I need some major help here. I am completely upset about this and am having to restore my site (as long as it works *crossing fingers* from a very old backup since unaware to me, my backup on my server was clogged with a backup from another site! )

In any case, I have an existing store in my public_html folder. I created a new folder just called Zencart to install a fresh, clean version to as I wanted to redesign the site and I figured I could do it this way without interrupting the existing store. After running the install program, it overwrote my entire existing store!!!!

I made sure the install directories where set to the Zencart folder so it would just install to that directory!
Why did this happen!?!?! How do I prevent this?!? And if this is going to happen, what is the proper process for installing a second cart on the same server without interrupting the existing store??