Viewing old cache in firefox

[6whiskeys]

How do I view cache files in Firefox. I can see todays cahe when I type about:cache but I urgently need to retrieve an image from yesterday.
thanks

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Andrew T.]

In Windows XP (which I'm assuming you're using), files from Mozilla Firefox's cache are stored in the folder [tt]C:\Documents and Settings\[/tt](user name)[tt]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[/tt](profile name)[tt]\Cache[/tt], where they are given cryptic file names like "00524B7Dd01." You might want to try viewing these files one-by-one (by dragging-and-dropping them from Windows Explorer into a Mozilla Firefox window, for example) until you find the image you are looking for.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win95; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[6whiskeys]

i did get that far - tho the drag n drop is a nice touch....but I can't see any images/pages before today? Are they kept in a separate cache or is there an autodelete setting so the cache is wiped after 24hrs?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Fulvio]

There is no Auto-delete of Cache.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Roy]

You might what to try using the new beta versions of the "Google" and/or "Yahoo" desktop search programs.

Both will find all the "*.gif" or "*.jpg" or whatever files on your computer and both will display the images for you as you scroll through the file names.

Just go to "http://www.google.com" or "http://www.yahoo.com" to download the programs.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050101 Firefox/DNJ71R1

[profman]

You might what to try using the new beta versions of the "Google" and/or "Yahoo" desktop search programs.

Both will find all the "*.gif" or "*.jpg" or whatever files on your computer and both will display the images for you as you scroll through the file names.

Just go to "http://www.google.com" or "http://www.yahoo.com" to download the programs.

The cache files (correct me if I am wrong here) are no longer labeled with proper suffixes (like *.gif or *.jpg), so this approach would not work.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[Fulvio]

You are correct that the files are not labelled, unless Google or Yahoo can read between the lines. I tried the Copernic Desktop Search program, which is a standalone capable of handling everything which is in the other search programs, with no success.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[profman]

I have verified that, at least some images (some gifs and jps), are picked up by PaintShop Pro (PSP) even if they do have any program suffixes. I do this by using PSP's "browse" function to check any images in a given cache directory. This does not work, of course, for any content that was in the "memory cache" unless it is written to the hard drive.

I do not know if other grahics programs work in the same manner.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[J-M]

That is true. I have used XP's own Picture and Fax Viewer feature about two years to examine a separate cache file, when I noticed this new change in naming. If for example PSP 7.x can open it, it handles a file without a suffix too. Windows Explorer including picture viewing (preview) feature mentioned 'understands' this too.

How to procedure:
- double-click for example 0CED2E6Ad01 in your cache directory
- Open with... window is appeared
- select Picture and Fax Viewer
- do not select 'Always open with...'
- select OK

Zooming and rotating features (and printing of course) are available without a commercial program.
You can use My Computer's View / Details view too, and sort cache files by date (click column Edited).
Finnish OS at work , I'll correct terminology soon.
[edited: corrected Picture and Fax Preview to Picture and Fax Viewer]

_CACHE_001_, _CACHE_001_, _CACHE_001_ and _CACHE_MAP_ are cache index files (and much more bigger too). Don't try to open them.

There is some keyboard shortcuts available too (Ctrl + P, left and right arrows etc.).

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; fi-FI; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041108 Firefox/1.0

[Alice]

i did get that far - tho the drag n drop is a nice touch....but I can't see any images/pages before today? Are they kept in a separate cache or is there an autodelete setting so the cache is wiped after 24hrs?

When you type in about:cache are you then selecting "List Cache entries" under Disk Cache device? Memory cache also stores images, but only for the current session.

If you only see current items under Disk Cache, then you are out of luck. For the future, you can increase the size of your disk cache. I believe the default is 50,000 kb (appx 50MB) but it's possible you changed the setting to a smaller size (I use a very small 3000 kb disk cache for reasons that really don't matter here).

From Firefox Help contents:

Changing Cache Settings

Firefox stores copies of frequently accessed pages in the cache. By doing this Firefox doesn't have to retrieve the page from the network each time you view the web page.

To set the size of the cache or to clear it (Windows and Unix only):

1. Select Tools > Options <snip>
2. Under the Privacy category, click Cache to expand the list.
3. Enter a number in the Use up to field to specify the size of the cache. 50MB to 70MB is a good size. To clear the cache immediately, click the Clear button to the right of the Cache category.

