Text errors in database upgrade 1.3.8a to 1.3.9g

[Mom0fgirls]

After following the instructions and successfully upgrading, the product descriptions in my database (and therefore site) have errors. I've found 2 types so far:

1. I originally had TM symbols (™) embedded in 41 product descriptions. These were all transformed into the character sequence 'â„¢' in the upgraded database (products_description!products_description).

There are several descriptions showing this here.

2. There are now 1188 occurrences of the character 'Â' at seemingly random locations in many product descriptions. Many of these are at end of sentences, but others are in the middle of sentences. There is no obvious character(s) that were replaced or modified during the upgrade.

There are several examples in the descriptions here.

What's the cause of these problems? Is it a bug in the upgrade process, or did I have something wrong with my descriptions?

The best way to correct this appears to be to edit the upgraded database (SQL) dump and then read it back in. Any other options?

Thanks,
Jerry

[DrByte]

Looks like you exported your data in one character set but imported it in another.

The usual upgrade procedure doesn't actually require an export/import of your *live* data. Did you move it to another server or something?

[Mom0fgirls]

The upgrade instructions said to make a new database, backup the old one, and restore into the new one. That's what I did, unfortunately overlooking the mismatch in character set.

[DrByte]

I need to clarify something ...

The upgrade instructions do indeed guide you to make a new database and import the old data into it ... for *testing* purposes.
Once testing is done, the instructions guide you to repeat the upgrade on the *live* database after uploading the updated files to the *live* site.

After that, your test database and test files are no longer needed, and your live site continues on with normal operation and sales.