extracting video from cache
mobu...@gmail.com
my Firefox cache. without getting into too much detail, it is a divx/
stage 6 video that i accessed from a secondary site. i loaded the
video in its entirety last nite, and still have the window open. this
particular video has since been removed from the aforementioned site,
and i'd really like to save it somehow.
here's the tricky part.. i have Firefox set to clear private data,
including the cache, when closing the program. obviously, since i
still have the video window open, i did not fully exit the browser,
but the main window was closed, and it seems to have reset my
"about:cache" directory, and my "Documents and Settings\...
\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\...default\" folder does
not have a "\cache\" subdirectory, likely due to my 'clear cache'
setting.
in my research, i stumbled upon an add-on called Cache Viewer, but in
order to enable it, i'd have to restart Firefox, which i fear would
close my video window. if i'm wrong on this, let me know.
does anyone know of any possible way to dig this file out of my cache.
the video still plays, so it HAS to be stored somewhere.
thanks in advance for your help.
~Teresa
Ralph Fox
mobu...@gmail.com wrote:
> X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.5) Gecko/20070713 Firefox/2.0.0.5,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)
> hello, i am desperately trying to find a way to extract a video from
> my Firefox cache. without getting into too much detail, it is a divx/
> stage 6 video that i accessed from a secondary site. i loaded the
> video in its entirety last nite, and still have the window open. this
> particular video has since been removed from the aforementioned site,
> and i'd really like to save it somehow.
Here is how to save a file from your Firefox cache.
Firstly, make sure Firefox is in off-line mode -- i.e. "File -> Work Offline"
is checked. You will see why below.
Now enter this URL in Firefox's URL bar
about:cache?device=disk
Look for a cache entry for the video. For example...
| Key: http://foonly.tld/folder/video.mpeg
| Data size: 145893 bytes
| Fetch count: 1
| Last modified: 2007-01-15 21:54:06
| Expires: 2007-05-23 05:16:36
If you find it, click on the link next to "Key", which will
bring up another page with more information about that one file
| key: http://foonly.tld/folder/video.mpeg
| fetch count: 1
| last fetched: 2007-01-15 22:03:18
| last modified: 2007-01-15 21:54:06
| expires: 2007-05-23 05:16:36
| Data size: 145893
| file on disk: C:\Documents and settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\Cache\XXXXXXXXd01
| Security: This document does not have any security info associated with it.
Double-check that Firefox is in off-line mode. Triple check.
Now right-click on the link on the second page, and choose
"Save Link As..." from the context menu.
If Firefox is in off-line mode ("File -> Work Offline" is checked)
then the video file will be read from your cache and saved to file.
You can save from cache even when it says "file on disk: none".
You may not want Firefox to be in on-line mode. If Firefox is
in on-line mode, it may try to read from the web and overwrite
whatever is in the cache. If the file has been removed from the
web, it may be removed from the cache as well.
> here's the tricky part.. i have Firefox set to clear private data,
> including the cache, when closing the program. obviously, since i
> still have the video window open, i did not fully exit the browser,
> but the main window was closed,
You will need a browser window with a URL bar and a menu bar,
to browse Firefox's cache and to put Firefox in off-line mode.
Is the video window a Firefox window?
Does Ctrl+Alt+Del, processes tab, still show Firefox is running?
If so, then you should be able to open another browser window
by launching Firefox from its shortcut icon.
If not, then the video window is a separate application and the
video might be in the video window application's cache, not Firefox's
cache.
> and it seems to have reset my
> "about:cache" directory, and my "Documents and Settings\...
> \Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\...default\" folder does
> not have a "\cache\" subdirectory, likely due to my 'clear cache'
> setting.
The disk cache could be somewhere else.
If there truly is no disk cache, then the other place to look will
be Firefox's the in-memory cache. Try the same again, but this time
start from
about:cache?device=memory
> in my research, i stumbled upon an add-on called Cache Viewer, but in
> order to enable it, i'd have to restart Firefox, which i fear would
> close my video window. if i'm wrong on this, let me know.
>
> does anyone know of any possible way to dig this file out of my cache.
> the video still plays, so it HAS to be stored somewhere.
See above.
> thanks in advance for your help.
