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Where is backup places.sqlite?

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  • Last reply by Trapper33

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FF4 on ubuntu ... It seems apparent that FF4 maintains a backup of places.sqlite and if places.sqlite is corrupted or removed it automagically replaces the corrupt/lost file. I need to know exactly where FF is maintaining this backup info at. Anyone know? ( I DO NOT need to restore my places.sqlite. I just need to know where FF maintains the backup.)

FF4 on ubuntu ... It seems apparent that FF4 maintains a backup of places.sqlite and if places.sqlite is corrupted or removed it automagically replaces the corrupt/lost file. I need to know exactly where FF is maintaining this backup info at. Anyone know? ( I DO NOT need to restore my places.sqlite. I just need to know where FF maintains the backup.)

Chosen solution

On Firefox 4 the minimum size of places.sqlite is 10MB, when you use up the 10MB it will jump in size to 20MB. This is to avoid database fragmentation and helps improve performance. The size will always be a multiple of 10MB.

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The backups are of the bookmarks and are inside the bookmarkbackups folder inside the profile folder. The browsing history, which is also in the places.sqlite file, is not backed up. You should find several backup files with names in the format bookmarks-yyyy-mm-yy.json

For details of how to find the profile folder see https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles

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Okay, here's the bottom line reason why I am asking this question. I am in permanent private browsing mode but I keep ending up with a 10 MB places.sqlite. My bookmarks json is only 163 KB. What is places.sqlite containing that cause it to be 10 MB in size? It's surely much, much more than bookmarks.

Modified by Trapper33

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Chosen Solution

On Firefox 4 the minimum size of places.sqlite is 10MB, when you use up the 10MB it will jump in size to 20MB. This is to avoid database fragmentation and helps improve performance. The size will always be a multiple of 10MB.

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Thank you TonyE. Now I understand and there's no need for me to be concerned with the file size.