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In Chrome, it is easy to backup your settings by using the sync feature – your bookmarks and other settings are saved for the future.

Is there an equivalent feature for Firefox?

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    The sync feature in Chrome is not meant for backup but for synchronization between different installs. Without special setup you are even giving most of your profile data to Google in a way they can decrypt it. The proper way would be to backup the Chrome profile locally. The location is described in support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=142059. Jul 15, 2012 at 8:23

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Before Firefox Sync, I used MozBackup. It has a recent (beta) update after over a year. Hopefully it will be maintained.

This is what it does, according to the website:

MozBackup is a simple utility for creating backups of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Sunbird, Flock, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite, Spicebird, Songbird and Netscape profiles.

It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, passwords, cache etc. It's an easy way to do Firefox backup, Thunderbird backup ...

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  • Updates are only important when there are bugs (or features missing, but that's hardly considered critical). Good, stable software may not even have bugs, or it may not be worth upgrading and risking instability. (irrelevant to the question and answer, just pointing out that unless there are outstanding bugs a year between updates isn't a great issue)
    – Bob
    Jul 15, 2012 at 8:47
  • I'm only pointing out that the software is still in development (by having the recent update). Is it a good news that it will support modern Firefox versions, which are upgraded (with lots of changes) every 5 weeks?
    – Ngoc Pham
    Jul 15, 2012 at 11:18
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You can sync these using Firefox's built-in Firefox Sync feature (albeit the Mozilla servers do not retain former settings, deleted bookmarks, and other old data and are not intended to serve as a "[...] true backup service [...]"):

  • Bookmarks — including all tags, keywords, folders, and your custom menu order
  • Passwords
  • Preferences/Options of Firefox
  • History of sites visited in the last 60 days
  • Tabs and tab groups
  • Add-ons installed on your computer or mobile device

You can set up Firefox Sync from the Sync tab of Firefox's preferences window (see support article "Share bookmarks, tabs and more with your other computers" for details).

Firefox Sync encrypts your data before sending it to Mozilla's servers, so you should keep a copy of your Recovery Key if you use the service on only a single computer and want to be able to restore your data following a hard drive failure or similar event. (However, you really should keep a full system back-up using either the utility provided with your operating system or one by a third party, which will cover more than just Firefox.)

If you want to keep old versions of the above (or anything else), you need to keep your own profile back-ups. The name of your Firefox profile folder is random, and its location varies depending on which operating system your computer runs (see support article "Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles" for details for your operating system).

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    Warning: Sync is not backup. Depending on the implementation it could even cause data loss, e.g. if the sync process is interrupted. While I believe the developers know how to safely implement this function (other than nearly all other "encrypted" data storage services they have also done a good job on encryption) and have not read about any case of data loss, I see potential for a higher risk of data loss. So you should probably do even more backups when using Sync instead of only relying on the latter. Jul 15, 2012 at 7:40
  • @Gurken Papst: I fully agree with this and mentioned Firefox Sync, which to the best of my understanding, could be made backwardly incompatible in the very next Firefox version, mainly because the original question mentioned Chrome's sync feature. Otherwise, I would have only included the last part of my answer that links to the official article on backing up the profile folder. Jul 15, 2012 at 7:56
  • I've relocated my Firefox profiles folder to the same place I put most of the data and documents on my computer and that I backup on a regular basis. This has work well for me for many years (and versions of FF). I use a similar scheme for Thunderbird profiles and email messages. The Mozilla KnowledgeBase has information on how to move your profile(s) to a location of your choice.
    – martineau
    Jul 15, 2012 at 17:16
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I use: Firefox Environment Backup Extension — it works great.

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your extensions individually into installable .xpi files.

Here's the Mozilla Add-on page for FEBE.

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  • Welcome to Super User! Next time, rather than just posting a link, add a little more context please.
    – slhck
    Jul 31, 2012 at 13:25

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