Firefox Android: All tabs gone as a result of automatic update - General Questions and Answers

A recent unwanted Firefox for Android automatic update has replaced all the open tabs and history with a different set of tabs and history. The tabs and history I had before the automatic update are now gone and in their place are a set of tabs which I had in a previous install of Firefox on the same device, but some time ago.
Some of the tabs I had open int he session before were important (reminders, notes for things, pages I needed to look at for various reasons, etc.).
Any ideas how I can get this session back?
Some ideas:
How do I find out the version of Firefox that was installed prior to the automatic update, for the purpose of reverting to it and hoping the previous tabs are there?
Is it possible that data for two Firefox installations are on the phone, even though only one installation is listed? This must be the case with histories and tabs because a bunch of old tabs and an old history have appeared along with the automatic update. Any idea where this data is stored with Firefox Android?
I'm not too worried about the history. I had that synced anyway. The open tabs is the main thing.
Thanks for any help.

Bump.

califauna said:
Bump.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you knew the version of Firefox that you previously had, it may solve your issue. But, the problem is there is no way that I know of to find out which version you had previously. There may not even be a way to find the answer to that question.
The open tabs may be gone for good as they would have been loaded and stored in your cache partition, not in your app data. The update more than likely cleared any cached data held in queue by Firefox, if that is the case, you will not be able to retrieve the lost tabs.
Do you remember the tabs you had open? Can you go back to the web pages that you had open and open them in new tabs?

Droidriven said:
If you knew the version of Firefox that you previously had, it may solve your issue. But, the problem is there is no way that I know of to find out which version you had previously. There may not even be a way to find the answer to that question.
The open tabs may be gone for good as they would have been loaded and stored in your cache partition, not in your app data. The update more than likely cleared any cached data held in queue by Firefox, if that is the case, you will not be able to retrieve the lost tabs.
Do you remember the tabs you had open? Can you go back to the web pages that you had open and open them in new tabs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought firefox stored its data in the data/data folder. Which cache folder are you referring to? Location please?

califauna said:
I thought firefox stored its data in the data/data folder. Which cache folder are you referring to? Location please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it stores its data in data/data, but that is not where cached data is stored, cached data is "live" data, not "stored" data, temporary data that is loaded into cache while it is being used and dumped when not in use or to make room for other cached data to be loaded. When you bookmark a page, that bookmark is stored in data/data partition but when you have tabs open in Firefox, those open tabs are stored in cache, if cache gets wiped or if the tabs are closed, the open tabs stored in cache are gone. Bookmarking pages is the only way to "keep" those tabs long-term.
You need to research the difference between stored data and cached data. Think of the data/data partition being the same as the hard drive on PC and cache as being the same as RAM on PC. Read only memory vs random access memory.
There is no point trying to find it in your cache partition because the data you are looking for is no longer there, that is why your open tabs are gone. If you want those tabs back you will have to find those pages online and open them in new tabs. You are not going to "recover" the tabs you lost, you can only open them the same way you did the first time you opened those pages.
You need to learn to bookmark the pages you want to keep instead of trying to keep them by leaving them open in Firefox.

Droidriven said:
Yes, it stores its data in data/data, but that is not where cached data is stored, cached data is "live" data, not "stored" data, temporary data that is loaded into cache while it is being used and dumped when not in use or to make room for other cached data to be loaded. When you bookmark a page, that bookmark is stored in data/data partition but when you have tabs open in Firefox, those open tabs are stored in cache, if cache gets wiped or if the tabs are closed, the open tabs stored in cache are gone. Bookmarking pages is the only way to "keep" those tabs long-term.
You need to research the difference between stored data and cached data. Think of the data/data partition being the same as the hard drive on PC and cache as being the same as RAM on PC. Read only memory vs random access memory.
There is no point trying to find it in your cache partition because the data you are looking for is no longer there, that is why your open tabs are gone. If you want those tabs back you will have to find those pages online and open them in new tabs. You are not going to "recover" the tabs you lost, you can only open them the same way you did the first time you opened those pages.
You need to learn to bookmark the pages you want to keep instead of trying to keep them by leaving them open in Firefox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So Android Firefox is different from desktop in that sense then? In the PC version the cache the browser uses is the browser cache, located in the user's profile folder. You're saying that Firefox stores stuff like open tabs, tab history, session history in the cache partition of Android?
I don't really 'try to keep them open' exactly. It's more that that is just how Firefox works on Android, and it should work (it's hardly convenient to bookmark every page you open but want to read later, seems to me), so pages remain there, but because of Firefox's nasty habit of upgrading itself without warning (and presumably some other causes, judging by other posts on it) they have been known to disappear.

