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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF



 
 
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  #16  
Old November 5th 15, 05:41 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

I'm only throwing at you what the
computer is giving me and if you're
confused you can image how I am.

It doesn't respond to F12 or F8 even
after powering the computer offon
and restarting it several times.

So even though it booted fine and
seems fine its bypasses the F12 and F8
commands.

I thought all I needed was the rescue
disk. Again if I use Macrium to create
an OS for the 1TB won't that wipe
everything out?

You also said if I could download and
install FF maybe the bookmarks are still
there?

Robert


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  #17  
Old November 5th 15, 06:17 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
I'm only throwing at you what the
computer is giving me and if you're
confused you can image how I am.

It doesn't respond to F12 or F8 even
after powering the computer offon
and restarting it several times.

So even though it booted fine and
seems fine its bypasses the F12 and F8
commands.

I thought all I needed was the rescue
disk. Again if I use Macrium to create
an OS for the 1TB won't that wipe
everything out?

You also said if I could download and
install FF maybe the bookmarks are still
there?

Robert


But you still haven't told me the format of these
bookmarks of yours.

The internal representation, is stored in
bookmarkbackups. And the file extension is
jsonlz4. You're not likely to be keeping
a shortcut that points to that directory,
as the format is not readable by humans. I
had to write a very short C program, to be
able to get at those files.

If you do an "Export" in Firefox, of the bookmarks
it keeps, that file output is HTML and portable to other
platforms and situations. A human can read such a
file, or click stuff in it and so on. You can easily
read the URLs in such a file.

The "Exported" file would not be kept in either of
the FIrefox folders. You'd keep it in your home
directory or something.

You can reinstall Firefox, using the installer
on the download page. You could use the 8200 to
snag the file if need be. How this typically works
in 2015, is this is a stub installer (only a few
megabytes). When you click the downloaded stub file,
it will download the rest of the installer for the
purpose. Why this is necessary, isn't clear.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

You can use Agent Ransack and look for

bookmark
jsonlz4
htm
html

and so on, looking for things that match your
expectation of the bookmark format you were
using.

It's quite possible you have two copies of the
same information. The jsonlz4 copies (usable
once you fix up a working copy of Firefox on the
machine). Or the HTML file you exported at
some point. I don't export mine all that often,
maybe twice a year for safety.

If you have been copying and pasting URLs into
a Notepad text document, then that's entirely
different. And you'd enter the most likely
file name you've been using for that.

If you're booted from the 2TB, you can spend as much
time as you like carrying out Agent Ransack searches
of the 1TB drive.

Paul
  #18  
Old November 5th 15, 06:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

I haven't connected the 1TB to run
Agent Ransack because you told me
not to use it.

However while it was connected I did
find the bookmarkbackups and the jsonlz4
files but you said they weren't actually
bookmarks. Sorry about that.

Since I can't seem to change the BIOS/boot
order for whatever reason how about either

1. put the 1TB HD back into the 8500 and
try to reinstall FF and hopefully the bookmarks
come back. We can also run the Kaspersky
CD because I have that.

2. put the 1TB HD in the Star Tech case
and access it via USB for the files/bookmarks
and copy/paste them over to the 2TB HD.

Then either create a Macrium OS CD

What do you think?
Robert
  #19  
Old November 5th 15, 06:42 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

p.s.

I believe my files were JSON not jsonlz4


R
  #20  
Old November 5th 15, 07:16 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
p.s.

I believe my files were JSON not jsonlz4


R


That depends on the version of Firefox.

Paul
  #21  
Old November 5th 15, 07:28 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
I haven't connected the 1TB to run
Agent Ransack because you told me
not to use it.

However while it was connected I did
find the bookmarkbackups and the jsonlz4
files but you said they weren't actually
bookmarks. Sorry about that.

Since I can't seem to change the BIOS/boot
order for whatever reason how about either

1. put the 1TB HD back into the 8500 and
try to reinstall FF and hopefully the bookmarks
come back. We can also run the Kaspersky
CD because I have that.

