NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs
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I have the same issue as others mentioned here. A session was not recovered after a forced shutdown in the Task Manager. What brought me to that action is the fact that using Vivaldi over a period of a couple of hours eats up the system memory (4gb total system Ram) to the point that the op.system (win7 32 bit) throws up the low memory warning. Shutting down the browser releases anywhere from 2 to 2.5 gb if not more some times. That is all good if Vivaldi is still responding, but not when you need Task Manager. 99% of the time it restarts the session but this time it did not.
I am using Vivaldi as a test and do see the value of it (long time Firefox user).
So, upon further looking around in the forums I gather that if you run into this problem and you restart the browser you will lose the chance to recover anything since the 'last session' and 'last tabs' files get over written upon restart. You really don't have a chance because by the time you realized the session did not start correctly you have lost the back up (last session/tabs) files. Am I correct on this?
Is there any other place where you can retrieve last session data?
It would be nice for the software to create at least one (.bak) instance of those 2 files.That way you stand a chance. Right now you really need to put everything in 'ice' when you have a crash, go to user folder find and save those 2 files and go from there. Of course if this problem happens after a normal shut down of the browser you don't have any warning about the problem until after the fact. That's why a .bak would be helpful. Until I find any other solution to this the only good way to protect your session and avoid the urge to hammer the screen is: save the session manually using the built-in browser option at regular intervals and then go digging in the history for whatever you missed from the last session save to the point of loss.
Another thing I would like to know, can you make the Trash can to hold more than 25 items? Is there a setting for this? That is very limited, I lost a closed window with 77 tabs that I thought it would stay there for a while, but after 25 closed tabs, the 77 tab window is gone forever or is it? Can anyone help with that?
Another hammer the screen moment there. Hope for any suggestions anyone can offer. This experience was on a 32 bit win7 with 4GB Ram snapshot 1.15.1104.3.
The memory hogging happens with at least 10 different snapshots and stables that I have tried the last 6 months. I believe this was not so with versions a year ago May 2017 if I recall right. I really hope to hear some suggestions and hope this was not too lengthy!
Mod Edit Long posts are easier to read if formatted with breaks.
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@vivaldi_nyc At present, the trash can is your only hope. It may save even "lost" sessions.
Soon, there will be sync, which will help, but a .bak file is not the worst idea I ever heard.
Further, there is some work going on to refactor code to reduce RAM consumption. Until that matures, a 4 (3.25) GB Win32 system is sort of a perilous place to run Vivaldi on a routine basis. I do it, but a) I seldom run more than 25 tabs, b) I run no extensions, c) I'm running Win10 which is better at resource management than Win7 - so that I hardly ever get a crippling memory problem, and d) if I get a freeze or crash, I knew I was tempting fate, and I simply deal with it.
But know that memory gluttony is much on the developers' minds.
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@rafiki said in NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs:
Forgive me if I have misinterpreted the complaint here but isn't the Sessions Buddy extension the answer to the problem?
Just installed Sessions Buddy extension today and it works great. Thanks for the tip!
That's exactly what's needed. Vivaldi should just acquire the code and implement it into the browser.
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@rafiki said in NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs:
Forgive me if I have misinterpreted the complaint here but isn't the Sessions Buddy extension the answer to the problem?
I'll add a nod towards Session Buddy. Sure, it'd be great if we didn't need it, but until then...
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@ayespy Thanks for replying to my comment.
Looking around I see that this is an often problem that users run into it.
Of course it's not peculiar to just Vivaldi . I have first experienced it with FireFox back to version 3 I would say circa 2007 if I recall. So back then I figured a way to get something back...not a total loss! Later on Session Manager and Tabs Manager extensions helped with this problem in FIREFOX. Of course every extension takes firepower away from the browser, slowing things down, so I try to keep things lean and mean.
In this case (Vivaldi) I just couldn't bear going through close to 3000 history items to see what I am missing,...... dumpster diving at it's best!!
So, some more poking around Here is a solution that worked for me and hopefully other wounded souls can find some healing.
What I recovered was only 5 days old which means only a couple days of light history diving and we are back in the groove.
