Sync worked too well. Help!

Anything to do with the Pale Moon Sync service.
Chard

Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Chard » 2019-10-03, 16:11

So, I got a new laptop and I successfully synced the browser. Unfortunately, I didn't unlink the devices. I began to delete data, etc. on the old laptop and low and behold the passwords and logins I had deleted on the old laptop disappeared on the new laptop!

I can't find any information on if recovery of the data is possible or if the sync can be reverted. Does anyone have any suggestions.

Thanks.

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Moonchild
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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-10-03, 16:21

Unfortunately recovery is not possible. Once it is deleted and synced, it's also deleted on the server, and is gone.

I have to wonder though, why you decided to manually delete things, instead of just removing the profile altogether, if you no longer want to use it and want to clear out personal browsing data?
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Chard

Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Chard » 2019-10-03, 17:04

Profile? I didn't know there was a profile. I've searched all over in the browser and I can't find any reference to a profile.

*Edit: are the login/passwords stored locally? Are they gone after sync as well?
Last edited by Chard on 2019-10-03, 17:11, edited 1 time in total.

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Moonchild
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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-10-03, 17:10

You won't see it because by default you will be IN the profile when you start the browser.
Your profile is the total environment the browser uses to store all browsing data, extensions, cookies, history, passwords, etc. etc.

about:profiles is a handy way to get profile information, so is help -> troubleshooting information, section about profile.

You can remove a profile by removing the indicated folders in about:profiles (with the browser closed) and the browser will generate a brand new one when next started in that case. Alternatively, you can start palemoon.exe with "-profilemanager" to start up with the profile manager window that will allow you to add/delete and otherwise manupilate multiple browser profiles (users).
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Nigaikaze » 2019-10-03, 17:11

Chard wrote:
2019-10-03, 17:04
I can't find any reference to a profile.
Go to Help > Troubleshooting Information, under the Application Basics section there is a "Profie Directory" entry with a button that will let you open your profile directory in your file manager.

EDIT: Moonchild beat me to it. Thanks, Moonchild!
Nichi nichi kore ko jitsu = Every day is a good day.

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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2019-10-03, 17:38

Off-topic:
about:profiles is the devil

Chard

Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Chard » 2019-10-03, 19:26

FFS!

So, in an attemept to get back what I lost, I have a 3rd computer with PM on it. I confirmed offline that it had most of the passwords I deleted earlier. I attempted to sync, selected the "Merge" option before doing so and now those passwords have disappeared!

I use 4 different browsers for work, successfully synced those browsers up with no problems. Unfortunately, PM is the one I use for personal browsing.

So f*&&((I###!! frustrated!

So, is the password data from that 3rd computer now gone as well?

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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Moonchild » 2019-10-04, 01:15

Chard wrote:
2019-10-03, 19:26
So, is the password data from that 3rd computer now gone as well?
If your 3rd computer was already linked to your sync account then "merging" would mean normal sync operation, in which the more recent version of the data naturally prevails. That means the more recent version of your stored passwords (which is the one where you had deleted passwords from). If you wanted the offline data from the 3rd computer to replace the synced data on the server (taking priority over the more recent data with deletions) then that is the option you should have chosen.

I'm sorry that you're having such a frustrating experience, but please understand that from a synchronization point of view this is exactly as-expected.

I hope you made backups of your browser data.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Sync worked too well. Help!

Unread post by Lunokhod » 2019-10-07, 13:15

https://www.cgsecurity.org/https://www.cgsecurity.org/

PhotoRec will almost certainly be able to recover the data if you are willing to put the time in to learn how to use it. The trick with this is to get it to look for only the file types you want to recover, or it will take ages to run. So if you can determine what form the lost data is stored as, you can search for just that and it will probably get it back if it hasn't been overwritten by new data, and there is a very good chance you will find it on one of your machines if not all. If you run it with the default settings it searches for about a thousand file types and takes forever.
Personally if I need to use this I get the latest source code and build it myself, it isn't too difficult, distro packaged versions are often outdated.

Oh, and after using it you will realise your plan to delete stuff is a complete and utter waste of time, you need to securely wipe and overwrite your entire HDD, I use

Code: Select all

$ badblocks -w
from a Linux live iso. (This is only for spinning drives, SSD's have a secure erase command so you do it differently and instantly)

(PhotoRec works on most OS's, and there are other ways to securely wipe a HDD too)
Wait, it's all Ohio? Always has been...

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