Important: A larger cache allows more data to be quickly retrieved, but more of your hard disk space is used.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Nimrod]

I would like to actually see the images that Mozilla has stored in the cache. From Netscaep 7 on the loss of the file extensions has badly limited the ability to review the graphics. (and other file types)

I have reviewed several different sites and tried several different methods of getting past the now cryptic file names and can only get at about 20% of the images I know are there.

I know where Mozilla / Firefox / Netscape keep their cache files. I know about the "about:cache" command. I know that I can view the cache, but what you are given is the URL that points to the graphic. This does not help if the website is now down, closed, or changed the URL. I know that the information given by the "about:cache=disk" provides a KEY that through alot of work could be related to the URL path - but that is too much work if you have many Megs of images.

I have tried the drag and drop the cache files into various programs - Corel / Photo Shop / IE / various stand alone viewers / Fax and Image Viewer / etc. again with very limited success. I have even used Cache View 2.03 with not much luck. The missing extensions are the biggest problem.

My question is this - Does anyone have a way of actually getting the contents of the (lets say Firefox) cache into a form where the files (graphic files) can be looked at. In other words, a way to get the JPEG, GIF, PNG extensions to relate to the file names to just SEE them. I don't need their Key, their URL, their Size - I would just like to review all the images that are in my cache. Without their extensions the files are nearly useless.

I would like to mention again -
The "about:cache" command only shows you the file URL (where it came from). If you don't have internet access at the moment or you are off-line, if the site is down, gone, or now under a different URL the link is invalid.
I have a large cache file and the prospect of going file by file to relate the URL that provides the extension to the KEY that corresponds to the renamed file in the cache without the extension is daunting.

Back in Netscape 4x you could simply go to the cache and there were the files. You could view, copy, delete, check, etc. with no problems.

It can't be that difficult to get this back. If only the files did not have their extensions removed.

Is there a free way to do this?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Nimrod]

Getting the images out of the cache in Netscape 7x, and Firefox appears to be a popular topic but I have yet to find a way to actually view the cache to SEE just what is in there. I don't want to read about what images are there - I want to SEE them.

The best solution I have had so far is very low tech...

1) I copy a chunk of the files in the cache to a temp folder.
2) I use a file rename utilty (I use Ulead Photo Explorer batch rename)
3) I give all the files a JPG extension
4) I use a image thumbnail viewer to see what images are valid and copy them out to another folder- this can take a while...
5) I then rename the remaining files with a GIF extension
6) I repeat steps 4 & 5 each time with a new extension

After I have finished this series I then go back to the cache and copy yet another chunk of the cache and repeat steps 1 to 6.

This takes a very long time as you can see - my cache may have many hundreds of files, if not thousands. It may still not work for all files because of file format problems.

This works for about 60% of the files and takes a very long time, but it is free and simple...just tiring.

I still would like a way to simply SEE all the image files in the cache.

I will rephrase my question to help anyone willing to take up the chalange: "Is there a simple, free way to visually review all the image files stored within the cache collectivly?" or at least copy all image files complete with file extensions so they can be viewed by most any other viewer or graphic program or browser...not one-at-a-time.

Thanks anyone and everyone...

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Alice]

My question is this - Does anyone have a way of actually getting the contents of the (lets say Firefox) cache into a form where the files (graphic files) can be looked at. In other words, a way to get the JPEG, GIF, PNG extensions to relate to the file names to just SEE them. I don't need their Key, their URL, their Size - I would just like to review all the images that are in my cache. Without their extensions the files are nearly useless.

I went to one of my pages with lots of jpg files:
http://home.att.net/~aliceshel/Opsail2K/opsail.htm

Then checked about:cache, Disk cache device, List Cache Entries
and found the jpg's listed, for example:

Code: Select all

Key: http://home.att.net/~aliceshel/Opsail2K/opsail2.jpg
Data size: 38468 bytes
Fetch count: 1
Last modified: 01/29/05 20:46:47
Expires: 07/15/05 20:01:33

Next, I clicked on the "Key:" link, which resulted in MORE information, for example:

Code: Select all

key:   http://home.att.net/~aliceshel/Opsail2K/opsail2.jpg
fetch count: 2
last fetched: 01/29/05 20:49:43
last modified:    01/29/05 20:46:47
expires: 07/15/05 20:01:33
Data size:    38468
file on disk:    D:\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\alicew\Cache\84F4C9C6d01
Security:    This document does not have any security info associated with it.
_____________________________________________________________
 
