Really basic question about converting to SMF

[Faramir.cl]

Well, I have the backup of a database from an IPB forum, and want to convert it to SMF. The files of the IPB forum are not currently available, I might try to recover them if needed, but I'd rather not do it if possible (the server where it was hosted is offline, and probably in a garage).

Now, the questions:

1.- Do I need a fresh installed SMF forum before converting, or the SMF forum is installed while converting from IPB?

2.- Do I need to know the version of the IPB forum? I've seen converters showing the version of IPB, but there is one that doesn't say anything about a version.

  Best Regards

[Oldiesmann]

Yes to both questions

You need to know the IPB version because the database structure is different from version to version. If you're not sure which version it was, you can just try each converter until you find one that works.

[Faramir.cl]

It seems it was 2.3, at least, one of the admins of the defunct forum thinks it was that. But the converter ask me to provide the path to the files, which are still unavailable. I'll browse in case there is a workaround for that.

Thanks for the reply

Edit: I found the workaround at http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=417983.0

Now I have a sql syntaxis error... I'm still trying.