Computer crashed, Firefox history is gone and will not be saved
Hi everybody, I'm running Firefox 77.0 on my 2014 rMBP with OSX 10.11.6. A few hours ago my OS crashed and I reset my computer. Once I did this, I opened everything back as it was pre-crash and all my Firefox tabs and absolutely everything else loaded correctly except for my history.
Every time I type a word, no previously visited URLs will load up in my URL field, I checked my History and it seems to have deleted 99% of every site I've visited. The recently closed tabs and windows are still there, and I can reload them if I press cmd+shift+t, however the rest of my actual history seems to be gone. I've reset (normally) my computer a couple more times, repaired disk permissions and whatnot and for some reason it won't even save whatever other sites I've now visited since it was wiped. Am I screwed here?
All Replies (7)
Hi nodigits, it's certainly possible that the crash damaged the database file (places.sqlite) that stores history and bookmarks, and Firefox set aside the old file and created a new one, restoring your last automatic bookmarks backup to get you started. (Session history of open/closed windows/tabs is stored in another file.)
Sometimes you may find a file named places.sqlite-corrupt in your profile folder. I don't know how usable that file would be, but there is an article on how to try using it.
nodigits said
... for some reason it won't even save whatever other sites I've now visited since it was wiped.
Hmm, that suggests the repair or replacement wasn't successful. Can you bookmark anything new? If that's not working either, could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" function. That's here:
Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter/Return
Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.
If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:
> Task: checkIntegrity + The places.sqlite database is sane + The favicons.sqlite database is sane
Does yours say that, or indicate trouble? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.
Hi jscher2000! Thanks for the quick response. I tried to run the Verify Integrity test and the following log was printed:
> Task: checkIntegrity - Unable to fix corruption, places.sqlite will be replaced on next startup > Task: invalidateCaches - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: checkCoherence - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: expire - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: originFrecencyStats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: vacuum - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: stats - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task. > Task: _refreshUI - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.
On a second look, it seems like it is recording my history post-crash, however no website will appear as a suggested result no matter what I type in the URL field. I'll get suggested searches, but no suggested websites to directly go to, no matter how many times I've visited them since post-crash. Any attempt to save a bookmark is also futile.
My previous months' history is still gone despite 10 or so entries for what appears to be the most visited websites (social media, etc), which makes it even stranger that it won't suggest any URL from a previously visited website.
Athraithe ag nodigits ar
nodigits said
> Task: checkIntegrity
- Unable to fix corruption, places.sqlite will be replaced on next startup
That's not very promising for recovering old history but hopefully it will help going forward.
Started up, seems to be saving everything back again. RIP my old history :( thanks for the quick fix!
Hello....
You may be in Private Browsing mode or told Firefox not to remember.
Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar. The button next to History, select Use Custom Settings.
Turn off Always Use Private Browsing Mode Turn on Remember My Browsing And Download History At the bottom of the page, turn on Clear History When Firefox Closes. At the far right, press the Settings button. Turn on ONLY Cache and Form And Search History leaving the others off.