2. put the 1TB HD in the Star Tech case
and access it via USB for the files/bookmarks
and copy/paste them over to the 2TB HD.

Then either create a Macrium OS CD

What do you think?
Robert


http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/al...nual_en-us.pdf

"Entering System Setup

1) Turn on (or restart) your computer.
2) During POST, when the DELL logo is displayed,
watch for the F2 prompt to appear and then
press F2 immediately.
"

That's how you get to the boot order screen. The Boot
one is the third one over, look at the manual pages.
And when you Exit, you select "Save changes and Reset"
to keep the new boot order.

Main Advanced Boot Power Security Exit

If you want to make a temporary change in the boot
order, the manual hints at F12 as the key to press.
But the wording in the manual is pretty wishy-washy.

*******

Putting the 1TB drive in the StarTech case
would be a win, if we could be sure the enclosure
and wall adapter were healthy. We still don't know
why the 2TB drive was not appearing when it was
inside the enclosure. That's my concern with
the enclosure at the moment.

You can put both the 1TB and 2TB drives in the computer,
as long as you use the F2 (permanent boot order) or
F12 (temporary boot order), to get the 2TB drive to
do the booting. Then you can do some Agent Ransack
or use that 360 program if you want, installed into
the 2TB drive OS.

Paul
  #22  
Old November 5th 15, 12:06 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

I tried the F2 but it still was unresponsive
so I put the 1TB drive into the Star Tech
case and connected it via USB and it gave me
this:

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ey87de.jpg

I then realized I was looking at the K drive
when I should have looked at the E:

http://i63.tinypic.com/if20c6.jpg

Robert
  #23  
Old November 5th 15, 12:25 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Here's what Macrium shows:

http://i63.tinypic.com/5x7gat.jpg


Robert
  #24  
Old November 5th 15, 12:37 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
I tried the F2 but it still was unresponsive
so I put the 1TB drive into the Star Tech
case and connected it via USB and it gave me
this:

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ey87de.jpg

I then realized I was looking at the K drive
when I should have looked at the E:

http://i63.tinypic.com/if20c6.jpg

Robert


Sometimes, it helps to look in Disk Management,
as it gives a better view of the contents of
the disk drives.

The 1TB drive, J: is the OS partition on that drive.
J:\users\rob would be the home directory
area on the 1TB drive for example. J: is where
all your troubles started.

Whereas K: looks to be perhaps some Dell partition.

You are booted off the WD Black 2TB. The
C: partition is the cloned (old) OS copy. The
E: partition is the huge data partition
you prepared on the 2TB drive, to hold your
Macrium .mrimg files.

The files you deleted, would be on J: .
J: might have your jsonlz4 files, and as
long as those files have a significant file
size, that would be proof you haven't lost
your bookmarks.

If you run the 360 data recovery, it would be
J: you are interested in. And you would store
the output on E: (remembering to create a
directory to work in on E: first - don't
just let the 360 program "spray" E: with files).
That's if you wanted to attempt to scan J: to
see if you could figure out what files got deleted.

Note that a tool like 360, might possibly find a
hundred thousand files, so you'd have to wade
through a tremendous amount of stuff.

You can't really re-install Firefox at the
moment, because it would get installed on
C:, which is the 2TB drive. Whereas, your
"lonely" bookmarks are on the 1TB J: drive.
You would need to boot the 1TB drive, to
do that install.

The way you're running at this instant
in time, it would be a good time to try
out the "360" application. Or, a good time
to do some sort of AV scan perhaps. Or
a good time to do a bit of Agent Ransack
searching.

I bet you never thought having two
drives would be so complicated. But on
the other hand, look how having that second
drive has "saved your bacon" :-) Even if your
backup scheme isn't running at 100% yet,
you at least have something to fall back on.
It still boots.

I will put another idea in a separate post.

