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*.final files
I recently had hard drive problems and during the ensuing melee, I discovered that Firefox has stored well over 100k files with the general name {xxx...}.final. Being the curious sort--and given that these boogers are taking up almost 1Gb--I looked at a few and they appear to be related to websites that I visited. I can see keeping some recent things around, but some of this goes back, literally, to the day I bought my PC. Um...that's a lot of files and a lot of space for places I visited once and will never go to again. Some of the websites no longer exist, so obviously those files are wasted space.
I am unable to find much about this on the web, either via Google or the help here. A few people have brought it up, but no one seems to know what to do. The help here goes nuts with the search term "final" and brings up a plethora of hits containing "finally" and so forth, but nothing useful. "}.final" isn't much help, either.
The path is C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile name>\storage\default
Questions: 1) Can some or all of this be deleted? 2) Is there a way to tell Firefox not to be so anal about keeping so many useless things?
Given the sheer quantity of these things, it would make future backup/restores easier if I could trim some of the fat, but I don't want to mess things up, either.
Thanks...
Réiteach roghnaithe
The storage folder is used to locally store data (localStorage or indexedDB). This includes data used internally by Firefox (about+) and web extension's data (moz-extension+++) and offline website data (https+++; similar to cookies, but unlike cookies never send as part of a request). This offline website data (https+++) is normally not removed and can build up. If you inspect the storage/default folder then you see those folders.
What I wrote above is that you can cleanup folders from websites you visited in the past, but no longer intend to visit.
You can also do this cleanup via "Manage Data".
- Settings -> Privacy & Security
Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"
All Replies (9)
That are files in the cache/morgue folder. I think that those folders are created when you update Firefox to save the final state of its indexedDB data. I don't think that is anything against removing the cache folder in storage/default.
cor-el, So...delete just the cache subdirectory in each storage\default? Man, there are hundreds of these bloody things--this will take forever. Is there no better way to manage these final files?
Oi!
(somebody stock the fridge with beer--bring me one every time I empty its predecessor)
Thanks...
You can possibly file a bug report about cleaning up those cache/morgue folders as I notice I also have quite a few. You can clear the local storage in storage/default and remove all folders that start with https+++, moz-extension+++ folder are storage used by extension, so do not remove those. You can leave out websites you visited regularly/recently and only remove their cache folder when present.
cor-el, Um...I'm a bit confused:
"You can clear the local storage in storage/default and remove all folders that start with https+++, moz-extension+++ folder are storage used by extension, so do not remove those."
"Remove all folders"..."do not remove those."
I'm having trouble following what you're saying to do.
Thanks...
Réiteach Roghnaithe
The storage folder is used to locally store data (localStorage or indexedDB). This includes data used internally by Firefox (about+) and web extension's data (moz-extension+++) and offline website data (https+++; similar to cookies, but unlike cookies never send as part of a request). This offline website data (https+++) is normally not removed and can build up. If you inspect the storage/default folder then you see those folders.
What I wrote above is that you can cleanup folders from websites you visited in the past, but no longer intend to visit.
You can also do this cleanup via "Manage Data".
- Settings -> Privacy & Security
Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"
cor-el, Well, that took a while...there were about a million entries of "Data" to be managed, but I got it done. That took things down from just this side of 1Gb to less than 5Mb, so it's a success in terms of recovering space on my drive.
Note to those who might follow this trail of bread crumbs: Overzealous deletion will leave you having to log back into things that you take for granted. Just sayin'...
I'm calling this one done.
Thanks...
Quote: Overzealous deletion will leave you having to log back into things that you take for granted
That is why I suggested to remove the cache folders in storage/default as using Manage Data will remove cookies as well, including session cookies used by websites to remember you.
cor-el, Aye, and it might be easier in a world where "Bob's Barber Shop" wasn't owned by the mega-corporation "Tonsorial Delights," such that it's not obvious that the Tonsorial directory had Bob's info in it. Unfortunately, I've got at least three non-obvious links between websites and directories. But, hey, I'm a big boy...entering my password won't hurt me none! Cookies are for kids.
Besides, if I'm not clobbering all those pesky subdirectories, I'm not really doing a good job of spring cleaning. Now things look pretty tidy. Down from a skabillion to a mere couple dozen.
Somebody crank up that vacuum, we're gonna clean house! (Just remind me to do this every year or two, rather than wait for, like, forever, and be faced with sedimentary layers going all the way back to the Jurassic...)
Thanks...
You can automatically cleanup data by using "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear offline data and cookies and create an allow exception for websites you want to remember you. Toggling "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed" makes changes to those settings. Make sure you keep the "Site settings" as that includes exceptions.