No doubt, you’ve invested much time and energy in setting up your Firefox bookmarks (especially bookmarks), extensions, add-ons, and other personal settings that work just for you, and which provide you with an effective, and efficient, browsing experience.
Personally, I have literally hundreds of bookmarks (some going back 7 or 8 years), 20+ add-ons, and additional tweaks that make my version of Firefox unique to me.
I shudder to think what I would need to do to recapture this exact configuration if, for some reason, I lost all the years of work that went into massaging Firefox to meet my exact personal requirements.
Luckily, I don’t have to lose any sleep over this possibility, since I frequently back up all of this critical data with MozBackup, a free tiny utility that all Firefox users should consider adding to their toolbox.
In addition to backing up a Firefox profile, MozBackup will create profile backups for the following applications – Mozilla Thunderbird, Sunbird, Flock, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite, Spicebird, Songbird and Netscape.
Lets run through a backup session for Firefox.
Open the application (be sure Firefox is not running) and follow the prompts as indicated in the following screen captures.
Please note, as shown in the above graphic, I backup to my E: drive, and not to my system drive. You should take the same precaution, and backup to a non-system partition, or a USB drive.
Frankly, after backing up my profile to a non-system partition, I then backup the same profile to a USB key. I will not take the risk of losing years of work through happenstance.
The backup is now complete – all in a matter of a few minutes.
Recovery is just as simple. Just start the application (be sure Firefox is not running), and follow the bouncing ball. In just a few moments, your previously backed up critical data will be restored.
MozBackup is one of the most important tools in my utility toolbox, and I strongly recommend it to all Firefox users.
For a lesson in just how important this application can be, please see yesterday’s article – CoolPreviews – You Ruined My Day!
System requirements: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7
Additional requirements: Mozilla Firefox
Download at: the developers site.
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Thanks Bill….. Installed!
Btw, is it good to backup cookies too?? What if there’s also a tracking cookie?? I know that it cant do much harm but still why would someone like to have a tracking cookie??
Hey Ranjan,
EVERY time I logoff the Net, I run CCleaner and BetterPrivacy, so cookies are a non-issue for me. As well, I don’t allow Firefox to save History – it’s cleared at logoff as well.
So, I’m with you – don’t save cookies. The old idea that cookies are for the benefit of the user, is strictly BS.
Bill
Thanks Bill.
Another one I missed, but I’ll get to this right now!
Liam
Hi Liam,
Hopefully, the day will never come that you need to run restore with this application, but…..
Thanks for coming by.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Another alternative is the FEBE addon for Firefox. One advantage over MozBackup is the convenience of being able to perform a backup straight from Firefox’s ‘Options’ drop-down menu without having to close the browser. Firefox is then unresponsive for 20-30 seconds (of which you are warned) while the backup takes place. One drawback is that a ‘complete’ restore can not be completed from within the browser and involves renaming the extension of a backed up profile file to .zip and unzipping the contents to your profile location. Sounds a bit protracted but having used it hundreds of times i can vouch for its effectiveness. Extensions, themes, bookmarks, preferences etc. can also be restored individually, again from Firefox’s ‘Options’ menu which is useful if you want to rollback a certain aspect of your browser setup. You takes your choice
Cheers.
Sut
Hi Sut,
Thanks for this.
Once I got to “Extensions, themes, bookmarks, preferences etc. can also be restored individually, again from Firefox’s ‘Options’ menu which is useful if you want to rollback a certain aspect of your browser setup. You takes your choice
”, I was convinced. I’m into flexibility.
I took a look at the feature list on the Mozilla add-on site, and I couldn’t help but download and install – some amazing features (love the scheduling ability).
Will definitely feature this in a review.
Good to hear from you.
Best,
Bill
“One drawback is that a ‘complete’ restore can not be completed from within the browser and involves renaming the extension of a backed up profile file to .zip and unzipping the contents to your profile location.”
FEBE v6.3 allows for profile restores within Fx. No need to rename anything or even leave the browser.
The method you described is for performing a manual restore.
Thanks for the clarification Chuck (Chuck is the author of FEBE).
FEBE is an amazing application, and should be on every FF user’s add-on list.
Bill
Greetings
thank you Bill
This software is a must have for mozilla firefox, seamonkey, thunderbird users.
I love it.
Regards
Hey Leofelix,
Totally agree – I can’t imagine the amount of work it would take to rebuild if not for this small application.
Bill
Just when I made the switch to Chrome too……Thanks for the article Bill, I will download and install this because I am not completely sold on chrome yet.
Tex
Hey Tex,
Chrome is a pretty good Browser – I use it just to keep my hand in with it. But, I have a lot invested in Firefox after using it for so long now – hard to give it up.
Good to hear you now have the ability to backup your Firefox. Let’s hope you’ll never need it, but…
Bill
What’s meant by BS Bill…? I’m not so good at the internet language…
Hey Ranjan,
BS means Bullshit – an attempt to mislead, or deceive, by talking nonsense. *Collins English Dictionary* – acceptable in speech, although some older or more conservative people may object to its use.
Bill
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Hi Bill,
I wish I search it yesterday, it will save me some good hours to reinstalled old addons after reinstall of Windows 7. I personally save all bookmarks to delicious through its addon to access it anywhere but backing up addons and other setting always a big headache. Thanks for this share.
Arafat
Hey Arafat,
As always, thanks for stopping by.
Bill
Can I backup one configuration of Firefox with MozBackup and then “restore” it on another computer?
Hey JBE,
Yes, you can. In fact, I do that from time to time on Test platforms.
Bill
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Hi Bill,
iwish if iknow that before,, that w0uld have helped me alot in saving my time but better late than never! Thanks!
Hey Ahmed,
Just as you said “better late than never”.
Bill
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