Backing up Mozilla from old machine to new machine

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quickymart

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#3206924 16-Mar-2024 10:06

Okay, some more tinkering has found that this information is stored in the files places.sqlite. On the old machine, that file is around 50MB. When I look at it on the new machine, it's renamed itself to places.sqlite.corrupt (although it isn't corrupt at all). I've deleted the new file and copied the old one over renaming it, but it just keeps renaming it as corrupt and won't open it.

One suggestion I've seen is to try downgrading the Firefox version and gradually upgrading from there. Doing so would be a pain in the neck but it might be my next step, I think.

robjg63

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#3206929 16-Mar-2024 10:17

FWIW I use Chrome.

I have used my gmail account with that for many many years.

If I get a new computer/phone/device, I just install Chrome, log in with my gmail account and all the history, bookmarks, passwords etc etc are there like magic.

I have chrome on my work computer. I can access all my history/bookmarks/passwords on that computer, and when I go home at the end of the day all the history etc is visible on my home devices.

I understand that google keeps the history for at least 18 months (apparently it could be longer if your account was created pre 2020).

If I really wanted to look back at something during that time, I would probably bookmark it.

I hope you get your migration sorted - I am sure using an account and syncing it is the long term answer for you.

You could try installing chrome and importing the info from Firefox.

If you then log chrome in with an account all the history/passwords/bookmarks should sync into the cloud - ready for your new computer.

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freitasm

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#3206933 16-Mar-2024 10:26

Go to Firefox Accounts and create an account.
Log into the old browser first.
Enable Sync
Log into the new browser afterwards.

quickymart

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#3206934 16-Mar-2024 10:30

Thanks, I will try that when I can.
Does the above method import all browsing history? If so, how far back (as in weeks, months, years)?

quickymart

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#3207768 18-Mar-2024 21:29

Tried setting up the Sync option on the old machine today and it gets stuck on this:

How long should it normally take? I guess there is a lot of history there to backup...

lNomNoml

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#3207791 19-Mar-2024 01:06

Versions are too different, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1216637

I would try using Google Chrome on old to import from Firefox onto a google account and then import back on firefox on the new PC.

quickymart

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#3208037 19-Mar-2024 15:14

That's also a good suggestion. Old machine is getting pretty knackered but does have Chrome installed as well. It won't let me install any new programs, however.

I'll give that idea a try as well and see how it goes 🤞

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cddt

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#3208112 19-Mar-2024 17:26

If I go to my browsing history I can Ctrl+A to select all entries and then copy and paste into a text editor.

Does that work for you?

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quickymart

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#3208167 19-Mar-2024 20:35

Thanks, that will get them into something like Notepad, which is useful - but that won't get them into Firefox, sadly 🙁

I'll try the Firefox > Chrome > new Firefox method later this week and see how that goes 🤞

quickymart

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#3209162 21-Mar-2024 14:17

lNomNoml:

Versions are too different, https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1216637

I would try using Google Chrome on old to import from Firefox onto a google account and then import back on firefox on the new PC.

Update, I think I have exported the browsing history from Firefox into Chrome on the old machine.

However, Chrome only shows the last 90 days. Some digging explained that it will all show up in My Activity on Google. I signed into this and it looks right, the history appears to be all there - but does anyone know how I can export this information into a file (preferably) that I can then import onto the new install of Firefox?

quickymart

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#3209612 22-Mar-2024 15:40

This is finally sorted!

For future generations, here are the steps that I took to transfer all the info...

- I couldn't find a version of 52.9.0 to install. I read somewhere someone suggesting going through each revision by a step of 10, so I located an installer for Firefox 62
- Uninstalled the most recent Firefox on the new machine
- Installed 62 on the new machine
- Ran MozBackup on old machine to create a backup
- Deleted existing profiles on new machine and created a brand new profile to use
- Used the MozBackup on version 62 (on the new machine)
- Success! Bookmarks, history, etc all copied over
- Firefox 62 prompted to upgrade to the latest version the next time it was run
- I let this go ahead and it updated to version 124 but retained everything

Just requires a few little tweaks and I'm good to go. For future use though I'll be using the Mozilla Sync option though.

Thanks to everyone who provided help with my issue, I'm glad it's all finally restored 🙂

Jase2985

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#3209616 22-Mar-2024 16:22

now you have it setup, create the Mozilla account and setup syncing

quickymart

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#3209621 22-Mar-2024 16:51

Yes indeed (see above), will do that part when I do the final tweaks. Otherwise it's looking good.

quickymart

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#3209930 23-Mar-2024 18:12

One thing I noticed this afternoon - this one isn't a dealbreaker, more like a nice-to-have: none of my saved logins/passwords have been copied over, despite MozBackup stating they have been.

There's absolutely no option to export it directly from the old Firefox install. I've taken screenshots of all the logins and passwords (all 12 pages of them!) so I can enter them manually - but is there a way to export/copy them from the old version to the new one?

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