How to Back Up Your Firefox Profile Folder

Your browser settings for Firefox and the bookmark file are stored on your desktop computer in a folder called “Profile.”  So what would happen to your settings if your hard drive crashes or the disk becomes corrupted?  Well, if that does happen, then your files may be overwritten or even lost. The upshot of that is; you will lose all of your Firefox bookmark settings, and data settings, etc. Don’t panic too much though! It is possible to prevent this data loss by backing up your Firefox profile folder.

This quick guide has been undertaken using Windows 7 as the operating system.  In order to back up the Firefox profile folder you need to configure your system to be able to view all files.  If your computer is not presently set toview all files, you can use Windows Explorer to enable this option by doing the following:

1) Click Start | All Programs.

2) Click Accessories.

3) Click Windows Explorer.

4) From the Tools menu, click Folder Options.

5) Click the View tab.

6) Double-click the folder called Hidden files and folders.

7) Click the radio button in front of the Show hidden files and folders option.

8) Click Apply & Click OK.

One you have enabled your system to view all files you should be able to navigate to the following path to find the Firefox profiles folder:

C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\

Now you just need to copy the Profiles folder to a USB Flash drive or other removable media to keep as your backup.  If you do have issues with your system at least now you can restore your browser settings.

[Image via:intellicompute]