Same Problems with Ubuntu AGAIN
 

So very disappointed.

Feisty is no longer supported. Fine. I'll upgrade to Hardy or Intrepid.

- First problem: I backed up /etc, /usr, /var, and home folder, but none of my Firefox bookmarks were restored. I've backed up and restored before and got the bookmarks back, but not this time.

I can rsync them individually if I know where they are, and if I know where they should be on the hard drive.

And none of my instant messenger data, buddy list, etc. was restored either. Weird. Where is that? Same place as the bookmarks?

Any help with getting those back will be greatly appreciated, because I do need those.

- Second problem: ALL of the 'bugs' that existed with running Ubuntu on a Dell laptop more than TWO years ago STILL exist today. I want to get away from Ubuntu. There are NEW Dell laptop users posting questions to the user's groups and posting the problems as bugs to launchpad - and all those problems have existed for years. NONE of them have been fixed. I find this extremely disgusting and inconsiderate. They have fixed NOTHING.

I don't want to return to windows. First thing is I need to get the bookmarks and IM data back. I will appreciate any help.

Thanks

I'm really not sure where to start.....

Things like "bugs with Dell and Ubuntu" perhaps belong in a separate thread, and we would need specifics to be of any help.

I'm not sure why you would need to copy and restore all those directories.....Once I have backed up my data, all I ever worry about is the files for Firefox and Thunderbird. (On my system, all data + FF and Tbird profile folders are on a "data" drive. If I install a new OS, dual-boot, etc. I just make links as needed.

IMHO, system settings such as what is in /etc are just as easy to create from scratch.

Finally, I always re-install SW as part of a new OS---thus, no need to backup /usr.

As for where your missing files are, you would have to tell us the details of how you backed up the folders, installed the new OS, restored the folders, etc.

If you can access your old /home/MooseMagnet directory you'll find your firefox bookmarks here:
Note: "6yi82t3s" in the above path will be dome other random-string for your installation.

"IM List" & "Buddy data" - I have no idea.

I apologize for being so stupid this morning, but I'm really lost.

This is how I backed up:
sudo rsync -avz /etc /media/USB/12_19_2008
sudo rsync -avz /var /media/USB/12_19_2008
sudo rsync -avz /usr /media/USB/12_19_2008
sudo rsync -avz /home/rich /media/USB/12_19_2008

This is how I restored:
sudo rsync -avz --delete /media/USB/12_19_2008/etc /
sudo rsync -avz --delete /media/USB/12_19_2008/var /
sudo rsync -avz --delete /media/USB/12_19_2008/usr /
sudo rsync -avz /media/USB/12_19_2008/rich /home/rich

I installed Intrepid, noticed all the myriad problems. (Did a complete disk wipe as per instructions from Ubuntu Help person.) Went back and re-installed Feisty. That's where I am now. If I can get the bookmarks and IM data back, I'll decide what to do next.

In the past few hours I've added a couple of bookmarks to Firefox, all the while trying to restore my old bookmarks. With zero results.

Just to see what happened, I used nautilus to delete the bookmarks.html file from /etc/firefox/profile

Then restarted. But the bookmarks I've added in the past few hours are still there.

No matter what I do - drag and drop, copy and paste, whatever - nothing changes the bookmarks.

Something is very wrong here.

I am command line challenged so I try to do everything graphically. First open the restored /home/moosemagnet then set to view hidden files and look at the .mozilla folder. all your previous stuff should be there. just copy that file to the new .mozilla folder and it should be restored.

As tredegar pointed out, your bookmarks *should* have been in your home/.mozilla/firefox folder; if that folder didn't or doesn't exist, then you got me.

However, the point of my post is to help you in the future: there's an addon for FF called Foxmarks which backs up your bookmarks (to the *cloud*), and enables you to replicate and sync your bookmarks on other boxes, in other places, etc.

I realize that it's too late for this time around...


cheers,

I don't think you can just restore /etc from an old release (Feisty) over the new /etc which is used by your new release (Hardy or whatever).
The newer release will manage some things in /etc differently.

