"dead horse" Importing to a NEW forum question

[showngo]

Using the SAME VERSION of SMF. 
I have my old forum from my old domain Basementbottler.com backed up,  I no longer own that or have the hosting.
I now have a new Domain name and new hosting with a different service.
Can I import all my backed up content from the old forum to the new one given that it is all new?
I have imported the DB , the new forum shows all the post counts and topics but NO POSTS if you click on them. the cache files are not linking for the actual posts (I could be wording that all wrong)

Am I dead in the water? the new host is Godaddy with their Cpanel and I am not a programmer, I have just enough experience to keep my backups safe because I use them.

Thanks in Advance.

[Kindred]

Did you run reapir_settings.php to correct all of the paths and URLs and database info

[showngo]

Yes,  My problem is that all the Data files in the Cache folders for the actual posts are showing the old forum web-address in the data string.   The repair and upgrade functions do not populate the boards with the corresponding posts.

Right now, other than "copy / replace" in over 190 data files , I do not see how this can be converted.   Unless I am doing something simple, wrong.

[Illori]

you dont need the cache files, you need the actual database that was in use.

[showngo]

That is how I got the main forum up,  All the boards , topics, and post counts are there,  just no post content.   It will show 135 tpoics with 14000 posts. 
When you click on it, is is only page numbers , no threads.

In the cache folder,   the data files, when opened in notepad appear to have the actual post content.

[Illori]

those are the file cache, but not the actual content you want. if you dont have the database then you are out of luck.

[Kindred]

Well. If the boards and users are all present, then you got at least part of the database...   how did you take your database backup in the first place? I suspect you may. It have taken a full backup

[showngo]

Well. If the boards and users are all present, then you got at least part of the database...   how did you take your database backup in the first place? I suspect you may. It have taken a full backup

I have 2.   The complete backup, and the sql database backup.      I do not want to restore the "complete" one due to my main domain and my wifes web store are already hosted.  Wouldnt the complete wipe my home site out?

That is why I unzipped the old site and tried to just copy folders over to the new installed forum.

[Kindred]

once again, you seem to be confusing FILES with DATABASE.

the files are what controls the display... the DATABASE has all of the data.

How did you take the full SQL database backup?  From the hosting panel? From phpmyadmin? or from inside SMF's admin?

[showngo]

I made two back ups originally.   One was the Home Directory Backup, the other , MySQL Database Backup, from the original forum.   
On my new server / hosting (With a new domain name), I created a new database with the same name I had for the original forum.
I then restored the MySQL backup to that newly created database.  Then I installed SMF on my server, using that database name.     
All through cPanel.

Maybe I created the backup wrong because the number of posts and topics shows on the boards, but the posts are missing.  The WHOLE format is being populated from  the SQL restore that I did.

I do have to say Thank you for trying to work this out with me,  If you are banging your head against the wall, you should see what Im doing.

[Kindred]

without throwing in additional, not relevant, information - can you confirm that you made your original backup from and smf admin screens on your old host?


If the answer is yes -- then I suspect that is your problem.

If you still have access to the old host database, then you need to make a backup/export using the phpmyadmin tool - not the smf admin screen.



On a separate note:
You say that you installed SMF using the database name through cpanel?
Do you mean that you went tot he file manager and did it that way? Or did you use some automated system?
And you INSTALLED or RESTORED your files?
because if you INSTALLED SMF, into an existing database, it would have erased all of your existing data during the install process.
Install should only ever be used on a BLANK database
Everything else should use the upgrade archive and/or the restored files from the file backup

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Have you looked in the sql dump to see if the content is there?

[Illori]

when you reinstalled SMF, you said you used the install package on the same database, this may have overwritten the existing data you had. can you verify in the database everything is in place as expected?

[showngo]

Have you looked in the sql dump to see if the content is there?

Okay, there is my ignorance    I was asked that and I have NO CLUE where to find that .     I have 3 g-zip files    The SQL is what I restored, the other , when unzipped to a folder, looks to be the folder for the forum.

[showngo]

when you reinstalled SMF, you said you used the install package on the same database, this may have overwritten the existing data you had. can you verify in the database everything is in place as expected?

Okay, I will try to restore, from backup, the SQL zip file I have from the original forum, over this "new" setup.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

The GoDaddy database restore utility works with unzipped sql files, don't know if it can handle zips.  Have you tried importing the dump with phpmyadmin?

[Kindred]

there was a bunch of other stuff thrown in here, but you have no answered thius yet

without throwing in additional, not relevant, information - can you confirm that you made your original backup from and smf admin screens on your old host?


If the answer is yes -- then I suspect that is your problem.

If you still have access to the old host database, then you need to make a backup/export using the phpmyadmin tool - not the smf admin screen.



On a separate note:
You say that you installed SMF using the database name through cpanel?
Do you mean that you went tot he file manager and did it that way? Or did you use some automated system?
And you INSTALLED or RESTORED your files?
because if you INSTALLED SMF, into an existing database, it would have erased all of your existing data during the install process.
Install should only ever be used on a BLANK database
Everything else should use the upgrade archive and/or the restored files from the file backup

[showngo]

there was a bunch of other stuff thrown in here, but you have no answered thius yet

can you confirm that you made your original backup from and smf admin screens on your old host? i did not back it up from SMF   It was all in cPanel   I am thinking that is the reason for this mess.


If the answer is yes -- then I suspect that is your problem.

If you still have access to the old host database, then you need to make a backup/export using the phpmyadmin tool - not the smf admin screen.  I do have the files.
On a separate note:
You say that you installed SMF using the database name through cpanel?
Do you mean that you went tot he file manager and did it that way? Or did you use some automated system?
And you INSTALLED or RESTORED your files?    I created a New database, installed a new SMF, then restored the database from by backup SQL zip file through MyPHP
because if you INSTALLED SMF, into an existing database, it would have erased all of your existing data during the install process.   I think that is what I did
Install should only ever be used on a BLANK database
Everything else should use the upgrade archive and/or the restored files from the file backup   Thanks, Ill give that a whirl

i did not back it up from SMF   It was all in cPanel   I am thinking that is the reason for this mess.     

[Steve]

Actually, the backup function in SMF Admin panel is unreliable (2.0.13 and below). cPanel backups are what I use.