SM2.1 cache structure drives me crazy

[frankdavis]

Installed SM2.1.
Went to cache to save a youtube-flv I had just downloaded only to find my cache was now cut op into hundreds of folders.
It appears they have done this deliberately.
Apparently 'they' never go to their cache and save a downloaded file from there.
I've come to understand nothing can be done about this.
Also notices the appearance of these 'json'files in my appdata, which had two years ago made me move away from firefox.
I want to be in control of my files - strange that the developers at mozilla more and more seem to be tending towards creating products that leave me without control at all - that 'awesome bar' in FF even does your thinking for you. I DON'T WANT THAT!!
So, to avoid anymore stress... installing SM2.0.13 again.
It's a free product, so I can't complain. But perhaps this might be a point of interest.
Software developers should keep in mind that software users accustom to certain conventions, procedures and operation modes that have over years proven their functionality and efficiency. Developers should carefully determine whether any change projected is indeed necessary. Ease of use most of the time is more relevant than the somanieth 'handy' extension or cool gadget.

[vladmir]

frankdavis

the developers at mozilla more and more seem to be tending towards creating products that leave me without control at all

SM doesn't control you yet

Apparently 'they' never go to their cache and save a downloaded file from there

And they never save pages too.

[therube]

See if MozillaCacheView - View the cache files of Mozilla/Firefox browsers or VideoCacheView - Save downloaded video files from Web browser cache help/work?

[Joe1962]

This bugged me too in 2.1 and now 2.2 beta, Before, it was so easy to find the latest flv in the cache and copy/rename it elsewhere. And no, those 2 utilities mentioned seem to be only for Windows. Had a look at about:cache, but it doesn't seem very useful...

If anybody can help with this, it would be appreciated.

[vladmir]

Before, it was so easy to find the latest

Sometimes sort by size and you have several big files in one place. Or by time.

Total Commander has function - show files without folders.

[Joe1962]

That is assuming that the files are there in one piece and not in the form of some weird filesystem chunks. I will have to look into this.

[therube]

"Flatten", I would call it.
Seems that Total Commander calls it, "Branched View" (Ctrl+B).

That looks like it should work well.
Full path shows on the status line.
Duplicate file names are not an issue.

(Now if only I could figure out how to rename a file . I'm so used to using F2 ...)

Yes any nirsoft utilities will be Windows only.

[Joe1962]

But can you confirm that the files are actually whole there? Any links to documents about the new cache structure? Sorry to ask, but my internet is veeery slow and sometimes finding stuff is a pain.

[therube]

> can you confirm that the files are actually whole there?

I've never totally understood the /cache/. In addition to individual files, there are groups of files (if you will), the _CACHE_001_ ... files. Have no idea what determines if a file/page ends up in one spot or the other? So long as a particular file is individually cached, using Total Commander should make it relatively easy to pull the files out.

It's been a LONG time since I've frequented SeaMonkey's /Cache/. FlashGot & FlashGot Media seem to take care of most everything.

The new structure is done for efficiency reasons. (Perhaps not so much on Window, but even there to.) What is done now is much like what MS has done for a long time now. MS's TIF (Temporary Internet Files) directories are "special", such that when viewed in Windows Explorer they are display in a flattened manner, but in fact are actually made up of multiple directories (a minimum of 4, often far more). (On the other hand, Mozilla cookies [were] all stored in a single file, cookies.txt, where MS sticks [often 1,000's] of individual files into a single directory - not efficient.)

[therube]

This shows as compatible with SeaMonkey 2.0 (untested), CacheViewer.
Mentions a version bump for FF5 (perhaps that being the beta, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... /versions/).

So who knows, might work?

[therube]

Altap (Servant) Salamander does not have a "flatten", but it does have a "Find".

So if you "Find *.* in C:\Mozilla\USERS\therube.21\Cache" & further filter it to ignore directories, you'll get a nice list of (Mozilla, randomly named) files that you can manipulate.

Using Everything search engine (& EVERYONE should be using Everything) if you did an Everything search like:

file: C:\Mozilla\USERS\therube.21\Cache

you would quickly find (2,092 in my case) files within the structure. Sort by size or date ...

(Salamander is shareware. Everything is free. You should use "Everything" version 1.2.1.451a.)

[Joe1962]

The CacheViewer plugins works for me on 2.2B1, Linux, but no luck on getting to flv videos with it...