How many history items do you have (use a ":" in the search bar in the History Manager) and how many pages does Firefox store if you check this read-only pref on the about:config page?

• places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages

FredMcD said

Are you using sync? If so shut it down.

Nope, don't use sync.

guigs said

Hi there, So currently you are on the beta channel. After version 60, there will be dedicated profiles for each version of Firefox. Can you confirm that you did not downgrade Firefox at any point between today and that February date? I would first check to see if you have multiple profiles listed in your profile folder. This is how you can get there:

1. Go to about:support
2. Click on "Show in..." next to "Profile Folder"

Can you tell me if you have another profile with a history (places.sqlite) folder that has a more recent date than 2/27? I believe Fred already took you through the troubleshooting steps that check if third party program could be preventing history from being saved or if sync is syncing a preference from another device that has unchecked History. However, there are a few other items that I need to confirm with you -

1. if you browse for a while in Safe Mode, do you see entries in the History > Show All History menu?
2. In your profile folder do you see a user.js file, parent.lock file?
3. Are there any crashes recently listed from the last history date on the about:crashes page?

This is why I am asking these questions: {https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save#w_t...} Bugs maybe: Session due to crash? https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1330633 is it a new bug, is it due to conflict between add-on and sync = this will be it if the history shows up after safe mode I am looking forward to your reply.

I have not downgraded Firefox. And I just have one profile.

Yes, Safemode and history do the same, store and delete history after 7days.

I do not see a user.js file, but I have a parent.lock file.

Last crash was 1/5/2018

cor-el said

How many history items do you have (use a ":" in the search bar in the History Manager) and how many pages does Firefox store if you check this read-only pref on the about:config page?

• places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages

10988 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages;138753

Delete the parent.lock file and I did not know about the max pages feature. Good call cor-el, and Fred thank you for all the troubleshooting.

Just to keep this going in the direction of a solution - do you have more than that many history entries? If you double click on the entry and add 1, do you see a new entry in Show > All Bookmarks?

I closed Firefox, deleted parent.lock started Firefox, and the file was recreated.

If I set it to 1, there are no new entries.

However, does Firefox know how much space there is on the disk? And will Firefox ignore all rules if it deem that there isn't enough space and start deleting stuff?

I ask because I moved the profile folder + cache with a hardlink to an other drive with more space, and it stopped deleting stuff for two days, then when I moved it back it started to delete entries again. I don't have a space problem, and I wont run out of memory. But is Firefox paranoid about it?

Frejoh466 said

deleted parent.lock started Firefox, and the file was recreated.

Firefox will recreate needed files, but they will be fresh and clean.

does Firefox know how much space there is on the disk? And will Firefox ignore all rules if it deem that there isn't enough space and start deleting stuff?

That is possible. If you can, move rarely used files to another drive. If you can't, put your profile back to the other drive.

The thing is that Firefox is really sensitive. If I have it on my SSD and load something heavy, like using RES then the entire browser freeze for about 10sec before starting again. Chrome works just fine.

But I prefer to use Firefox, so my solution was to use and ram drive and move my profile over there. I have an 160MB overhead in case Firefox need to do something. But there is still a dedicate portion of my ram to it, so I rather not have 1gig ram wasted just because Firefox is paranoid.

And then, how much free space does it want to have before it start to delete everything? I rather disable this "feature" or try to fool it.

I asked on on a unofficial forum and they gave me this. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/Places_Expiration

So it seems like the nsPlacesExpiration.js is telling Firefox to delete everything. It is however ignoring the "places.history.expiration.max_pages" settings, so it's either a bug or a change that hasn't been updated in the documentation.

It is however saying "places.history.expiration.interval_seconds" is when it should delete. If I set it to -1 will it never delete then?