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#46
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
I was just about to switch the drives when I decided to check a few more files in the 'My Documents on the E2TB) and they do not have the recent changes I made. I noticed this in more than one file and when I checked the C1TB) it shows the same thing. So it seems I've lost some data somehow unless you know of a way to recover it. I wasn't even around these files when all this happened I was on the bookmark menu. At present, a copy of 'My Documents' is on the E2TB) but have not switched the hard drives because of the issue of the files in question. Robert And you know how that happened. You did a System Restore, or at least you attempted one. You would have to "return to the current date" to fix that. In other words, use System Restore, find the restore point that was created when you tried to restore an older restore point. That's just a guess as to what happened. I didn't think things inside "My Documents" were tracked by System Restore. But files stored outside of that, could be affected. You would have to be booted from the 1TB, to attempt to use a System Restore controlled by that OS. Now, personally, I don't rely all that much on the restore point thing and System Restore. And you can see why, in that you have to be aware what folders are tracked, why files might disappear, why older versions of files might show up, and so on. It takes finding the right third-party web page, to get the detailed information necessary to use that successfully. I have found such a page in the past for WinXP, but I don't know if there is a page for Windows 7 with the same level of detail. Paul |
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#47
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
I didn't think System Restore affected
'My Document' folders/files only the OS. Ok, since I see there's only one way to retrieve the information is to do a 'return to current date' I will switch the HD's and try that first. and hopefully it will be successful and then will install FF. I'll let you know how it goes, Thanks, Robert |
#48
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
I didn't think System Restore affected 'My Document' folders/files only the OS. Ok, since I see there's only one way to retrieve the information is to do a 'return to current date' I will switch the HD's and try that first. and hopefully it will be successful and then will install FF. I'll let you know how it goes, Thanks, Robert It doesn't appear to affect data files, in the tutorial here. But this article still doesn't have the degree of detail needed. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11238...ws-7-computer/ There is no indication it affects data files here either. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...m-restore.html So a logical question would be, why is the feature available for *data* disks ? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Paul |
#49
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Paul wrote:
Mark Twain wrote: I didn't think System Restore affected 'My Document' folders/files only the OS. Ok, since I see there's only one way to retrieve the information is to do a 'return to current date' I will switch the HD's and try that first. and hopefully it will be successful and then will install FF. I'll let you know how it goes, Thanks, Robert It doesn't appear to affect data files, in the tutorial here. But this article still doesn't have the degree of detail needed. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11238...ws-7-computer/ There is no indication it affects data files here either. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...m-restore.html So a logical question would be, why is the feature available for *data* disks ? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Paul OK here is a list of file extensions it tracks. User data file types aren't amongst them. No PDF, TXT, HTML or HTM in here. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378870.aspx And you can read more about it here. It looks pretty benign in Vista or later, focused mainly on system stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore It would be pretty hard to explain then, how all of a sudden you have older versions of user data files. Restoring an entire backup could do that. (I.e. use one of your disk backup programs, and run a restore in there.) Paul |
#50
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
This is what I did:
I switched hard drives so the original 1TB Seagate is now in the 8500 and the 2TB WD is in the case. I tried to undo the System Restore but was unsuccessful. I then installed FF but the bookmarks did not come back. In passing IE lagged considerably and Avast wasn't working at all. It wouldn't even let me update it but was alright with FF. So my only concern at the moment is retrieving the bookmarks if at all possible. Thanks, Robert |
#51
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
What do you think of this?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb..._manual-backup http://i64.tinypic.com/oqx3dw.jpg Robert |
#52
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
