After Refresh, old places.sqlite file not recognized on fresh profile. History not copied after Refresh.
Today, I performed a Firefox Refresh after a crash. It created an "Old Firefox Data" folder on my desktop, with instructions to copy data to the new profile folder. I copied all files from "Old Firefox Data" to my new profile folder.
All bookmarks and saved passwords/logins were copied on the new profile, but none of the browsing history.
I re-copied the old places.sqlite file directly, and noticed that when starting Firefox, it would re-name the old file to "places.sqlite.corrupt" and would automatically create a brand new, empty places.sqlite. Repeated attempts to delete/rename this file and replace it with the old one met with the same result.
Is there any way to restore browsing history directly from a copy of the places.sqlite file?
Modified by kenpatt
All Replies (3)
Hi kenpatt, usually places.sqlite is migrated automatically during a Refresh. It sounds like there is a serious problem with the file, perhaps as a result of the crash??
I am aware of a program to read history out of places.sqlite -- it can be exported to a web page for reference. However, I don't know of any way to import that back to Firefox. Still, it might be useful.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mozilla_history_view.html
He has this one that looks a bit fancier but I haven't tried it myself:
Hmm, it looks like the file is indeed unrecoverable, as the MZHistoryView tool shows the file as empty, whereas a new places.sqlite file works just fine.
Thanks for the MZHistoryView tool, it has not solved the issue, but at least now I know the data is truly lost.
However, I still have a very old history file from 2016. This file functions in MZHistoryView, but has the exact same issue of being marked "corrupt" on load by Firefox.
For now my plan is to begin a fresh history record, and use MZHistoryView with my archived file as a kind of "deep storage".
Modified by kenpatt