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Fireftp won't read accounts list

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  • Last reply by John99

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Stupidly I accepted Firefox's offer to 'Refresh Firefox'. What a disaster. I don't see how losing all my data is some kind of 'improvement'. However, I've managed to get most of it back and re-installed FireFTP (which is about the only reason I use Firefox) but although I've now got all my saved passwords, and the file fireFTPsites.dat is back in my profile folder, FireFTP refuses to read it and it looks like I'm going to have to create all my FTP accounts again from scratch.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Stupidly I accepted Firefox's offer to 'Refresh Firefox'. What a disaster. I don't see how losing all my data is some kind of 'improvement'. However, I've managed to get most of it back and re-installed FireFTP (which is about the only reason I use Firefox) but although I've now got all my saved passwords, and the file fireFTPsites.dat is back in my profile folder, FireFTP refuses to read it and it looks like I'm going to have to create all my FTP accounts again from scratch. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks

All Replies (2)

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Panic over! It seems Firefox (in its wisdom) had created not ONE but TWO new profile folders, and I was copying files into the wrong one. My accounts are now restored and I can get on with my life.

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Hi maf9222, Sorry you are having problems.

The Refresh or Reset option is not meant to lose your passwords and data etc. It is however intended to clean out extensions including their data. IMHO Mozzilla promotes this option far too aggressively without as prominently mentioning its downsides. (It has improved vastly since its introduction, and is still being improved - IIRC should list addons links as next improvement)

You should have a copy of the original profile saved to the desktop, I hope that is still there and intact. Is it ? With any luck all the fireFTP files are safely within that backup and it is not too dificult to use that backup profile again when you use Firefox. It is worth taking precautions though: backing up the current profile, and working from a further copy of the profile you should have on the desktop.

In your case I presume fireFTP holds data in the profile, and as intended the Refresh|Reset cleaned out this data. Whilst some of us are well aware of these actions; those using Firefox after a break, updating, or getting warnings it is slow; do not necessarily realise this, and regret the click, getting a nasty shock and facing a far from simple task of fixing the problems caused.

  • Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings#w_what-does-the-reset-feature-do
    Extensions and themes, website permissions, modified preferences, added search engines, download history, DOM storage, security settings, download actions, plugin settings, toolbar customizations, user styles and social features will be removed.

I do not use fireftp ad you may need to get information from their site http://fireftp.net/help.html

Rather than a full explanation here I will link to other articles.

  1. First find and backup the current profile put it safe somewhere outside Firefox's profile and program paths, the desktop or a folder in My documents will do. That ensures you retain the current information and do not lose anything else. Easiest to locate the correct current profile whilst Firefox is open by using the troubleshooting information page
  2. Familiarise yourself with how to handle multiple profiles. It's pretty easy to do, but we tend to only document the things standard users do so details are best discovered in Mozillazine. Make a careful note of the top folder names of the profiles (note any leading characters) & paths. Copy the old profile folder so a copy is adjacent to the current profile then using a command line or the Profile Manager open Firefox using this fresh copy of the old profile. All should be almost as it was previously.
  3. There may be some tidying up to do. You may have made changes since the Refresh option. Worse case you may have deleted the old profile, but even then all may not be lost Please post back with how you get on with the first two stages.

In future it may be worth taking steps to routinely manually backup your profile or important files within it. Possibly consider the popular FEBE addon