califauna said:
So Android Firefox is different from desktop in that sense then? In the PC version the cache the browser uses is the browser cache, located in the user's profile folder. You're saying that Firefox stores stuff like open tabs, tab history, session history in the cache partition of Android?
I don't really 'try to keep them open' exactly. It's more that that is just how Firefox works on Android, and it should work (it's hardly convenient to bookmark every page you open but want to read later, seems to me), so pages remain there, but because of Firefox's nasty habit of upgrading itself without warning (and presumably some other causes, judging by other posts on it) they have been known to disappear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it stores what is loaded and in use at the moment in cache, tabs that are open at the time are held in cache. Cached data is not permanent data, cached data is data that is frequently loaded and dumped based on your usage and availability of cache space.
I really don't think you are understanding the point. If you want to keep tabs, bookmark them, if you don't bookmark them, they will not persist the way you want them to, period.

Droidriven said:
I really don't think you are understanding the point. If you want to keep tabs, bookmark them, if you don't bookmark them, they will not persist the way you want them to, period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm looking for advice on that in this thread, but again, tabs are supposed to be persistent (by default) in Firefox Android - users are not supposed to be continually required to replace all their tabs with bookmarks lest they disappear.
Regarding the locations Firefox uses, what you have written above also appears to be wrong, and your response above does not address it. According to several webpages I have now read, Firefox android does in fact store lots of session and tab data in the data/data folder. Indeed I have just found a sessionstore.js file with some currently open tabs, and a sessionstore backup file with old tabs in the data/data folder on my very phone, specifically in /data/dat/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/<profile>.
Droidriven I would kindly ask that you leave this post alone now for others to respond to.

To summarise where I'm at with this, following the Reddit post below I have found a sessionstore.bak file in the /data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/<profile>/ folder, and it does contain a session (bunch of tabs), but not the tabs I had open when the update occurred and the tabs disappeared.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/f4vkrp
Also, there is supposed to be a 'sessionstore-backups' folder somewhere in the profile folder, but I can't find it.
Where are "Previous Sessions" stored? I am changing from Win XP to Win 7 Pro and want to save/access Previous Sessions. | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support
support.mozilla.org
Any suggestions? Does Firefox Android only ever keep one sessionstore.bak file, and only at that location (/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/<profile>)?

Bump. Must be someone on this forum who knows how Firefox Android works.
Does Firefox Android only ever keep one sessionstore.bak file, and only at that location (/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/<profile>)?
Where can I find sessionstore.old files, or any other kind of file which might contain old sessions?

Mozilla's Firefox is open-source, so why you don't inspect its source code to get your question answered?

Bump.
xXx yYy said:
Mozilla's Firefox is open-source, so why you don't inspect its source code to get your question answered?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I knew how to inspect source code (less than 1% of Firefox user know how to do this) then I doubt I would be posting here.

Bump. Post has not received a single useful answer.

Bumping as post still has not received a useful answer.

Related

Failed installs

Hi, I've tried searching the forum but can't find an answer to me query.
I've tried to install a cab on my Omnia (for anyone considering buying one, don't) and it failed now the 6MB of free space on my phone is gone without a program showing on the un-install menu to remove to free it up again. Essentially I have converted my phone into an expensive paperweight, and it's not even very good at that as it's quite windy here today. I can't send text messages or launch any programs as there's not even enough memory for that. Any ideas on how I can make my phone usable again, if I had space to back up my phone numbers I'd hard reset but I'm not mad keen on loosing my newer contacts.
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Enjoy....

Opera Mini 5 (Beta 2 WM) how to backup Bookmarks & Speeddial

Does anyone know how to save/backup/access the bookmarks and "speeddial" files?
I performed a device-wide search and discovered 40+ references to Opera, and a multitude of vaguely named files, but nothing that stood out clearly as a bookmark file or a speed-dial file, as in Opera for the desktop.
So, does anyone have any idea of how to access these files so I can back them up?
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Bump.
Can't believe no one has an answer for this, bearing in mind the conditions outlined in the above post.
Well, it's not that hard to figure out-you've had plenty of time, lol.
Been a while since I used mini, but check the sub-folder in the mini folder. It has all the user info stored there, I believe in .db files. Just back them up and restore them. It's pretty easy to use mini, make a few changes to your speed dials, then just see which file(s) changed.

