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how can i create a new sessionstore file with my current open tabs saved in it?

adamglennr
adamglennr
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ive gone through the forums and followed the advice of renaming the sessionstore.bak file as sessionstore.js and then restarting FF to restore open tabs that were lost after a FF crash. the problem im having is that sessionstore.bak file was the most recent sessionstore file listed and it was from 8/14/15 (almost 2 months ago, im writing this 10/5/15). so when i restarted, FF opened with all the tabs from that date (8/14/15) and none of the tabs that had been opened since then. luckily i had copied/pasted many of the links that were the new open tabs that i had added over the past 2 months since 8/14/15 so i was able to manually go back to those webpages. but to avoid this problem in the future since it seems to happen every few months, my question is how do i create a new sessionstore.js file or update the sessionstore.bak file so that it contains all of my current tabs? i would like to create a backup sessionstore file every week that would include all the current tabs, and then if down the road i have this problem again i can just rename that updated file to sessionstore.js and restart FF and have all of my current tabs restored. instead, i cant seem to get any sessionstore file (.js or .bak) to save with more recent data then that 8/14/15 date from 2 months ago...thanks for any help, i tried to be as clear as possible with my problem here. basically, how do i manually create an updated current sessionstore file so that i can update it with a new version every week or so or whenever i end up opening a bunch of new tabs that i want to keep open and dont want to lose if the crash problem returns...

ive gone through the forums and followed the advice of renaming the sessionstore.bak file as sessionstore.js and then restarting FF to restore open tabs that were lost after a FF crash. the problem im having is that sessionstore.bak file was the most recent sessionstore file listed and it was from 8/14/15 (almost 2 months ago, im writing this 10/5/15). so when i restarted, FF opened with all the tabs from that date (8/14/15) and none of the tabs that had been opened since then. luckily i had copied/pasted many of the links that were the new open tabs that i had added over the past 2 months since 8/14/15 so i was able to manually go back to those webpages. but to avoid this problem in the future since it seems to happen every few months, my question is how do i create a new sessionstore.js file or update the sessionstore.bak file so that it contains all of my current tabs? i would like to create a backup sessionstore file every week that would include all the current tabs, and then if down the road i have this problem again i can just rename that updated file to sessionstore.js and restart FF and have all of my current tabs restored. instead, i cant seem to get any sessionstore file (.js or .bak) to save with more recent data then that 8/14/15 date from 2 months ago...thanks for any help, i tried to be as clear as possible with my problem here. basically, how do i manually create an updated current sessionstore file so that i can update it with a new version every week or so or whenever i end up opening a bunch of new tabs that i want to keep open and dont want to lose if the crash problem returns...

All Replies (3)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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What version of Firefox are you running? The sessionstore.bak file was last used in Firefox 32 or thereabouts, so it's strange that you have a version even two months old. In newer versions of Firefox, there are these files:

In the sessionstore-backups folder inside your profile folder:

  • recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox is closed, your last session)
  • recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
  • previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
  • upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update

Can you find any of those?

Regarding backups, perhaps it's simplest to use one of the tools developed for backing up the whole profile? This article has suggestions: Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.

adamglennr
adamglennr Question owner
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thank you so much for your reply!...i was able to find the files named "previous", "recovery" and "recovery.bak" in the sessionstore-backups folder. i listed them here exactly as they show in that folder, so the 1st 2 do not say .js or .bak. also, the "recovery" and "recovery .bak" files are only 166KB while the "previous" file is 658KB which seems more complete and accurate to me based on the large # of tabs i have open (i know, gotta close some of them already, separate issue! lol). i made a separate copy of that larger "previous" file and called it "previousOld" thinking at least that would then just sit there safely with all 658KB in case the "previous" file somehow gets overwritten after the next crash. anyway, my question now is, what do i do the next time my problem returns and FF crashes and i restart it and it restarts with all of my tabs gone and its just one tab showing my homepage? do i move the previous or previousOld file out of session-backups and onto the main list and rename it sessionstore.js (and get rid of the old sessionstore.js that is still from 8/14/15) and then restart FF and hope it opens from there? or is there something else i should do? thanks again!

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Absolutely correct that previous.js is vulnerable to replacement, so good work making a backup.

You can configure Windows to show .js extensions (and other common extensions) so you can be confident about what files you are copying/renaming. This article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

When Firefox starts up, if it is not configured to restore your previous session, usually the History menu would have Restore Previous Session enabled (not grayed). I would always check that first. If it is grayed, then either the session file was not found or the session was restored. If the session was restored, I would check the History menu for previously closed windows and within individual windows, previously closed tabs.

If that doesn't work, you can try using a copy of your previousOLD.js file to replace sessionstore.js the way we used to do with sessionstore.bak. Firefox needs to be completely shut down before swapping in and renaming the older file.