**Solution explained to help others : **
You are looking for 2 files: Last Tabs and Last Session. These are in C:\Vivaldi.1.15.1104.3\User Data\Default (in this example, check yours accordingly). If there is a crash these can be lost or overwritten by Vivaldi on the next restart with the contents of Current Tabs and Current Session (also located in same directory as Last Tabs Last Session). Normally this is not a problem because Current Tabs and Session contain your updated session information while you are working with your browser. The problem is that when you suffer a crash or some burp in the browser these 2 files get damaged and looks like Vivaldi makes new default copies which bring you to the start up screen with nothing else from your previous session. And to make things worse these 2 newly created files are also used to overwrite the Last Tabs and Session files upon restart, effectively stopping you from been able to recover anything. As I said in my first post a .bak is a must here.Now how do you get back these 2 files (Last Tabs & Last Session) ?
You can if the Windows op.system Shadow Copy is running.
Find your 'Default' folder right click and look for 'Restore previous versions'.
After it searches it will display the available shadow copies created and the times.
Browse through to the files you are looking for (Last Tabs & Last Session) , copy them to a new folder, rename them to: Current Tabs and Current Session and use these to overwrite the ones in your 'Default' folder (must do this with Vivaldi not running).Restart and you should have the session that was running at that time that the Shadow Copy was created. Of course your luck with these files depends on how your Windows system restore services are set up.
Also, if you are lucky and your browser was not running when the shadow copy was made then you can also use the Current Tabs & Current Session copies instead. They will have more session data compared to the 'Last' ones. If the file size displayed in the Shadow Copy is say 1KB it means that those files were open by Vivaldi at that time and therefore unusable for this purpose. In that case you can only use the 'Last' ones.
For a nice explanation on Shadow Copy previous versions check:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-to-recover-deleted-files-using-the-restore/3fa24978-dc7e-4a9f-8dc8-de89c3fe963c
And if you want to play it safe so that your experimenting with this doesn't make things worse for your current Vivaldi installation that you are trying to fix try this: Install another Vivaldi version in standalone mode and test your recovered files in that browser version before trying it in the one you are trying to fix. Installing in standalone mode will not interfere with your current installation, just make sure you use a unique installation path and create a new startup shortcut. If things work OK when you start the new version with the recovered files you should see the session you are missing or a few days back, depending on the shadow copy. This is not a cure all but it can lighten the blow.For the more programming literate also check Backup you Vivaldi Session Automatically
Hope this helps someone else.
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@vivaldi_nyc said in NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs:
@ayespy Thanks for replying to my comment.
Looking around I see that this is an often problem that users run into it.
Of course it's not peculiar to just VIVALDI . I have first experienced it with FireFox back to version 3 I would say circa 2007 if I recall. So back then I figured a way to get something back...not a total loss! Later on Session Manager and Tabs Manager extensions helped with this problem in FIREFOX. Of course every extension takes firepower away from the browser, slowing things down, so I try to keep things lean and mean.
In this case (VIVALDI) I just couldn't bear going through close to 3000 history items to see what I am missing,...... dumpster diving at it's best!!
So, some more poking around HERE IS A SOLUTION THAT WORKED for me and hopefully other wounded souls can find some healing.
What I recovered was only 5 days old which means only a couple days of light history diving and we are back in the groove.SOLUTION explained to help others :
You are looking for 2 files: Last Tabs and Last Session. These are in C:\Vivaldi.1.15.1104.3\User Data\Default (in this example, check yours accordingly). If there is a crash these can be lost or overwritten by VIVALDI on the next restart with the contents of Current Tabs and Current Session (also located in same directory as Last Tabs Last Session). Normally this is not a problem because Current Tabs and Session contain your updated session information while you are working with your browser. The problem is that when you suffer a crash or some burp in the browser these 2 files get damaged and looks like VIVALDI makes new default copies which bring you to the start up screen with nothing else from your previous session. And to make things worse these 2 newly created files are also used to overwrite the Last Tabs and Session files upon restart, effectively stopping you from been able to recover anything. As I said in my first post a .bak is a must here.
Now how do you get back these 2 files (Last Tabs & Last Session) ?
You can if the Windows op.system Shadow Copy is running.
Find your 'Default' folder right click and look for 'Restore previous versions'.
After it searches it will display the available shadow copies created and the times.
