The right way to restore lost data on sync

Viperwow

Well, I'm yet another person who lost ALL the data after sync while reinstalled Windows during the Vivaldi's sync issue...

I was thinking that I have a recovery browser state on my mobile, but it became lost right after I've opened browser If not, I would be pleased to know about that.

Fortunately, I have 1-2 year old copy of data on my laptop and really don't want to lose it.

So what I'm asking instructions for:

If I can recover the data on the mobile device (Android, Google Pixel) - I prefer to get the data from it
If not, how can I get data from the Laptop browser and not lost it during the process
How can I apply one or another data to my existing installation and sync it as a master data

I think that a single instruction could be better than reading countless replies. Thank you in advance.

Catweazle

@Viperwow, well, with old data there can naturally be problems applying it to a new Vivaldi installation, if it is configuration data, sessions, extensions, etc., but with bookmarks, passwords and notes there should be no problems for recovery.

OrbitalMartian

Something I noticed with the sync issues with people losing data is that they are mostly always logging in to a new fresh device with no history or anything first. I think this is causing the no data. My recommendation for people who are recovering sync is to login on a device with all your data then login to your new, fresh device.

I’m not sure how you would recover deleted data, nor how to use a backup but if you have a device with all the data (and haven’t logged it into Sync), try the below.

Logout the clean, fresh installs/devices. Login to the device with data, then login with the new device/s.

Viperwow

Thank you for your quick answers, I appreciate it!

It's all about the necessity to restore my bookmarks and notes mostly. And it looks like I've fixed my issue at a certain level.

For the rest readers, feel free reading my issue first as a pre-requisite to the possible solutions below and suggestions in replies

Solutions

DISCLAIMER: I've tested only the first solution and only with 2 devices (PC and Laptop). Syncing more than 2 devices might be unpredictable, so backup your data and do not remove it until you're 100% sure that everything works as intended!

Default folder path:

To get it paste into file explorer this line:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Default

Or use the Vivaldi browser: "Vivaldi Icon -> Help -> About -> Profile Path"

Vivaldi folder path

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Vivaldi

Solution with some previous synced data available

I've copied data on a flash drive from the Default folder on a Laptop in my case with disabled internet connection and closed browser to completely prevent accidental sync.
Copied Vivaldi folder entirely as a backup (optional, but highly recommended) and turned off Laptop.
Then with disabled internet connection and closed browser on a PC I've switched (remove old + paste new, not the replace operation) Default folder to the one from the Laptop to prevent merging data and its possible corruption.

Luckily, I've found lately my data was not as stale as I though, only half a year that seems to be compatible with latest Vivaldi.

Then I've turned on my internet on a PC and opened Vivaldi browser.
It opened with INITIAL visuals and every previously opened tab closed (they will be okay and can be restored from a "session" cloud icon in the top-right corner, but you'll be unauthorized). And after a couple of minutes all the tabs and bookmarks and notes appeared like on a Laptop.
I've jumped in "Settings -> Sync" and it prompted me to enter the password. And it looks like for the remote data from the server.
After entering password it synced me with the LATEST data (bookmards, notes only) I've lost. But, unfortunately, NOT passwords, extensions, sidebar and etc. Anyway, I've encountered with some theming issues (wrong theme and not changing) and have to reconfigure my Vivaldi settings, but it worth not losing at least some data collected for years
To recover passwords, I decided to export it from the browser on a laptop and then import them manually from the .csv file. You may find passwords Export button in Vivaldi's "Settings".

Solution with no synced data available

It's only my thoughts and when you literally have no data to be lost you may try the theoretical solution below. The idea behind it to try forcing one-way sync from the remote server as it works like "incremental" (accumulating new data without removing old).

Close browser and turn off internet connection.
Backup just Default OR even better full Vivaldi folder.
Remove Default folder.
Turn on the internet connection.
Try syncing. At least, you may get back your bookmarks and notes.