Can I recover lost search history, when saving search history is disabled? (finally activated account properly...)
Hi, I disabled search history, and restarted Firefox. Oh and eventually lost a thousand tabs in half a second! I then had several windows open, each with many tabs on them "critically needed." My Laptop's processor power began to slow down over time! So I hurried on over to the "Task Manager" ASAP (boy what a mistake that was...) which I'm totally completely unfamiliar with besides "Youtube knowledge." To which I close the page that was "freezing up" over all others, by "Ending Process" there in the "Task Manager!" This led to all of Firefox closing, then getting back onto Firefox, only to see an automatic update occurring before getting back into the browser. I'm wondering how may I get back the lost history in this special situation that had me nearly in tears because of how much lost history was there.
It felt almost equivalent to a heartbreak from a cheating girlfriend, only worse! Haha! Just kidding, not worse, but I felt the pain as if a monsoon storm of rain, flooding, thunder, lightning, and tornado's were happening inside my brain, working it's way to my heart. It felt almost as if an asteroid from the "Armageddon" movie was about to hit my Heart here on Earth specifically targeted and aimed at me by some drunk aliens with gravity manipulation telekinetic powers. It was like a total frankenstein awakens moment for me, and a Hulk mode was about to activate from deep within me, until I suddenly realized how a movie can make the pain all go away, and so can a celebration for this pain! After this savage beastly bloody hell of an occurrence, from Hell! I still managed to have some of it memorized wrapped in a 12 pack of cigars I smoked all at once, with a nice friendly grin on my face as though lost and completely clueless as to what just happened. Followed by a Hangover with the "Wolf Pack."
All jokes aside though since I don't smoke or drink. I need a way to recover the search history altogether. I have researched Index.dat options, and a few other recovery software that can discover the lost files, but haven't tried them yet, as I thought I would come here first. Would very much appreciate the support! Sorry about this but, in need of saving from sadness, and sparing my heart with some support. :)
- Sub
Modified
All Replies (6)
Hi, index.dat is an Internet Explorer file, so probably won't help you.
Lost Tabs
If Firefox is still running, check the History menu for "Restore Previous Session" and, if it's not grayed out, try that.
If that is grayed out or doesn't help, let's back up a few files. Here's how:
(1) To open your profile folder...
If Firefox is still running:
You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, click the "Open Folder" button.
If Firefox is closed:
Type or paste the following into the Windows Run dialog or the system search box and press Enter to launch Windows Explorer:
%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
In that folder, do you see a semi-randomly-named folder? If so, click into it. If you find multiple such folders, find the one that was most recently updated.
(2) Copy out session history files
In your profile folder, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. If not too much time has passed, we may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.
(3) What files did you find?
The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:
- recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, your last session)
- recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
- previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
- upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update
Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?
Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions
Hi Js, I got to the Firefox Browser "Open Folder" section, and have several folders that consist of "Link format type of files" it seems, that are called "JSONLZ4." The images below show the Folders and Files that seem to have the proper data so far, but I don't know what to do with it if there is anything here you see is the key to the Link recovery process. Also by the end of this, maybe this can be helpful to others. Hopefully the images were useful to figuring this out, and made the resolve a bit more clear for us! Thank you Js, and looking forward to out next step! :)
- Sub
Modified
Do you see a folder named sessionstore-backups ? That's the one of highest interest for lost tabs. Most of those other ones, hmm, I couldn't tell you what those files are.
I really wish I did, as the only backup file I have there is "Bookmarkbackups Folder with files," and a "SessionsCheckpoints File but not folder." Maybe because I had history saving disabled, the folder did not collect this data, and is missing, or should the "Sessionstore-backups" still be there even with history saving disabled?
It's possible the folders have been tampered with, and the titles are misleading, as wouldn't be surprised considering the people I know who could have messed with the folder names. However the files are still the same proper names so maybe it's just the folder missing...
I checked to show all hidden contents and still couldn't see the folder specified. Hopefully we find a way, but please let me know if I'm out of luck with Link recovery. I'm open to our options if any left.
Modified
If it's not there, you could look at an undelete tool such as Recuvca to see whether it can find traces of a deleted sessionstore-backups folder:
On the Options page, Privacy panel:
Turning off "Remember search and form history" would not stop Firefox from saving session history. I keep that turned off myself. (You see this checkbox when you select "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history".)
Had you changed one of the other settings? If you had turned off "Remember my browsing and download history" or if you turned on "Always use private browsing mode" / "Never remember history", that would cause problems with session history.
Thank you very much Js, and it seems the mistake is my fault for choosing "Never remember history." I will try the software options that are safest, including what you provided recently. I have learned when it comes to computers or remembering things, that writing them down ASAP, and patience using separate devices is a great way to figure out a resolve. Than in comparison too guessing, hoping wishing for the best. Also using stored backup to an External Hard Disk Drive using double end AES WI-FI Encryption, with a safe storage for utility safety. I had such amazing research done, but I guess if all else fails, my memory is all I can go off of, and waiting for myself to have the same questions which brought up some answers for solutions! Thanks for your time, and this must be 1 of those regrettable rushing impatient mistakes haha! Was sudden and very much unexpected. I am left in awe, complete utter shock! What a fail on my end. No worries though, and will continue searching for solutions. Thanks again Js, and have a great rest of the Summer. :)
- Sub