Same goes for /home/rich - there are all sorts of (hidden) .config files there in addition to your data, and different releases have different config files with different values. This may cause chaos.

I can help you to get your bookmarks:
Close all firefox instances.
If you don't do this, your old bookmark file will be overwritten by the new (empty) one when you close firefox.

mount /media/USB/12_19_2008
Open it with your filemanager.
Navigate to /media/USB/12_19_2008/rich/.mozilla/firefox/6yi82t3s.default/
Find your bookmarks.html file and copy it to your new /home/rich/.mozilla/firefox/random.default/ directory
Restart firefox, your bookmarks should be there.

While you are there (in the /media/USB/12_19_2008/rich/ directory, you can also copy over your personal files (Docs, Music etc.) to your new home. Do not copy configuration files or directories.

Thank you for Firemarks. I apologize if my comments were snotty.

From the USB I copied 'bookmarks.html'
Found it as you suggested - hidden files in home dir (/rich).
This bookmarks.html file is dated Fri 19 Dec 2008, and it is 388.8 KB, which is considerably larger than the file it replaced.

I pasted it into /rich/.mozilla/firefox/7nmp9yu3.default.

But I still did not have them.

What I did THEN was with the Firefox gui:

Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > File > Import
And then imported it from
/rich/.mozilla/firefox/profile/bookmarks.html

I have the bookmarks back.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'll now do the same to try to get the instant messenger data back.

-----------------------

Here's the story. I wanted to download Ardour, but couldn't because the Feisty Fawn repositories no long exist, because Feisty is no longer supported. Fine. I was advised by and Ubuntu person to go directly to Intrepid. I did that, and immediately saw that the SAME Dell Laptop-Ubuntu problems exist with Intrepid that existed with Dapper, Edgy, Feisty, and Gutsy.

NO fixes have been made, and people have been wrestling with these same issues for at least 2 years (that I know of). People have been posting to the forums and to launchpad about the same problems for years, but NO fixes have been made.

At that point, I decided to restore Feisty (doing that now), and then I would choose a different Linux flavor, or go back to Windows. Ubuntu not fixing problems is one thing, but letting new users continue to struggle and post about the same KNOWN problems year after year is unacceptable.

I can not morally support Ubuntu when they continue to allow users to struggle year after year with the same problems, and they don't even inform the users that these problems exist - they just let the users keep posting and posting and posting. Very sleazy of them.

Richard Braden
Gold Hill, Colorado
USA

To avoid this problem in future, create a separate partition for /home, and do full (replacement) installs not upgrades. Use the same user name and password - your setting will carry forward with nothing for you to do. As per pixellany in post #2, but without (necessarily) a separate drive. You can set this up anytime.
I've found the progression of Ubuntu somewhat rocky (3945 on Hardy was a tragedy), but worth doing - Intrepid seems better. You don't mention what your myriad of problems where, but remember Ubuntu is release based; once the next is under development, only so much is done on the "old/current" release. And of course, kernels are stabilised - you need a feature from a newer kernel, you need to step up to the new release.

I use service Opera Link- i can get my bookmarks in a couple of clicks on totally new computer. There must be such service for FF too.

Its hard to tell through all the whining, but Did you try to *upgrade* Feisty to Intrepid? or did you clean install? If you tried to upgrade, perhaps that is part of the problem...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes

From the link above...

"An upgrade is the process of going from an earlier version of Ubuntu to a newer version of Ubuntu. An example of this would be going from Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). Skipping versions is not advised as it may cause damage to your system. If you are using an earlier version, and want to 'skip' a version, the safest way is to backup your data and do a fresh installation, or to progressively upgrade to each successive version."

I've got Ubuntu 8.10 running swimmingly on two laptops (Acer 5315-2153, and an Aspire One that came w/ XP) an all is well for me..

IGF

Perhaps you should ask for your money back.....

Seriously, the constructive thing for you to do is try some different distros.

All good advice and information from all of you, as usual. I thank you sincerely.

I did a clean install, not upgrade. Sorry for the wrong description. I have Feisty back running like a clock. I'll keep it until I switch to something else. I will look for another distro.

Thanks and happy holidays to all of you.
R-