Paul
  #25  
Old November 5th 15, 01:02 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

I did a few scan with Agent Ransack
and found a few things but not the
folder I'm looking for but I thought
you might be interested in these:

http://i64.tinypic.com/11vmgl4.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/119809x.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/2mzihl5.jpg

Robert

  #26  
Old November 5th 15, 01:07 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
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Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Here you go:

http://i64.tinypic.com/jtw9lh.jpg
  #27  
Old November 5th 15, 01:13 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Does the 360 have a feature to select which
drive to scan? Otherwise how will I be able
to run it on the 1TB?

Robert
  #28  
Old November 5th 15, 01:15 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Let's call it a night besides I need
to re-read your messages and get some
sleep. We can pick it up again tomorrow.

Thanks,
Robert
  #29  
Old November 5th 15, 01:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Mark Twain wrote:
I tried the F2 but it still was unresponsive
so I put the 1TB drive into the Star Tech
case and connected it via USB and it gave me
this:

http://i67.tinypic.com/2ey87de.jpg

I then realized I was looking at the K drive
when I should have looked at the E:

http://i63.tinypic.com/if20c6.jpg

Robert


I see in your second picture, you located
a copy of "Exported" bookmarks.html. And at
7MB, that's a pretty big file. Mine is 2.9MB.

So you probably don't need the following idea.

*******

It occurred to me while I was sending the previous
post, there is actually a way to access the bookmarks
on the other drive.

Right now, you have the C: drive (old OS) on the 2TB.
You have the J: drive, with the unknown bookmarkbackups
on it.

Firefox has a command line option.

firefox -p

When you do that, instead of the browser window
showing up right away, a dialog appears first.
This picture is just to give a rough idea what
it looks like.

http://cdn-3.askdavetaylor.com/0-blo...le-manager.jpg

On the right, you can see the word "Default". You are
booted on the C: drive right now. If you hold your
mouse over the word "Default", it will say:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\ Profiles\vpyfp7p7.default\

Now, if you were to Create a new profile in there, it will ask
for details. The name of the profile would be "My 1TB profile",
as we need a descriptive way to label it.

Next, you'd use the Browse button, to select a folder to use
for the profile.

J:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\ Profiles\12345678.default\

What that does, is place a second entry in the Profile Manager.
You wouldn't want that one to be the default necessarily, but
by making a new entry in that menu, it gives you access.

So, say later, after creating this new entry, you again do:

firefox -p

You can click on one of the two entries and have Firefox use it.
If you click on the new entry you made, and tell Firefox to
start up using that folder, then your newest bookmarks become
available. Now, you can use the Bookmark manager in Firefox,
and do an Export, to make the latest version of bookmarks.
You could store that as E:\bookmarks__Nov5_2015.html .

Since you have not changed the default status of the
Default entry, any normal invocation of Firefox would
use the regular profile on C: . Only by doing Firefox -p,
do you get a chance to select a different profile, like
the one on J: which has your most recent bookmarks.

So what are some disadvantages of doing that ? There could be
some file writes to the J: drive, which reduces your odds of
recovering lost files. So that's a slight risk.

One of the tough parts of getting this to work, is Firefox
isn't in the executable %path%. You need to change directory
first, so you're in the directory that contains the Firefox
program. It would go like this.

cd /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox"
firefox -p

And then Firefox can be located in that folder and it
will run. You get the profile selection dialog first,
and after you're finished working inside that dialog,
the browser starts running.

So that's a way to access some bookmarks on another disk,
in some other copy of Firefox.

Another note - I can only advocate this method, because
I know the versions of Firefox on the two drives will
be very similar. The data formats used should be
reasonably similar. Even if one copy of Firefox
attempts to "migrate" the other profile, it probably
won't hurt it. But I wouldn't do that, if one
copy of Firefox was Firefox 42, and the other one
was Firefox 3. Something could get screwed up in
that case.

Paul
  #30  
Old November 5th 15, 07:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mark Twain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,402
Default O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF

Since I have the booksmarks how do I go
about getting them back? Should I reinstall
the 1TB HD and try to get FF running?

Thanks,
Robert
 




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