upgrade vs fresh install

[toriapilar]

I'm looking for some advice please - I'm running my site on zen 1.3.7. I would like to use paypal website pro rather than the ordinary pay pal because I do alot of mailorders and want to get rid of my EPOS machine/merchant account etc. I'm not entirely happy with the site - I did some silly things with add-ons when I first installed and would quite like to do a fresh install. Given that I am stuck with a geriatric iMac that won't run winmerge or BBedit or firefox and all the other lovely helpers an upgrade looks daunting. My questions are:
is it possible just to add payments pro to my site - and how? or
How different is the 1.3.8 database - if I save the database contents in 1.3.7, then do a fresh install, can I import the contents - products and customers so I don't lose the info? Thank-you in advance http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/images/smilies/bigups.gif.
one slightly lost newish zenner
Toria
www.toriapilar.com

[afo]

Yes, you should be able to import the database.

I feel the best way to proceed is to install a fresh version of 1.3.8a into its own folder with a new database. You can export the data from the live shop into the 'test" installation and make sure it all works before moving it and making it live.

[toriapilar]

Hello Afo
thanks for that. would love to do test install - unfortunately hosting package only allows one database - hence my question. in fact i'm thinking of having the hosts do the fresh install with some add-ons included (they are approved hosts etc). I just wanted to be able to hang on to my current customer data. (I'm going to send an email though just in case it goes belly up ). at this point, i figure I've nothing to lose
cheers
toria
www.toriapilar.com

[afo]

Make sure you have a backup of your database before anyone does anything else.

[toriapilar]

Thanks afo
have backed up - and backed up again! just in case. not taking any chances here - i NEED to get the site right this time - the old 'credit crunch' is killing me in the bricks/mortar shop - so want to generate a bit more on the web
cheers
toria
www.toriapilar.com

[stevesh]

May I suggest that this might be an great time to switch to a decent hosting company which allows many databases, as do all of the Certified hosts?