haven't disappeared; the user simply couldn't find them.
As I said, I'm happy to be proven wrong. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that 99.9% of all reported missing bookmarks is the result of simply not knowing how to get your old ones back.
(XXXXXX=random #'s or letters)