This is what I did: I switched hard drives so the original 1TB Seagate is now in the 8500 and the 2TB WD is in the case. I tried to undo the System Restore but was unsuccessful. I then installed FF but the bookmarks did not come back. In passing IE lagged considerably and Avast wasn't working at all. It wouldn't even let me update it but was alright with FF. So my only concern at the moment is retrieving the bookmarks if at all possible. Thanks, Robert Then I guess you should be booting the 2TB drive, as it is working. It sounds like the 1TB drive is "tipped over" and has some sort of malware on it. ******* This thread gives some idea where the bookmarks are stored. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/996638 1) places.sqlite is the location of primary storage. If you find a copy of sqlite3.exe, you can use the "dump" command to convert the file into some sort of text. I've done that here on occasion, for fun. 2) bookmarkbackups, as json or jsonlz4 Now, this is the unfortunate part. The JSON is a text file, lacking proper punctuation. A major pain in the ass. But JSONlz4 is worse, because it is compressed. I wrote a simple C program to convert the JSONlz4 back to JSON. I "cheated" by using an LZ4 library, so it's a simple matter of stripping off about 12 bytes of header, then running the binary through a meat grinder. And out comes JSON on the other side. In other words, it can be dealt with, but not easily. We would need to find a proper utility to do this. I'm aiming for a separate tool, instead of the suggestion all the mozilla forum threads have to "use Firefox" to do it. Firefox made this impossible in the first place. 3) Exported as HTML. I didn't know that you can set Firefox to "squirt out" an HTML file, each time Firefox shuts down. So you could be buried in HTML files, just by changing one setting in Firefox. Not feeling too warm about this so far. ******* Now this thread... https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...z4%20to%20html claims you can use Bookmark manager, and import something out of the bookmarkbackups on the 1TB drive. But the thing is, that overwrites the bookmarks setup on the 2TB drive copy of Firefox. ******* OK, there is an addon for Firefox, called JSONview, that allows viewing a JSON file. Now all I need to do is find an LZ4 decompressor, as this addon does not appear to handle the LZ4 part. But at least this has some potential. The idea is, you could use Firefox to do this, without changing the contents of the Firefox profile on the 2TB drive. It's sorta like having "Notepad" to have a look at it. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...ddon/jsonview/ Back in a bit, when I can dig up an LZ4 solution... Paul |
#53
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
What do you think of this? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb..._manual-backup http://i64.tinypic.com/oqx3dw.jpg Robert I'm trying to avoid this if I can "Caution: Restoring bookmarks from a backup will overwrite your current set of bookmarks with the ones in the backup file." I can see plenty of people asking for what I want (an independent method), but I haven't found it yet. ******* OK, I see in your Tinypic picture, you must be booted on the 1TB at the moment, and viewing the available bookmarkbackups ? And the Tuesday one looks pretty good. OK, before you do that, maybe you can exit Firefox which is running from the 1TB drive right now, and copy the profile folder over to E: for safe keeping. Once this folder is copied, you can run Firefox again, and carry out your plan. You can figure out the path, by using Agent Ransack and searching for jsonlz4. C:\Users\rob\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profi les\vpyfp7p7.default What should be in that folder, is the all important file... C:\Users\rob\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profi les\vpyfp7p7.default\Bookmarkbackups\ bookmarks-2015-11-03 ... random stuff ... ==.jsonlz4 And by copying the whole folder, at the blahblah.default level, you'll have a copy of the whole thing just in case. Your profile 8 digit number will be different than my example. Also, the "random stuff" I didn't copy, yours will be different too. For some reason, they made that file name pretty damn long. Once the profile is safely copied, give your plan a try. Paul |
#54
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
The 1TB(Seagate) may have some malware
on it but seems it perform ok minus the bookmarks but I know that means nothing. I tried to copy the profile from the c1TB) to the E2TB) but again the computer didn't recognize the drive even though it had the two pop-ups which ask if you want to view the contents but went I tried to copy to it it was all grayed out. http://i64.tinypic.com/6edy5e.jpg http://i65.tinypic.com/12221yp.jpg http://i64.tinypic.com/2rm1r2s.jpg In fact, I accidentally copied/pasted the file to the J: drive and verified that it's there but I can't get it to the E: drive via USB. Now why should the 1TB work in the case and not 2TB? So instead I moved the profile to a key. I then restore the Tuesday bookmarks and eureka!! Everything is back to nomal !@!!!! All the bookmarks are there. Cool I know we still have a few loose ends but thanks for all your time and good helps and links. Thanks, Robert |
#55
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
I went into the Administrators Account
and did (5)Windows updates, 1 failed, Nvidia I believe. Then the Action Center wanted to run a Troubleshooting program but when finished it said it couldn't display the contents. I reset the Updates to let me choose when to install them. It changed because I kept having a notification in the Action Center to change my settings. So I finally clicked on it and it changed it to Automatic updates so I changed it back. I then did a System Restore. I know you don't believe in them but it never hurts. I guess now we have to update the WD(2TB) but for some reason the case isn't working with it now whereas before it had been fine and I've tried other ports on the 8500. I guess we also need to make a Rescue.ISO disk and a Mrimg file? for both the 8500 and 8200 computers and a fresh backup and whatever else for the 1TB external Seagate HD I use for the 8200. Just tell me how you want me to set things up so this doesn't happen again. Many Thanks, Robert |
#56
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
BTW, I notice that my Avast Pro AV has
