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I am willing to save an online flash video (.flv) file for further offline watching. I couldn't download this particular video file through a direct link (grabbed with Video Download Helper extension) because of a very slow and unresponsive server, but I could watch it to the end with a webpage embedded player, and now it is for sure saved to cache (as I can rewind it and watch from any place without no more waiting).

I went to

/home/user/.mozilla/firefox/a0zzqdg4.default/Cache

But the file I want is not there (it is to be about 200 MiBs, but the biggest file there is of 22 MiBs and is called "_CACHE_003_").

Where might it be if not in the standard cache directory?

Hennes
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Ivan
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5 Answers5

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It is there or in /tmp;

Nowadays, Flash Player (starting from some 10.xx version) for linux does unlink on flv files;

ls -la /proc/{PID OF PLAYER PLUGIN}/fd to get an idea;

More info (check the script): http://habrahabr.ru/blogs/linux/104420/

kagali-san
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C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp

Also reachable through WIN+R, then typing %appdata% and then following Local -> Temp.

Paul
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The OP was looking for a linux solution, but the question is valid for Windows too, so here's an answer for that. Look for fla*.tmp in

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\acro_rd_dir

Also reachable through Win+R, then typing %temp%, or following Paul's example:%appdata% and then following to Local -> Temp.

Chances are you won't be able to do anything with the files though because they'll be marked as locked or in use. There are a few programs that can work around this for you, just search for "windows copy locked or in-use file" and variations thereof. The ones worth their salt will probably use Volume Shadow Service (VSS). I like hobocopy and here's an example use:

hobocopy.exe /verbosity=2 %temp%\acro_rd_dir D:\Playback\Incoming flaFF7E.tmp
pushd D:\Playback\Incoming
move /y flaFF7E.tmp SomeUsefulName.flv
explorer /select,%cd%\SomeUsefulName.flv

The relevant part is hobocopy source_dir destination_dir file-to-copy, and the rest sugar. Replace explorer... with start %cd%\SomeUsefulName.flv to start playing the video right away instead of just selecting it.

Recipe last tested with Firefox 18 on Window 7.

Community
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matt wilkie
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Run locate *.flv to see all your flv files on your system.

However you might need to run sudo updatedb first (to update locate command index database)

Ken Ratanachai S.
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I think it is better to use WinRAR and go to C:\Users\youruser\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 OR \Low\Content.IE5. Then look in each of the folders and look for the biggest file, probably ending in .flv or .avi.

Peter Mortensen
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lazer72
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