Browse through to the files you are looking for (Last Tabs & Last Session) , copy them to a new folder, rename them to: Current Tabs and Current Session and use these to overwrite the ones in your 'Default' folder (must do this with VIVALDI not running).
Restart and you should have the session that was running at that time that the Shadow Copy was created. Of course your luck with these files depends on how your Windows system restore services are set up.
Also, if you are lucky and your browser was not running when the shadow copy was made then you can also use the Current Tabs & Current Session copies instead. They will have more session data compared to the 'Last' ones. If the file size displayed in the Shadow Copy is say 1KB it means that those files were open by Vivaldi at that time and therefore unusable for this purpose. In that case you can only use the 'Last' ones.
For a nice explanation on Shadow Copy previous versions check:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-to-recover-deleted-files-using-the-restore/3fa24978-dc7e-4a9f-8dc8-de89c3fe963c
And if you want to play it safe so that your experimenting with this doesn't make things worse for your current Vivaldi installation that you are trying to fix try this: Install another Vivaldi version in standalone mode and test your recovered files in that browser version before trying it in the one you are trying to fix. Installing in standalone mode will not interfere with your current installation, just make sure you use a unique installation path and create a new startup shortcut. If things work OK when you start the new version with the recovered files you should see the session you are missing or a few days back, depending on the shadow copy. This is not a cure all but it can lighten the blow.
For the more programming literate also check https://asyncial.github.io/blog/backup-your-current-vivaldi-session-automatically/Hope this helps someone else.
There is slightly different way I personally restore it (in case you dont have any backups). If you see no tabs when your open V, dont close it! Press Win+R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Vivaldi\User Data\Default, copy "last tabs" and "last session" files, close V (check if it's closed and not running in background!!!). After that, rename those copied files to "current tabs" and "current session" respectively and replace original files (if they are 0-1 kb) overwriting them. Most of the time it works.
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@docemmet said in NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Vivaldi\User Data\Default
Yes, that works also if you (as you said) DON'T close the browser again or if it does not crash again upon restart. In other words you want to prevent the overwriting action by the browser to the: Last Tabs and Last session files which contain the session info from the last browser shutdown, however far back that has taken place. The file time stamps will give you a clue to that. In my case the crash I guess was severe enough that the browser either did not close the Current Session and Current Tabs files properly or for some other reason created the first run default copies which also were copied upon the first restart into the 'Last' ones. That's why I needed to find a back up that of course did not have. So the Shadow Copy saved that. You know what they say: Backup, backup, backup!
You know there are 2 kinds of computer users, those that have lost data and those that WILL lose data. Cheers. -
Hi. This is a serious issue, indeed, and one that should be a top priority for Vivaldi to resolve. I lost my tabs and session recently after upgrade of Vivaldi. That is something that should never happen. Especially with Vivaldi. Because if it cannot be trusted and dependable, it's not suitable for any serious work. So I hope this will be fixed and improved rather sooner than later. Thanks and regards.
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Opera has the same issue and lots of users complain about it. Seems like lots of users rely on / expect opened tabs to survive browser and OS crashes and computer power failures etc.
It happens to Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers too though. The only suggestion is the Session Buddy extension.
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@martinko We may find it fixed in Vivaldi 2.8 Stable soon. It is already fixed in the latest Snapshot. Quoted from the Snapshot Blog changelog.
A handful of the fixes below will be considered for backporting to Vivaldi 2.8 stable (including VB-55320).
Specs: AMD A10-6800K, 8 Gb on Win 10 64-bit 1903 build 18362.356 β’ Snapshot 2.9.1675.11 (64-bit)
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This last Vivaldi Stable version is eating tabs like crazy upon restart. This is a serious issue, and frankly, I think the Stable channel should be more immune to bugs of this level.
Anyway, the best defense I know of at this point starts with the Sessions Buddy extension. That would be enough, except that it doesn't recognize tab Groups, only their individual constituent tabs, so putting a session back together can be very laborious.
And so I recommend saving each persistent tab group as its own session. This way it can be layered back if lost (and V. Stable is currently eating entire tab groups).
Another defense layer would be to do frequent backups of the V. user profile.