[Q] Tech explanation as to why TF101 can't natively open multiple docs at same time

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could give me a semi-technical reason as to why you can't open multiple documents natively with the transformer. Natively, it's impossible open up document1.doc and then have document2.doc open at the same time and quickly switch between the 2 documents without having to manually find and reopen the other file.
At first, I thought it was something like the same application couldn't have 2 instances open at once as an OS limitation. However, it IS possible to have the same application with 2 different documents open at once but not without using multiple file managers (theres a vid on transformerforums demonstrating that if you open different files with the same app, but via different file managers, you can switch between multiple docs)
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I don't think there is anything in Android that limits you to only a single document open at a time.. I think rather it is simply a limitation of the app you're using. If the developer had created a tabbed workspace or some other method of navigating through multiple documents opened simultaneously, it should work even with Honeycomb or Gingerbread. There's no reason to think that simply updating to Ice Cream Sandwich will add this feature to the app as it exists.. the developer will need to add in this functionality.
Have you tried a different app for viewing/editing your documents?
That's true, problem would be solved with tabbed browsing. Can you suggest a decent office style suite that supports tabbed browsing?
However, it's not possible to open multiple instances of pretty much any apps from what I can tell - that seems to be a limitation of the operating system does it not? But at the same time, it's not an OS limitation, because it is possible using multiple explorers to do a work around to have multiple instances open, but not without an impractical work around.
I find it strange that when I use the explorer to open a word document in any other app, it still appears on the "multi-task" bit as the explorer application. If I load the explorer app again (say to navigate to a different file) it closes the document I opened.
Thanks in advanced
You say explorer like ur talking about windows lol. Kinda confusing to picture exactly what ur doing, but i think i get it. As far as i know, there arent any word processing apps for android which allow multiple documents to be open side by side. Id bet its NOT an android limitation, as multiple internet browser tabs fit under the same concept(sorta) and probably take up much more memory than multiple text documents. its just an idea that i assume hasnt been ijmplemented yet. Id email the devs of whichever word processing app you use and ask them if its something theyd be interested in adding to their app. The only workaround i can think of for the time being, is to use two or more different word processing apps (for example polaris and quickoffice) simultaneously, and use the task switcher to go back and forth.
Just re-read ur post and saw you mentioned this...
MrGuy said:
At first, I thought it was something like the same application couldn't have 2 instances open at once as an OS limitation. However, it IS possible to have the same application with 2 different documents open at once but not without using multiple file managers (theres a vid on transformerforums demonstrating that if you open different files with the same app, but via different file managers, you can switch between multiple docs)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess that would be another work around, if it really works. that seems almost like a bug to me lol. Just wondering though, how would you switch between the documents if they are open in the same app? Would the task switcher show two instances of the same app open?
Okay, maybe not a "limitation" of the OS, more a "feature" where if you try and open the same application when its' already in the "recent items" it just restores the previous one from previous items rather than opening a new instance simultaneously.
Yeah, it's true, try it. If you have multiple file explorers (e.g. ES explorer and file manager) go into ES explorer, open up document1.doc in DocumentToGo (for example) and then open up file manager and open document2.doc in DocumentsToGo. It seems android opens DTG within the explorer/manager, so if you switch between the 2 different managers using the recent items, you can see DocumentsToGo open twice, once with doc1 and once with doc2. (I can't take credit for this btw, I made a similar request as to if its possible to open 2 docs at once on transformerforums and someone made a video showing that work around - I would post a link, but despite being a member/lurker here for over 5 years, I still can't be trusted)
I may just have to try and put my CS degree to some use and try make a tabbed word processor.
Thanks for the responses
Somewhat relevant to this... whatever happened to Onskreen? I thought they were trying to appeal to Google or something to get some real multitasking on tablets?

