Any possible way to recover Firefox history?
I downloaded Firefox 4.0. I didn't like it so I downgraded back to Firefox 3.5. I had to restart my computer. After that, my bookmarks were still there but my history was gone.
I'm extremely desperate to recover it and this has been making me feel upset all day now.
Modified by Yoko761
Chosen solution
If you downgraded to Firefox 3.5 from Firefox 4 it will have deleted the history and cookies, downgrading to 3.6 does not remove that data. This is because Firefox 4 uses a new format to store the cookies, bookmarks and history. Firefox 3.6 can read this new format, but Firefox 3.5 can not. Firefox 3.5 will treat the new formats as corrupt files and replace them with new files, importing the bookmarks from a backup.
As you appear to be using Firefox 3.6.16 now, you may be able to recover them. Open your profile folder, for details of how to find it see https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
Now close Firefox. Is there a file called places.sqlite.corrupt? If there is, rename places.sqlite to places.sqlite.old, then rename places.sqlite.corrupt to places.sqlite, restart Firefox and it should have you history and bookmarks from the time that you were using Firefox 4.
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Chosen Solution
If you downgraded to Firefox 3.5 from Firefox 4 it will have deleted the history and cookies, downgrading to 3.6 does not remove that data. This is because Firefox 4 uses a new format to store the cookies, bookmarks and history. Firefox 3.6 can read this new format, but Firefox 3.5 can not. Firefox 3.5 will treat the new formats as corrupt files and replace them with new files, importing the bookmarks from a backup.
As you appear to be using Firefox 3.6.16 now, you may be able to recover them. Open your profile folder, for details of how to find it see https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
Now close Firefox. Is there a file called places.sqlite.corrupt? If there is, rename places.sqlite to places.sqlite.old, then rename places.sqlite.corrupt to places.sqlite, restart Firefox and it should have you history and bookmarks from the time that you were using Firefox 4.
Thank you so much!!! It worked!!
You're welcome
OMG thank you Tony for posting this, Id had a similar problem and that has just sorted it out!!
I'm running Firfox Portable, which is designed to delete hitsory, cookies, forms etc. It's a great system, has no OS dependencies, can be run on a USB, no install to OS...
great, but what if I lost my history?
Well, since all files (including restore, formhistory, profiles etc) are deleted, where do we look? the "places" file in your 'profile' folder.
The places file holds all .ico files (mini icons), and this data is tagged every time you head to a site with a .ico file. FIRST, make a copy of the file, and open the file WITH wordpad.
Fair warning, this is gonna take a while. Look through the file for all website, as even ones without favicons will be stored one way or another. Exhaustive? yes. Worth it? (if you REALLY need to) Yes..