Migrating old wordpress database with new wordpress installation

1. wp-includes/version.php should tell you exactly what the WP version is/was.

2. Safety step. You should install first the same version (https://www.ads-software.com/download/release-archive/) and make sure the blog works.

3. Then follow the instructions for Upgrading_WordPress

All I have is the database file. I can’t check the version for that database.

I have followed those steps, and it didn’t work.

What exactly didn’t work? Which step? What error?

Well I had wordpress 2.0-2.1 installed that was compatible with my backed up database.

Then I ran my upgrade and the old wordpress database did not migrate, into wordpress 2.6. Someone had informed me that there was another way to do it, which hasn’t worked out either. In the process of trying the other persons way, I now have the latest version of wordpress on my server and a backed up wordpress 2.x database that I can’t get to work.

At this point after trying a few things already I don’t think I will get it to work. WordPress should have a migrate database feature.

Define “database migrate”. I don’t understand what you are asking for. The upgrade process is just that: changing the database structure from one version to a newer one, while keeping your content intact.

Alright, I currently have wordpress 2.6 installed and a backup from a wordpress database from 2.0 or 2.1, I don’t know exactly.

I want to migrate the backed up database that I have into the wordpress install that I have currently which is 2.6, how can I do this?

Before installing wordpress 2.6, I had wordpress 2.1 or 2.0 installed and I ran the wordpress upgrade, assuming it would mirgrate the database from 2.x to 2.6 without problems, unfortunatly it didn’t and now I am left with a clear wordpress 2.6 database and a backed up 2.x database. I have been running in circles over this, and I don’t want to spend anymore time on this as I have already spent over a month communicating with several people on trying to get this to work, if I can’t get it to work well I’ll just start from scratch and will have to loose my previous posts.

I want to migrate the backed up database that I have into the wordpress install that I have currently which is 2.6, how can I do this?

Well, if it didn’t work when you tried earlier (i.e. running the 2.6.x upgrade on the 2.0.x or 2.1.x blog)… it wouldn’t work in the new install either.

Basically, you would have to drop the tables from the 2.6.x DB (but keeping the database itself) and import the backed up 2.1 .sql file into it, then run the upgrade.

I am still curious why the regular upgrade didn’t work on your blog…

Do you think dropping the tables from 2.6 and importing the backed up 2.1 SQL file would work?

I have tried so many things already, yet none of them have worked causing me to just reinstall wordpress, I’m not sure either why the upgrade didn’t work but it didn’t and I had a few people try several ways and none of them worked after I went the wordpress upgrade route. I think I will just have to start my blog this time around from scratch and follow automatic upgrades thereafter this time.

Do you know if there is a way to read database files in plain english so I can read posts that I wrote and so I can pick out specific posts and re-post them?

The only thing I can think of: the backup of the database hasn’t been made correctly. I don’t know.

If it is a .sql file (as it should be!) then you can open it with any plain text editor, like Notepad.

Alright, thank you for your help. I will just start from scratch and maybe take out some of the posts that I wrote from my previous database and phase them in over time.

For the future though I will just upgrade wordpress almost regularly so I don’t have this problem again with the database.

I am still confused about that backup file.
Just out of curiousity: can you zip it and send it over to mynamehere at transycan net?

moshu(at)transycan.net ?

I thought it was obvious ?? – yes.