I'm going to upgrade my SMF forum from 1.1 or something to 2.0, if I upgrade will all of my forum posts and topics be lost?
nothing will be lost as long as you backup your database Upgrading SMF (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?board=3.0;sort=subject)
How do I backup my database? (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=492.0)
What public files do I need to save and where can I find them? Again, sorry for the noob questions.
you can save your settings.php file but everything else will be overwritten by the upgrade. if your users have avatars or attachments on your server you may want to back them up just in case.
And how do I do this?
copy those files/folders off your server to your pc.
How do I use FTP? / What is FTP? (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=480.0)
I have Filezilla, that is how I installed SMF....but I guess I'm not what folders I need to save.
attachments and avatars as stated above.
And where do I go about finding those files? Are they in filezilla?
Also I did this:
Forum Maintenance - Backup Database
Is that a folder that I need when I upgrade?
please do not use the feature in the admin panel to do a backup of the database it is known to not do full backups, please read the link above for how to backup the database. those folders are in the main smf folder.
I'm still confused and computer illiterate, exactly what files do I need to save? And how do I find them in filezilla?
How do I backup my SMF forum? (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=491.0)
How do I backup my database? (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=492.0)