UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums News and Releases Pre-Sales Questions Retaining old posts while updating???

When updating from 6.2.0 is it possible to bring/bridge the old posts to the updated forum? Is it possible to bring all of the posts made previously into 6.4.1, 7.3.2 OR any other newer version?

And is it relatively easy to do this?

My site's owner was told that it was not possible to bridge the old forum content in to the new forum software. He was, more or less, told that it is NOT possible to update UBB 6.2.0 without loosing all of the previous posts.

I strongly suspect that my site's owner was misinformed. His tech person probably had trouble bridging the old forum to VBulletin or some other package. I suspect that his tech person never considered updating the 6.2.0 to 6.31 or 7.2.1.

thanks for reading

(I did a bit of a search and i did not see this specific question being addressed. Forgive me if this question was already answered and i missed it.)

There is an import script that allows you to bring all posts and member data into the new software. I have used this when I upgraded to the threads from the classic and it worked perfectly without any problems.

Thanks Jaisp!!

I think the only thing you might loose is polls and Sticky topics.
Meaning they will revert to a regular post.
I don't think you had polls in your version but if you did. What you would loose is the results.

I went from classic 6 to threads 7.2 with very few issues 2 years ago. Other than apprehension if it did not work and the completely new interface in the control panel.

One thing I did do while still is classic is a lot of cleanup of forums, posts and users. And also to make sure I did not have any hacks or mods still lingering.

I did have some problems with the redirect scripts working correctly but it was something I was not to concerned about.

You'll need to upgrade your 6.2 to 6.7 then import that data to v7.

Reading your other post for the demo script. I thought of one other item that may be a compatibility issue for you..

If you have added modification features to the stock classic code then those items will not be imported to threads.

Hi Ruben,

I didn't think that our former admin would add modifications. But then again maybe she did and that's what caused the problem they had.

Anyway it's good to keep in mind going forward.

thanks

I just emailed the site owner and requested he download the "UBB.threads Test." I wish that i could do this step myself instead of ask him. He's laid off most all of his employees and is now plenty busy. But without a 6.2.0 Administrator's Guide i don't want to try to it. (it's bad enough that i ask you guys a zillion questions without looking anything up myself i feel almost lazy!)

Hopefully the test will go well and i'll get a better idea of which version to run in demo mode.

Well let me say this.
I will agree the documentation for classic was better that threads.
Probably due to the software had matured a bit more than threads has at this point.
But the classic Admin guide never matched up exactly to each version either.
So what you can access here is as close as it ever was. 6.2 to 6.7 was just some minor nit noid fixes and maybe some small enhancements.

So I don't see any advantage in trying to find a guide for 6.2 it wont help anymore than what documentation is currently available. In fact I think you will find the last documentation released for 6.7.3 is not much different than what it was for 6.0

Besides the admin guide will not reference the test script. Nor was it ever intended to.
It is just a script to run as a php file to see if php works on your server and if it is setup to use a mysql database connection . all it takes is to upload the file to the site and type the url in your browser.

But I guess if you don't have total control over a site then you have to do what you are doing.

Ruben, again, i appreciate the help during this difficult period.


Well that's most helpful. Based on that info I know imagine that utilizing the 6.4, 6.3 or 6.1 could help me greatly.

I don't even know how to do a backup.

Do I have to shut the forum down to do a backup? Can i just do it without drawing any attention to it?


It's a bit more complicated than that. I have control, now. But i'm careful about using it, for a couple of reasons.

Ruben, i'm sending a PM to you.

If it is an old Perl forum you can log in to the web site via FTP and copy all the folders and files to your computer. That constitutes a back up.

That is how I did mine back then.

So Tacks to finish your question on backups.
No it is not necessary to close the board during a backup.

As i said before, it is ironic that in recent months i've found more comraderie and support here on this forum than i have on my own forum.

Thanks again to all of you.

Update

The site owner uploaded the test file for threads and ran it. It was successful -- both the PHP & mysql yielded a positive result.

thanks again for the advice

Cool!
Then you are good to go.
Still not clear on who would implement the upgrade.When and if you do. But be ready to spend some time on it. Even though it is not that difficult it still will take a little time. After upgrading you will need to go through the new features and settings in the control panel.

BTW, what is the URL to your site? Or did I ask that before.

The migration of data from classic to threads ("the import") can (and will) take forever to complete... So be sure you have a stable internet connection and I'd suggest running the migration in FireFox (IE choked on me when I did mine).

The site owner was leaning towards paying Groupee to do it. I told him that it'd be 149 but i've since read it might be 200. I'm not sure.

Whether we go the 99 dollar membership or pay them. I'm just happy that we're headed in that direction.

Thanks.

I don't think the owner would want to try. And i wouldn't because i've just moved and am using dial up at the moment.

So as i said before i believe that we/he's be leaning towards having Groupee do it.

<snicker> you know, more than Groupee offers upgrades ... And I think it's the higher.

Thanks Gizmo. I had not considered that.