Client:    HTTP
request-method:    GET
response-head:    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Netscape-Enterprise/4.1
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 01:46:39 GMT
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Etag: "ad1ccb0f-35c-9644-396389ad"
Last-Modified: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 19:17:01 GMT
Content-Length: 38468
Accept-Ranges: bytes

Clicking the key: http://home.att.net/~aliceshel/Opsail2K/opsail2.jpg link at this point would allow me to view the file from the actual webpage location.

file on disk: D:\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\alicew\Cache\84F4C9C6d01 tells you the location of the cached jpg file. If you wish, you could copy the file (for example, 84F4C9C6d01) to another location on your hard drive, RENAME it to end in .JPG and then open it in any graphics viewer or browser.

I'm afraid I don't have anything more helpful to suggest.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0 (ax)

[Nimrod]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Alice wrote -
After copying the file 84F4C9C6d01 to another location I renamed it back to opsail2.jpg and the file could then be opened in any graphics viewer or browser.

These steps are exactly what I have seen posted here and on other sites dealing with the cache problem. The big drawback with these steps is that in this case you are tracking down a single specific file. You know what you are looking for, and you used the images from your own URL site as a guide to confirm that these were the images you wanted to review further to dig down to the level of the 84F4C9C6d01 level so that you could know what TYPE of file it is (i.e. JPG) and what file it had been (opsail.jpg)

If I go to my cache and see hundreds of files with names like 84F4C9C6d01 and then go to the "about:cache" the KEY and information on the first screen does not have this 84F4C9C6d01 code unless I ALREADY KNOW what URL corresponds to that code. I don't know this before I hit the KEY link. In your example you know this because you knew the URL. The basic problem is I am having to come at the cache viewing problem from the other direction, not from the URL side but the 84F4C9C6d01 side.

I don't know what URL's relate to what files in the cache - I would have to jump in and out of every KEY link till I hit upon the 84F4C9C6d01 hard drive location. Especially when I have hundreds and hundreds of 84F4C9C6d01 type files.

Manually checking every 84F4C9C6d01 type file in the cache would take forever. That is why I use my Low Tech method of slapping on bogus extensions onto the 84F4C9C6d01 file to see if it is a JPG or GIF or PNG or whatever type file. But realize I am doing this to files 84F4C9C6d01 thru 96F4D9C7d01.

------

Again - I need a way to LOOK AT the hundreds of images stored in the cache. Simply viewing the cache via "about:cache" TELLS me about them but does not help me know what 74D4C8C4d01 is if that is all I have to go on. I wonder if I could write a simple utiltiy to dig into every KEY and link up the local drive file to the extension given... just a pipe dream at this point.

Alice - Thank you so much really, you have helped clarify this problem even more!

Here is a test that you can do to help you get an idea of what I am dealing with:

1) After a day on the net bring up your cache files in windows explorer
2) With all the files lacking extensions there, sort the list by file size
3) Select the first 100 largest files (that are not index files)
4) Lets say that the 50th file is called 86F2D2A1d01 and is 58 KB
5) How would you now find out the file type for 86F2D2A1d01?
6) How can you do this for all 100 files?
7) How can you do this for the entire cache?

The shear scope of work needed to track down all file types is huge!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

[Alice]

First I wanted to correct my earlier comment that, "Clicking the key: [tt]http://home.att.net/~aliceshel/Opsail2K/opsail2.jpg[/tt] link at this point would allow me to view the file from the actual webpage location." I think that what is being requested by clicking the key: link is information about whether the image has changed, so that the browser knows whether to use the image from the cache or to get a new copy from the net. Even if you are not connected to the internet, clicking the second "key" link will still display the image from the cache and you can save the image from the cache using File: "Save Page As" or a right-click, "save Image as".

1) After a day on the net bring up your cache files in windows explorer
2) With all the files lacking extensions there, sort the list by file size
3) Select the first 100 largest files (that are not index files)
4) Lets say that the 50th file is called 86F2D2A1d01 and is 58 KB
5) How would you now find out the file type for 86F2D2A1d01?
6) How can you do this for all 100 files?
7) How can you do this for the entire cache?

OK, I see now that you aren't looking for a specific image file that you can identify by URL, but are looking for a way to view, or at least identify, ALL the image files in the cache... problem being, the images are mixed in with all other cache files and there are no extensions.

I'm not clear on WHY you wish to view all the images in the cache (guess it's none of my business ) but I see your dilemma.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0 (ax)