Memory cache vs Disk cache?

[fivefalcon11]

For the longest time, I've been setting "browser.cache.disk.enable" to false, about:cache never showed a "disk cache" entry as a result - Now I'm noticing that about:cache shows both "memory" and "disk" with the same Number of entries, Maximum storage size, and Storage in Use - Storage disk location states "none, only stored in memory".

Does this mean the cache is only getting stored in memory still? And if so why are both "memory" and "disk" showing the same number of entries, unless "disk" doesn't mean what I think it means?

Also, I'm noticing a file named "StartupCache4.little" being present in the /AppData/Firefox/Profiles/<profilename>/startupCache with fluctuating size. Is this another disk cache file? Couldn't find much information on it.

Thanks for your help!

[dfoulkes]

Over the years helping on this board I had read so many issues where it was suggested that users who were having problem clear their cache... and it solved their problems... so, knowing that if I set my Options (in Privacy) to clear cache at Firefox close Firefox would not even use disk-cache and I tested that in the past using about:cache and disk cache was always empty... based on the OP's post I check my about:cache and it now has records in various disk-cache areas... and I do not want that to take place due to the never-ending cache-issues that seems to follow Firefox... now I have to do some research to find where to "really" turn that off.

OK... just checked something out... in Tools/Options and the Advanced Tab ... And the Network Tab... there's a line about Overriding Auto Cache... Mine was set on and with a default cache-size and in the past I never bothered with it B4 because I knew that my settings to clear cache at close stopped Firefox from using Disk-cache... but a change in how that is handled has been made... so, in that Overriding Auto Cache... I kept the box active but I changed the value to 0 (zero) and just tested it out... now my disk cache via about:cache is not showing disk-cache.

[smsmith]

There's a new cache backend. Seems to be controlled by the preference: browser.cache.use_new_backend_temp (boolean) which will "soon" be replaced with browser.cache.use_new_backend (integer) where a value of 1 means true and 0 means false. If your cache disk storage location ends in cache2 you are using the new backend. For example: C:\Users\[loginID]\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profileFolderName]\cache2

dfoukes - clearing your cache on exit does not disable the cache. It merely flushes the cache on exit, so when you restore a session, you have to download the pages again rather than just use the cached version (handy if you want a fresh version of the page, not so if you have limited bandwidth and aren't a "gotta have the latest right now" type of person).

[dfoulkes]

dfoukes - clearing your cache on exit does not disable the cache. It merely flushes the cache on exit, so when you restore a session, you have to download the pages again rather than just use the cached version (handy if you want a fresh version of the page, not so if you have limited bandwidth and aren't a "gotta have the latest right now" type of person).

Prior to the most recent releases my setting to clear cache at time at Firefox close had always set the internals of Firefox to not even create any "disk" caching records... I had tested that a number of time in the past... including checking out the cache files on disk... and it was only very recently that Mozilla altered what that Options setting did with respect to that disk-caching. So... in the past... if I did a about:cache the disk-cache data was always at zero... until I checked that out due to this topic. But making the change that I mentioned in my prior post seems to now get me back to that desired zero value... and though I'm on wireless and it's slower than wired... I'd rather deal with a little slower download from the Net that deal with too many cache issues ... like I've read over the years... I'm not sure why Firefox has those cache issues ... maybe all browser do.. but since I use Firefox 99.9% of the time I don't know if they do.