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@paul1149 Just save your session, often, no need of external tools & extensions apart a bit of manual session save at least daily before shutting down the PC.
The lesson of unexpected tab loss bug should teach everyone to do so. The bug is now fixed in the current 2.9 snapshot - touching wood - and will be back ported to an update of 2.8 stable, still there is always a chance of the need of a backed up session restore.
and BTW:the Stable channel should be more immune to bugs of this level.
everybody thinks it should be the case, of course, but when the stable release is exactly the last Snapshot release candidate, just reversioned and icon color changed, without giving it any time for further test and improvements, because it has to be rushed out the door, the same bugs afflicting the Snapshot will be found in the "stable" release, with the results we all know, and increased backlog of bugreports.
I am not a fan of this "Chromium security patches first, Vivaldi useability and bug fixes later" cycle. I am pratically forced to stay on the Snapshot branch, at least I get all the fixes immediately -
the Stable channel should be more immune to bugs of this level.
everybody thinks it should be the case, of course, but when the stable release is exactly the last Snapshot release candidate, just reversioned and icon color changed, without giving it any time for further test and improvements, because it has to be rushed out the door, the same bugs afflicting the Snapshot will be found in the "stable" release, with the results we all know, and increased backlog of bugreports.
I am not a fan of this "Chromium security patches first, Vivaldi useability and bug fixes later" cycle. I am pratically forced to stay on the Snapshot branch, at least I get all the fixes immediatelyYup, that's exactly why I exclusively use Snapshots as well. (That and, I'm a tinkerer type who's always eager to try out the latest new toys )
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@burnout426 Maybe Opera has the same problem, but it doesn't really matter, imho, as we chose Vivaldi because we think it is / should be a better tool. And if an extension (like Session Buddy) can ensure tabs and sessions are never lost then I see no reason why Vivaldi itself shouldn't. Thanks for the feedback.
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@Pesala Hopefully. Thanks.
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@iAN-CooG If they can be saved and thus made safe manually, then the same could be done automatically, imho. That's one of the beauties of and reasons we have computers. You want your computer to do backups, antivirus checks, whatnot automatically. No need for users to think about it and waste their time. If it's not automated, it's gonna bite you sooner or later. Just my 2 cents. Kind regards.
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@martinko The fact that this time the bug was indeed in the automatic backup/restore procedure of the session.
Programs always contain bugs, and like this time, even in the least expected place. -
You may consider to check this:
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/40746/v-back-up-and-promotion/
And participate if you have some ideas.
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@luetage said in NO recovery for lost sessions with tabs:
@violin1 Happens from time to time. Especially if you have a large number of tabs open you depend on, you should save your open tabs as session regularly.
Never needed any of that with FireFox with mozilla's own Session Manager plugin. Even if the HDD space ran out for some reason, there was always the previously saved session - it wasn't overwritten before the new one was succesfully returned. Since obviously both FireFox and Vivaldi save the session periodically, as both have been able to return previous tabs even after sudden crash - but I just lost my session, because something that wasn't application I had launched was consuming quite fast (1-2 minutes a gigabyte). I ran out and neither FireFox (which doesn't support Legacy plugins and Session Saver hasn't been ported to it, so it's just it's built-in last-session restore) nor Vivaldi could anymore write the session into disk. However Firefox did return all except one tab, because it had kept the previously saved session as the latest writes failed. Apparently Vivaldi did something else and would only had had a session to restore if it had been succesfully written to disk.
This is not just a feature of being able to close browser without losing tabs, but also an important safety feature for crashes, memory running out and vivaldi getting killed by kernel, or my very special case; but people running out of disk space accidentally is not rare, if not most common they still are a considerable amount of users. Anyone who thinks it's possible that he could accidentally fill the HD before realizing, and if they were Vivaldi users and it or the OS crashed, they would except to get at least fairly recent session back. I'm talking of power users of course, which are your core market group.
This is an issue waiting for fixing - because this is a defect for a power user - and I don't know how you didn't think of the case where the session backup save fails, and that the only reasonable choice is to keep the last succcesfully saved session instead - and keep trying to save again, until hopefully writdng succeeds again.
If you're at Vivaldi are anything like I have understood, you would certainly realize that this is a fundamental requirement for browser power user
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