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I have formatted my hard drive and reinstalled my OS from Windows 7 to Windows Vista.

How can I restore my old Firefox bookmarks?

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How did you back up your old firefox bookmarks? If you didn't, I'm afraid you've probably had an object lesson on why you should make backups. – Gilles Aug 14 '10 at 10:25

2 Answers

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If you have formatted the drive where your bookmarks were on (and installed a new system over it already) and you did not backup the profile folder or saved the profiles in an online service such as XMarks or Firefox Sync, I'm afraid you won't be able to get your bookmarks back.

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up vote 3 down vote

Ususally the only way you can recover files from a formatted HDD is when the HDD has seen NO or at least very little use.

If I undertstand you correctly you have installed Vista on the formatted HDD, this in all probability means that your old data has been overwritten.

If you want to try anyway search this site for using keywords like "recover file deleted format". Here is one example with some good advice.

In the future I suggest you install Xmarks to keep your bookmarks safe.

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Xmarks is spyware. bit.ly/xmarksspy - Install Mozilla's sync add-on instead: mozillalabs.com/sync – stib Aug 14 '10 at 14:03
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@stib - Not really spyware as they in my opinion quite clearly made it clear what the default settings was and how it affected you. I have turned all that off and now it just syncs my bookmarks (avaliable to me only) between computers. I do however agree that Xmarks has bloated and that the default settings are insecure. I shall definitly take a look at the addon you recommended. – Nifle Aug 14 '10 at 14:35
The disadvantage of Firefox Sync is that it only works on Firefox. xmarks has plugins for pretty much any Browser available, while Firefox Sync only has an additional (although free, compared to xmarks) iPhone app. – private_meta Aug 14 '10 at 19:15

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