A few conversion questions

[CountryLady]

I have a 100+ MB phpbb2 forum that I want to convert to 1.0.5.
My questions are...

1. Will the conversion program create the forums I had on my phpbb board, or must I create them in the SMF board beforehand, or afterward?

2. If I have a couple forums with posts in them in my SMF forum, and I run the conversion, what will happen to the posts that were already there?

3. Is there a thread(s) here that goes into more detail on this basic process? I didn't find much in the FAQ and searching did more to make me feel insecure than inspire confidence. I hate being so new to all this.

It would really be helpful to have some conversation about this from those of you with experience.

Please speak slowly & imagine your grandma trying to understand this. LOL

[Elmacik]

1- No, you wont need to create anything. Converter will do everything for you.
2- No, you wont have old posts of your SMF there. Because converter will delete everything in SMF and will place phpBB into it.
3- Yes there are, but I cant find See converters board.

[Fizzy]

Hi Countrylady,

++ Golden Rule ++ Always take a backup first

The convertor is designed to take on the majority of the work for you automatically.
If it finds any problems it will prompt you at the time of making the conversion, but on the whole there is very little chance you will get any problems unless your PhPBB board is heavily modded.
If you do get problems, post them here and we'll get straight on to it and help in any way we can

[CountryLady]

Your replies have helped a lot. Thank you so much.

Another question if you don't mind...
4. using the converter from phpbb to SMF doesn't damage or mess up the phpbb board or its database, does it?

My board is not modded.

I need to make this move over the holidays when our board is slow, so don't want to wait and HOPE for 1.1 to go Gold. I hope it will not be difficult to upgrade to 1.1, AND I hope there aren't too many changes for my members. They are not used to SMF, only phpbb, so changing to SMF 1.0.5 will be a big step for them, and THEN to make big changes again soon after the switch from phpbb will be very confusing for them. I really wish it would go gold NOW.

I really thank you all for your kind words and helpfulness.

[Elmacik]

phpBB will stay safe till you delete yourself
SMF wont touch it. The converter will just carry the data.

[Fizzy]

Hi CountryLady,

The convertor will create a set of tables in your database but they will have a prefix of SMF_(table name) where as your PHP tables will have different names. Guaranteed your PHP tables will not be touched by the conversion.

As for the 1.0.5 to 1.1 upgrade, that is going to be very very easy for you to do. Literally the upgrade will involve going in to the Package Manager, click a button and by the time you can make a fresh cup of tea your forum will backup, upgrade itself and then be ready for use (server configurations permitting). Basically, it's totally painless

[CountryLady]

"Backup the board" = Wise words!

I'm enjoying my test SMF boards and am very excited to be making this change soon.

SMF ROCKS~!  Thanks Again, Everyone~!

[mv_ajen]

I'm new at this and just not getting something here. I have downloaded the converter, but I just don't know what to do next. Please bear with me as I'm self-taught but I catch on pretty quickly. I have a board that runs on php 2.011 and I wish to convert it. Once I get started I'm sure I'll be fine. Can someone please tell me exactly what is the first step? Thanks!

[xenovanis]

READ ME: How do I convert from other software?