> ~Teresa
--
Cheers,
Ralph
Alex K.
> On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:14:54 -0700, in message <1185495294.8...@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> mobu...@gmail.com wrote:
> X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US;
> rv:1.8.1.5) Gecko/20070713 Firefox/2.0.0.5,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)
>
>> "about:cache" directory, and my "Documents and Settings\...
>> \Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\...default\" folder does
>> not have a "\cache\" subdirectory, likely due to my 'clear cache'
>> setting.
>
> The disk cache could be somewhere else.
Just a quick note of clarification, in case the OP overlooked it.
What we call the profile directory, that is, where the actual settings
data is stored, is separate from profile cache directory. They are
stored in two subtly different locations, with the difference being easy
to overlook.
The default location for the profile cache, under WinXP, which the OP is
using, according to her UserAgent string, is:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxx.default\Cache
Note that this is under the:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows Username>\*Local Settings*
tree, rather than under the:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows Username>\*Application Data*
tree, which is where the profile data resides.
As an experiment, I cleared my cache, then immediately closed FF.
Checking the above cache path, I still see the 'Cache' directory listed.
I then restarted FF, set the option to have FF clear private data on
exit, then closed FF. Checking for the 'Cache' directory again, shows
that it is still there.
So, my assumption here, based on the above, is that if the she is not
seeing the 'Cache' directory listed, she is probably not at the right
location.
--
Alex K.
Sakima
Alex & Ralph, thanks for the help, but my problem has a slightly
different issue.My cache settings are set at memory 32meg memory and
disk is7meg. I have 7 "YouTube videos"stored in one browser window,
total time over 60 mins. My cache doesn't see them. I did a search on
both caches and blank. I am still on dialup and don't really want to
redownload them again if possible. Any ideas on how I can still save
them? BTW I am using FF 1.5.0.12
Thanks for any help given.
Sakima
Peter Potamus the Purple Hippo
try unhidding window files:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/hiddenfiles.mspx
--
Please do not email me for help. Reply to the newsgroup
only. And only click on the Reply button, not the Reply All
or Reply to Author. Thanks!
Peter Potamus & His Magic Flying Balloon:
http://www.toonopedia.com/potamus.htm
Alex K.
As a test, I went to YouTube and watched a video.
I then went to View Page Info, which indicated that the video was not
cached.
Entering: about:cache in the location bar, then under Memory cache
device, clicking on List Cache Entries, I see this entry:
Key: http://74.125.0.85/get_video?video_id=IQ4n7g31RlE
Data size: 8374565 bytes
Fetch count: 4
Last modified: 2007-08-04 04:58:15
Expires: 1969-12-31 19:00:00
Clicking on the Key: link, I see several key pieces of info:
Data size: 8374565
file on disk: none
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate
If I click on the Key: link, I get the 'What do you want to do' dialog.
If I choose save to disk, I can pick a location to save it, however, it
re-downloads it from the site. It does *not* pull it from memory.
So, it would appear that you just can't get to it. I don't know of
anything that will allow you to copy it from memory. I think you are
stuck re-downloading it. Unless someone else out there has a trick up
their sleeve.
--
Alex K.
mobu...@gmail.com
way.. maybe this will help someone else.
since the video i was looking for was a full-length movie, i did a
search for all files that had been added within the last 24 hours,
over 500mb, and tho the file was a *.divx.part file, i just copied it
to my desktop, renamed it to *.divx, and was able to play it back with
my divx player.
again, i really appreciate the replies, and hopefully the method that
worked out for me will help someone else.
~T
Ralph Fox
Alex K. wrote:
> If I click on the Key: link, I get the 'What do you want to do' dialog.
> If I choose save to disk, I can pick a location to save it, however, it
> re-downloads it from the site. It does *not* pull it from memory.
Did you first put Firefox in offline mode before you tried this?
"File -> Work Offline"
IME one can save from memory cache, provided
(1) Firefox is in offline mode ("File -> Work Offline")
(2) One has not previously tried to save the same cache entry
while Firefox was in online mode.
Trying it while Firefox is in online mode can @#$%&*! your
chances of saving it even if you later switch to offline mode.
Alex K.
Ahh, thanks for the tip. I was was in online mode when I tried it.
--
Alex K.