For some reason, some files on my USB drive became corrupted. I ran chkdsk, and that recovered most of the files, but some were deleted! The really bad thing about it is that the prefs.js file for Fx is gone, and while I was able to get most of my preferences set, some will not stay.
I can't customize my toolbar. I can change things, but I'm back to default when I open Fx again. I made sure that prefs.js and user.js were writable. It's quite odd because my status bar icons were out of order, and I was able to rearrange them and keep the settings, and I was also to change the theme, which also stays.
Any suggestions? Any ideas for preventing corruption?
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Corruption usually occurs because a drive was removed during use. Firefox can take a few seconds after closing the window to actually shutdown. It can also be caused by flakey hardware. The usual culprit is a cheap USB hub (I've run into it). Sometimes it's the USB ports on the PC itself. The connection fails for a few microseconds here and there... but just enough to corrupt some files.
I'd suggest starting with a fresh profile for Portable Firefox and copying in your important bits (cookies, passwords, etc) if they're not corrupt. I'd also suggest formatting that drive before you continue using it to ensure any other logical errors are taken care of.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Corruption can also be caused by just having your drive plugged in. My PNY 512MB attache worked just fine until i unplugged it (after it was done writing) and then less than an hour later it showed up but said to insert a disk into it. I contacted PNY but i can't find my receipt so i can't RMA it.
Which files should I keep?
Vintage!