files deleted

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

files deleted

Post by yankeesbeliever »

When I created a new profile I found out that I didn't need it. I then deleted it, not thinking, and it erased all the files on my computer. Is there anyway to get those back?
Guest
Guest

Post by Guest »

Nope. Sorry there gone :(
User avatar
greenknight
Posts: 6187
Joined: December 13th, 2004, 2:28 am
Location: In the shadow of Mount St. Helens

Post by greenknight »

Deleting a profile should only remove the data that was stored in that profile, and if may not even delete that.

What did you do exactly? Did you use the "Delete Profile" button in the Profile Manager? Did you select the "Delete Files" option?
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

Post by yankeesbeliever »

I hit the delete profile button and a pop-up then came up. There were 3 buttons in there. Don't delete files, delete files, and cancel. I hit delete files thinking it would only delete the profile.
User avatar
firemonkey
Posts: 950
Joined: March 14th, 2004, 10:57 pm
Location: Down in the basement

Post by firemonkey »

I'm assuming that when you created the new profile you placed it in the root directory (/, or c:\, etc.) or in your home or My Documents directory and not a new subfolder of that location.

It is in fact a known issue that if a new profile is created in a location with existing files, if the profile is deleted, all files in the profile location (whether they existed before the profile or not) will be deleted with the profile.

The only thing I can say is to be extremely careful where you create a new profile and not to place it in an existing folder containing important files.
User avatar
greenknight
Posts: 6187
Joined: December 13th, 2004, 2:28 am
Location: In the shadow of Mount St. Helens

Post by greenknight »

yankeesbeliever wrote:I hit the delete profile button and a pop-up then came up. There were 3 buttons in there. Don't delete files, delete files, and cancel. I hit delete files thinking it would only delete the profile.
I saw your other post where you mentioned that you created this profile in "My Documents"; like firemonkey said, don't ever do that.

I would also advise that you select "Don't Delete Files" when deleting a profile.

That way, if you should need to recover data from that profile, you can.

You can always go into your Profile folder later and delete the files, no need to burn your bridges right away.

If you have WinXP, you could try a System Restore, otherwise, you could try a file recovery program if you lost anything really important.
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

Post by yankeesbeliever »

I tried a System Restore and a file recovery program and neither of them worked. I lost a lot of important things but it doesn't look like I'm getting them back
User avatar
greenknight
Posts: 6187
Joined: December 13th, 2004, 2:28 am
Location: In the shadow of Mount St. Helens

Post by greenknight »

Sorry to here that. I didn't think the chances were very good, but it was worth a shot.
Win 10 Pro x64, AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6 core, 3900 MHz (4450 Turbo), AMD Radeon Vega (integrated graphics). 16GB DDR4-3200, Firefox 124.0.1, Developer Edition 125.0b5, Nightly 126.0a1.
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

Post by yankeesbeliever »

Yea. It was a big mistake on my part. I was hoping someone could tell me good news that I could get it back. I guess not. Thanks anyway guys
AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

No, as far as I can tell, it was a small mistake on your part. Please take a careful look at this bug report: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=270705 . Does this describe exactly what happened?
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

Post by yankeesbeliever »

That's exactally what happened. I didn't know it was a bug though. Are they working on fixing this? Am I gonna get my files back?
AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

What kind of warning, if any, did it give you?

This bug is marked as INVALID. It's said to be a feature, not a bug. And no, you probably can't get your files back.

I don't want to bias you, but why do you not consider it not a bug? (I'd like some other opinions too, please.)
yankeesbeliever
Posts: 12
Joined: July 22nd, 2005, 11:04 pm

Post by yankeesbeliever »

I didn't know it was a bug. I thought it was something I did. I don't consider that a feature. It really didnt' give me any warning. It asked if I wanted to delete the profile and I said I did. Then everything was erased after that. There was nothing else I did that could have erased all of my files
Guest
Guest

Post by Guest »

yankeesbeliever wrote:I didn't know it was a bug. I thought it was something I did. I don't consider that a feature. It really didnt' give me any warning. It asked if I wanted to delete the profile and I said I did. Then everything was erased after that. There was nothing else I did that could have erased all of my files


Treat Firefox wit as much caution as you would any amateur-software.
AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

I checked it out with versions 1.0.5 and DP a2. It did give you fair warning. However, in my opinion the warning should have been unnecessarily, or at least more prominent.

Guest, please do not troll. This is professionally- and carefully-written software.

Folks, do not feed the trolls.
Locked