Moving shop to root directory, questions

I have been building my zen cart (/test) to replace a site already in existence (/). I have been reading all that I can find on this subject including the tutorial 122. I believe most of the posts that I read assumed that the root directory was empty and you would just copy the files from /test into the root and then delete /test. Since my root directory contains the original site that I am replacing, what is the best course to take in order to transfer my new site (zen cart) into the root? I am sure I will want to save or backup the original site in case things go wrong, right?

As it happens, I did precisely this. I backed up everything from the root just in case, then I deleted it all. Uploaded a temporary "down for maintenance" index.html file, then did the move. Went fine. Just make sure to edit both configure.php files to reflect the new path.

RescoCCC:

As it happens, I did precisely this. I backed up everything from the root just in case, then I deleted it all. Uploaded a temporary "down for maintenance" index.html file, then did the move. Went fine. Just make sure to edit both configure.php files to reflect the new path.

Thanks,
That makes a lot of since. Where do you suggest I get a temporary down for maintenance file? OR can I make one and how?

I created my own, just a simple index.html file. Something like:

You can find an image file to use out there on the web.

RescoCCC:

I created my own, just a simple index.html file. Something like:

<html> <head> <title>We're doing a little site work</title> </head> <br> <body bgcolor="White"> <div align="center"><h1>We're doing a little site work</h1><p><img src="maintenance.gif" width=xxx height=xxx alt="We're doing a little site work" border="0"> <p> <h2><i><b><font color="red">Site updates in progress.</font></b></i></h2></div> </body> </html>

You can find an image file to use out there on the web.

Thank you, that is what I needed.