changed in the last day or so. Now it doesn't have any update functions.It has different scans but no updating so I guess they are doing it automatically now. I almost forgot, I ran Avast scan after everything came up and it did find a Pup virus but was able to delete it. Now here's the weird part; I just did a Malwarebytes scan on the 8200 and it's infected with Pup.Optional.ArcadeCandy.WnskRST location HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRE...OT|NETWORK\VOTPrx I removed it successfully and had to reboot the computer. I then re-ran it to make sure it was removed. I'm now running scans on both computers. Robert |
#57
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
BTW, I notice that my Avast Pro AV has changed in the last day or so. Now it doesn't have any update functions.It has different scans but no updating so I guess they are doing it automatically now. I almost forgot, I ran Avast scan after everything came up and it did find a Pup virus but was able to delete it. Now here's the weird part; I just did a Malwarebytes scan on the 8200 and it's infected with Pup.Optional.ArcadeCandy.WnskRST location HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRE...OT|NETWORK\VOTPrx I removed it successfully and had to reboot the computer. I then re-ran it to make sure it was removed. I'm now running scans on both computers. Robert Before you transfer the 2TB drive contents to the 1TB drive, you'd want some assurance the 2TB drive is clean from a malware perspective. When I do stuff like this, I would keep a copy of the 1TB drive somewhere, for a short time. Not because I was necessarily going to boot from it, just so that if I forget to copy a file off it, I would still have a copy. Making a backup of the 1TB (J: partition) while the 2TB drive is booted, is probably good enough. Picking a file name that identifies the OS image as infected and the files as "for emergency recovery" etc. That's so you're not depending on that file as a means to repair a computer. Once you've secured the original 1TB contents you want, you could clone back the 2TB drive OS partition and System Reserved, if it has one. If the partitions were too big for some reason, then you'd want to adjust the size in Macrium. With regard to making ISO files, didn't you prepare a Macrium CD already ? Have you tested that the CD is capable of booting both computers, or does it just boot one of the computers ? It's the usual recipe. Make sure something on the computer is "clean" and build on that. ******* I don't know what is going on with the enclosure. If I was having problems of that type, I would either monitor the +12V with a multimeter (inside the casing), or make up a small LED circuit and connect it to the +12V as a means to monitor whether the power was "going off" on the thing. The most unreliable part of enclosures is the power adapter, followed by defective cooling fans. I had one enclosure here, the fan lasted one whole day, before it died. The controller boards have been pretty good, and I haven't had a case where the controller board seemed to be at fault. I think overall, I've had pretty good luck with enclosures. There was just one ugly incident, where using Seagate Seatools, Seatools managed to erase the config data in the controller chip, and it was an all-evening job tracing down a flash programmer to fix it. After the repair, the enclosure is still working today. I keep an optical drive in that one. Paul |
#58
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
I'm not sure I'm following you. Why would I transfer
the outdated contents from the 2TBdrive to the 1TB drive? I thought that we would backup the 1TB to the 2TB drive which is what I intended it for. Would not that be a copy of the 1TB drive then? Otherwise I'm not following how to make a copy of the OS if that's what you mean? and cloning OS Partitions and System Reserved ?? Your way over my head. This may be basic for you but I'm having a hard time following. All I have is Rescue CD's and the Kaspersky CD. Robert |
#59
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Also, what do we do about the case and the 2TB
inability to connect fully? I could put the 2TB inside the 8500 but then I loose my external HD and I really don;t to hear the hard drive working constantly. I could buy another case for it but I find it odd that it worked previously and it worked with the Seagate 1TB HD so it should work? Until I get some sort of connection with the 2TB drive we really can't do anything with it. I do have the Seagate 1TB drive I use for the 8200 and the Patriot Key and a few others and also DVD's. Robert |
#60
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O.T. deleted bookmark, can't sign-on to FF
Mark Twain wrote:
I'm not sure I'm following you. Why would I transfer the outdated contents from the 2TBdrive to the 1TB drive? I thought that we would backup the 1TB to the 2TB drive which is what I intended it for. Would not that be a copy of the 1TB drive then? Otherwise I'm not following how to make a copy of the OS if that's what you mean? and cloning OS Partitions and System Reserved ?? Your way over my head. This may be basic for you but I'm having a hard time following. All I have is Rescue CD's and the Kaspersky CD. Robert That's why I asked for a review of the malware status and general stability. I thought the 1TB was pretty messed up right now ? ******* It sounds like you're happy with the status quo right now. Namely 1) 1TB OK. You would like to back it up. You are currently booted from the 1TB drive. It is perfectly fine, clean as a whistle. Firefox works. Avast works. 2) The 2TB drive is inside the 8500, because the enclosure is not working right. 3) The Macrium backup of the 1TB drive will go to the E: partition of the 2TB drive. ******* You can test the Macrium CD you made at any time. When you quit the copy of Macrium on the CD, the computer should reboot. And you can boot the hard drive again right after that. HTH, Paul |
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