[Q]Phone not responding CD1004

When I'm transferring media files over to my phone it has around 2gbs of space left. However when i transfer anymore media files it gives me an error:
PHONE ISN'T RESPONDING
Your device isn't responding. Please disconnect it,rstart it, then try again.
To see if theres's more information about this error, click Web Help.
Error Code
C00D124D
The only fix for this is to delete some videos in order to sync more which is a b****h seeing how i have 2gb space left. Has anyone also encountered this problem? is there a fix for it?
Bumpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
I haven't seen any other reports of that error.
Did you try clicking Web Help?
Did you try searching for that error code and/or error message?
If that doesn't work, you might need to hard-reset the phone. It sucks, but if something is messed up, that's the easiest way to recover.
The thing is i have games which i want to keep the saved games, and its annoying reinstalling everything.
Is it possible to back it up and hard reset it and afterwards use the backup?
Is that possible? Yes, sure (assuming the phone can be backed up, and your weird error doesn't et in the way).
Will it fix anything? Probably not. If you restore a backup after hard-resetting the phone, it's like you never did the hard reset. That's not going to help if there's a problem to fix!
Is there are way just to backup apps and contacts etc?(I know sms can be backed up)
Contacts should already be stored on your WLID, Google, Hotmail, Exchange, Facebook, etc. accounts ("cloud" services). The phone doesn't actually store them locally, except for a cached copy in case it doesn't have data connectivity at some point.
Your list of purchased apps is already known. You can use the Marketplace website to see your purchased apps and re-install them, free. However, the data for those apps will be gone forever unless you manually back up it. This process is not particularly simple using the software available for Samsung, but it can be done. You need to copy the contents of the IsolatedStore directory for each app that you want to back up to a PC. The IsoStore folder is located at \Applications\Data\<GUID_FOR_THE_APP>\Data\IsolatedStore. There will also be an IsolatedStorageSettings file that should be backed up.
You can use WP7 Root Tools to copy your isostore files to a location that they can be removed from the phone, for example by putting them in the WP7 Root Tools IsoStore folder and then using an Isolated Storage Explorer tool (there are several) or by putting them in the Mango Webserver app's IsoStore and using the Webserver (on the phone) and web browser (on the PC) to download the files. As I said, though, the tools for doing this on Samsung aren't great; WP7 Root Tools isn't designed as a backup app and it is tedious to copy multiple files\folders.

WhatsApp Orphan/Unreferenced Media Cleanup

Hello All,
Can anyone help me with one problem, please? This is regarding WhatsApp media history. It is growing too large and consuming space with unnecessary media files.
I did "Clear chat" activity for some threads I believed were obsolete. But surprisingly, although chats were cleared, media files themselves were left untouched in the file system!
As a result I now have lots of orphan media files, which are not referenced in any WhatsApp chat. I cannot simply delete WhatsApp Media folder from the file system, as I have useful media there.
So my question: is there any way to scan the WhatsApp Media folder and delete orphaned/unreferenced media files?
I'm using Galaxy S8.
Thank you!
I have exactly the same problem, also looking for a solution here.
If anyone have a clue on this, please share.
Thank you !
I'm on same page in 2019.
Whatsapp backup on android seems to do a differencial backup on all files of whatsapp folder and is always larger than whats being listed on Storage option.
My ratings are so bad: Storage says 17gb and backup says 60gb ;/
If I use file manager apps to delete dupes, some chats will not present the media.
It would be awesome to have an app to defrag whatsapp chats and media files.
Hi. I have this problem too! Storage says 19GB but actually its taking up 38GB!
Count me in as well. 2.6GB vs 3.16GB. It may not seem much but it's on a Note 5 with just 32GB of storage and I'm trying to squeeze every available byte.
Just leaving my ward.
I managed to solve this manually. Kinda. It was hell. Still a lot of orphan files.
Hope someone has an answer.
RonAshman said:
Just leaving my ward.
I managed to solve this manually. Kinda. It was hell. Still a lot of orphan files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you manage to (partially) clean up manually?
Any update on this issue ? Its driving me nuts having close to 20 gigs of unreferenced media in my phone.....I'm pretty sure Whatsapp can easily introduce a "cleanup" feature based on the same algorithm that generates the "storage" figure.
Once its done cleaning the Drive backup is as easy as deleting the old backup and creating a new one.
Question is what's the best way to submit this "feature request" which is in fact more like a bug report?
schaggo said:
How did you manage to (partially) clean up manually?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded everything to my pc and looked for duplicates martching crc.
Then for like a week I went over pictures deleting the ones I was sure I didn't need, and also used the file name to divide them by year/month.
Not really the best option.
I'm in 2022 and with the same issue for years. Love to know who to code for Android/IOS and have Whatsapp integration options so I could search for each media file agains each group or direct channel to do :
- remove duplicated/triplicated media content by replace the file reference in groups/conversations ;
- than process all orphaned files that are not located in group/conversations discussion.

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