1.3.9h - Can I Import Only Customers and Products?

Hi

I'm preparing to upgrade 1.3.9h to 1.5.1. I have the site mirrired (same version) and I have a clean install of 1.5.1. IMHO our customizations are too extensive to make a file merge feasible. Most of our mods make database changes and all have new versions of the files, so upgrading doesn't seem to make much sense. I'd rather just re-install everything and go with the new cart.

Except that I need to retain customers and orders (and products so the orders will make sense). If I update the database on the mirror, can I move those tables into the 1.5.1 cart?

These are the tables I'd like to retain. Will thes tables be compatible after the db upgrade?

coupons (6 tables)

customers
customers_info
(skipping the _basket tables)

ezpages

banners (2 tables)

products
products_description

manufacturers (2 tables)

orders
orders_products
orders_status (2 tables)
orders_total

These are most of the mods we have installed. All except WishList are new versions. So all of the tables and configs they have in the old version would just be overwritten or deleted the new versions.

Google Analytics
edit orders
super orders
big spender
FEC
COWOA
avonlee_contempo template
free shipping qualifier
tabbed products pro
supertracker
wishlists
Snap Affiliates
Google merchant center feeder
Sitemap XML
Easy Populate
Apsona Admin
Orders Export
Recover Cart Sales
RSS Feeds
CAPTCHA (moving to Are You Human if I can get it integrated)
Ultimate SEO URLs (may have to skip reinstalling this one)
Flowplayer for videos/trailers on product pages (never could figure out how to add video and music to regular products)

Also:
multiple sliders and tabbed objects from PVII
customized css and layout
rearranged product display

1. No, there is no mod to intelligently extract just customers and orders and safely stuff them into a completely different store. That's not "upgrading" anyway.

2. Selectively pulling just a few tables is the wrong method for 99% of sites. See the next point for those 99%. The other 1% is for cases where the database is severely damaged due to having been hacked and unable to do a safe recovery from the damage.

3. The following is by far the safer and most effective way to not only do an upgrade but to also minimize downtime and minimize any loss or damaging of actual live data: http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading

4. As for the mods you say whose settings "will just get overwritten", that's all up to how you install them. If they have an upgrade script, then any new structures will be accommodated by that. What you were describing is akin to trash-and-burn of everything ... which is unnecessary, and not recommended.

The "upgrade database" option in the zc_install is intelligently designed to preserve all your data while updating the structure to what is required for the new features in the new version. Continuing with that mindset is the safest way to do an upgrade. Don't go backwards by throwing away your live data. See #3 above for the best way forward.

There has been a similar discussion just a few days ago.

You may want to look at this thread

What you are planning to do will get you into boiling hot water. There are many more tables involved where customers_id, products_id, orders_id etc appear. Lots of tables rely on information contained in other tables, all related.