And now another backup solution? Firefox Batckup (no that is not a misspelling) is a small batch script that can backup all Firefox profiles with minimal effort. It is not as versatile as Febe or MozBackup, but on the other hand less complicated to use.

All you basically need to do is to execute the script on your computer system, enter a destination directory and press enter. You can keep the default backup destination if you like, which would mean that you only have to press enter to backup all Firefox profiles. The default backup directory is the Windows desktop.

Batckup Firefox has two advantages over the two other backup solutions. First its uncomplicated use and second the ability to backup all Firefox profiles in one go without extra configuration.

The downside of the batch file is the restoration. The only way to restore a profile is to copy its contents from the backup location to the Firefox profile folder. That’s handled better by the two backup alternatives.

A second batch file to restore a profile to the default Firefox profile folder would be very handy. The batch file displays the default Firefox profile location after the backup. It is still up to the user to remember that location.

Another benefit of a batch file is the ability to create scheduled tasks easily. This way you could run the backup regularly, for instance once a day before shutdown or once a week, to automate the backups.

Batch backup for Firefox is available at the developer website.

One of the most popular Firefox backup solutions, MozBackup, has been updated recently in preparation for the Firefox 4 final launch. Previous versions of the backup software are already compatible with Firefox 4, but the developer has improved support in the new version. Mozbackup 1.5 has been released as a beta preview with the promise that the new final version will be released before the Firefox 4 release.

Several issues have been fixed in the beta release, among them backup improvements for profiles with a size of more than 4 Gigabytes. It is unlikely that many Firefox profiles cross the 4 Gigabytes mark, which indicates that this particular change largely benefits users of the email client Thunderbird, considering that all mailboxes and attachments are saved in the profile directory.

How to Backup Firefox with Mozbackup

It takes just a few steps to backup all Firefox data with Mozbackup. I suggest you download the portable version of the backup software from the developer homepage, as it is flexible and can be put on an USB stick.

Mozbackup scans the computer for supported products and displays all that have been found in a list. Portable versions of Firefox and other supported programs, or installations that have not been recognized automatically can be backed up by selecting Portable applications from the menu. It is then necessary to use the folder browser to add profiles from the hard drive to the backup application manually.

The available profiles are displayed in the next step if a recognized installation has been selected.

A click on next opens a prompt with options to password-protect the backup file. It is usually a good idea to add password protection to protect the data from unauthorized access. It would otherwise be possible to access all profile data directly, including saved passwords, bookmarks, the browsing history, extensions and list of downloaded files.

Mozbackup then displays a list of available modules that can be backed up. Everything is selected by default with the possibility to uncheck modules that do not need to included in the backup.

The backup is stored in a single file. You need Mozbackup to restore it at a later point in time.

Firefox users can download portable versions and installers for the latest stable and beta version of Mozbackup directly from the developer website. Mozbackup is only compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system.

The jump to version 2 of the web browser backup software brings support for Opera 10 and Flock 2.5 (next to the already existing support for Internet Explorer 6 to Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 2.9 to Firefox 3.6, Google Chrome 1 to Google Chrome 4, Safari 3 and 4, Opera 9 and Flock 3). This should cover the most used web browsers in the Windows operating system.

One of the great additions in FavBackup 2 is support for portable web browsers. It is now possible to select a custom location for the user profile for Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Safari and Flock. It is furthermore possible to select any of the identified profiles of the supported web browsers directly.

Other changes in this release are the new ribbon interface, a progress bar, different themes for the backup program, 40% less computer memory usage and minor bug fixes. The new additions make FavBackup 2 a recommended program for web browser backups, especially if multiple different web browsers are installed and used in a computing environment.

That’s where Bookmark Trash comes into play. It adds A Bookmark Trash folder to the root folder of the Firefox Bookmark’s folder. Every bookmark that gets deleted by the user after installing the Firefox add-on will be moved to the Bookmark Trash automatically instead of being deleted right away.

The user can therefor access those deleted bookmarks in the Bookmark Trash to recover them. The alternative would be to empty the trash regularly to remove the deleted bookmarks permanently from the system.

The extension is in experimental stage which means that users need to log into the Mozilla homepage to be able to download and install the add-on.

Update: Bookmark Trash has been pulled from the add-on repository. an alternative is Bookmark Recycler

I first thought that I had to manually backup the profile, extensions and all other settings like cookies and move them from my desktop computer to my notebook. This would be a lot of work and I was hoping for a way to synchronize everything without doing all the manual work.

After installing Febe it is important to take a look at the options offered to define the directory that should store the backup of the settings and select all the elements that you want to backup. Febe offers the most comprehensive way to backup every aspect of Firefox, here is a list of possibilities:

Backup Extensions, Themes, Bookmarks, Preferences, Cookies, userChrome.css, userContent.css, usernames and passwords, phishing data, search plugins, browser and form fill history, permissions and user defined backups.

It is furthermore possible to schedule backups and create timestamped backups.

The only thing that is really missing is a way to automatically sync data between several computers.