Backup on the same domain

I would take these steps:

1. Crete a new package just incase the old package wasn’t what you really want. Then download them to a safe place
2. Backup all the files currently in your root to an offsite location, just a pre-caution
3. Remove all content from the root directory
4. Upload the old backup files to the empty root directory and run the installer

When you say remove “all content” does that include subdirectories?

I built a wordpress site inside a subfolder and now want to move it to the root. There are other folders, including one containing the html site that used to be in the rooot.
I have backed everything up on my local computer, but would still like to know if anything will get deleted/over written.
If all the subdirectories have unique names like “audio”, “pdf”, “presskit”, “PreviousSite”, etc. will they be fine?

The only files not in directories in the root are ftpquota and htaccess. They can get overwritten, so I can leave them there or should I delete them first?

To be on the safe side I would empty everything, and then move content back as needed. The extraction process works the same way it would work if you used a client side program like winzip/winrar. When you extract the archive file it will overwrite files folders with the same name.

If you want to be sure nothing gets overwritten its always safest to start with an empty folder. However if you know with out a doubt that “audio”, “pdf” etc. are not in the archive folder then its safe to assume it won’t get overwritten. I always tell people to error on the side of caution and always have extra backups laying around as well if you decide to extract with content in the folders…

Hope that helps!