OMFG! All my Bookmarks are GONE! :o

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boki46
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OMFG! All my Bookmarks are GONE! :o

Post by boki46 »

Hi,

I don't know what happened! I mean I didn't do a thing wrong and when I turned on Camino today to browse the web, it suddenly reported an error - that it couldn't read the bookmarks because the file was corrupted! - and I lost all my Bookmarks! An enormous database I relied on!

Please don't tell me that there is no way of bringing them back! :(
I've been a dedicated Camino user for a long time, but if this is true, I am sure to proclaim Camino as the worst browser on the web, and will be deeply unsure about FireFox too... o.O
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cflawson
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Post by cflawson »

There's no way to bring them back, unless (and so far we're about oh-for-10 on this) your bookmarks-corrupted-1.plist file is not empty.

cl
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froodiantherapy
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Post by froodiantherapy »

I know it may be a bit dicey (read: obnoxious) to say this at this point, but let this be a good lesson to back up all your data regularly. Data loss always comes when you expect it least, and usually when it will hurt you most.

Do try checking the file cl mentions (in ~/Library/Application Support/Camino) though.
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Old davedit
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Post by Old davedit »

One chance you have to get them back is if you have ever used CaminoKnight to update to nightly builds. If so, then check ~/Library/Application Support/CaminoKnight and there should be a backed up bookmark.plist from the last time you ran CaminoKnight.
boki46
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Post by boki46 »

Ouch! :(
That means they're all gone.
I know it may be a bit dicey (read: obnoxious) to say this at this point, but let this be a good lesson to back up all your data regularly. Data loss always comes when you expect it least, and usually when it will hurt you most.

Dicey it is, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that Camino as most Mac applications should be user-friendly and that means some sort of automatic backup. The fact that Camino overrides the corrupted database file, not even allowing you to manually save your data is just ridiculous.

I've had enough of Camino! I'm off it forever!
At least Safari is safe.

One chance you have to get them back is if you have ever used CaminoKnight to update to nightly builds.

I wish I had used CaminoKnight. :(
wrc_fan
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Post by wrc_fan »

I've had this problem multiple times... now I just keep my bookmarks on del.icio.us
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eccoana
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Post by eccoana »

CamiTools help you to easily backup your profile folder (including the bookmarks) and/or to copy your bookmarks onto a ftp server. So you'll always have a backup somewhere...
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Old davedit
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Post by Old davedit »

Regardless of the number of options we have to protect us from the problem, it would be much better if the problem was simply eliminated. Does anyone know why this is happening? And is there a bug on it?
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cflawson
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Post by cflawson »

Bug 337750, which I filed after getting three or four reports of the problem on feedback.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=337750

Simon explains the problem in there. I have no idea if he's actively working on a solution.

cl
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the Falcon
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Post by the Falcon »

Why not have Camino automatically make backups of your bookmarks, like Firefox does? I used to often have this some problem with Firefox, too, but at some point, that was not such a big problem anymore, because Firefox started automatically making backups, starting at whatever version I don't remember.
This should be pretty easy to implement, I would think. Whatever the cause of the current bug and whether it will be fixed or not, I think this would be a worthwile feature to have around, just in case another, similar bug creeps in. Better safe than sorry, you know?
Just a thought.
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macwish
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Post by macwish »

the Falcon wrote:Why not have Camino automatically make backups of your bookmarks, like Firefox does? I used to often have this some problem with Firefox, too, but at some point, that was not such a big problem anymore, because Firefox started automatically making backups, starting at whatever version I don't remember.
This should be pretty easy to implement, I would think. Whatever the cause of the current bug and whether it will be fixed or not, I think this would be a worthwile feature to have around, just in case another, similar bug creeps in. Better safe than sorry, you know?
Just a thought.


iCab also makes automatic backup of bookmarks.

Work-arounds include making backup of profile with Camitools, using URL Manager Pro or similar application to manage bookmarks (at added expense), or just make regular backups of User Folder.
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hakanw
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Post by hakanw »

The bug report, as earlier referenced, is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=337750

<i>Please</i> help us find a way to reproduce this 100% - that would help a lot in finding its cause and moving forward!

/Håkan
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the Falcon
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Post by the Falcon »

I try but I can't. :(

…"and I want to so bad"…
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gslusher
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Post by gslusher »

There are lots of ways to prevent this problem. If you use a regular backup program (you do, don't you?), add the folder Users/username/Library/Application Support/Camino to your backup set. That will backup the bookmarks, cookies, autofill, etc. Then, when the backup program runs each day (you do have it run every day, don't you? <G>), it will backup the bookmarks.

Another method is to use a bookmark synchronization program like Bookit. This will really help if you use several browsers.
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Uncle Asad
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Post by Uncle Asad »

Someone even made a Camino QuickPick for dotMac subscribers....
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