Moving woes

I am running 1.3.7 on a webhost.

I want to move this installation to a different host. I know there are guides that advise how to do this, but the one I found (on this site) didn't work for me. I had hoped to keep my 1.3.7 installation's old files because of customized language and somesuch, but it seems it's just not doable.

So I am willing to just install 1.3.8 via my new host's Fantastico and start all over with the translation process. However I do not want to lose all the products, categories etc.

Will the database used by 1.3.7 work with a 1.3.8 installation? What do I need to do after installation to make it work?

I tried creating a new installation and then importing the database and copying over the files from the old installation. Result? I see some of the customized language here and there, but no products pop up, and when I change the language to the one I was using before (shouldn't these settings have just copied over with the files? :no: ) it has no real effect. English still everywhere.

Clearly there's a problem here but I don't know where to even begin.

Where are you located?
Where is your host?
The tutorials are workable for this - even if at first try you had no luck.

If you choose a good host, they may port it across for you. They will probably do this for free if you use the same ZC version on the new host as you are using on your existing host.

My suggestion is, move the same version to your new host first - don't try an upgrade at the same time.

Once you've moved across, you can investigate an upgrade.

That is pretty much what I am trying to do. I have managed to get the store up, and it uses the correct Finnish language layout (I had to go and set it to, I thought these settings would be already in effect since I copied the files over), but no products, cats or visitor data is showing. :(

The FAQ area is a great place to find already-documented steps for common procedures:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=100

DrByte:

The FAQ area is a great place to find already-documented steps for common procedures:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=100Yes, I know. That's the guide I followed to the letter, and now my store has no categories, products, or customers.

Yes, I know. That's the guide I followed to the letter, and now my store has no categories, products, or customers.
Must have missed a letter or two...

Did you create your DB Backup according to this guide?

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=103

When restoring to the new DB do you end up with the same # of tables as there were in the donor DB?

If the DB is large and your host server is slow it can time out leaving you with a non-complete restore

kobra:

Must have missed a letter or two...

Did you create your DB Backup according to this guide?Yes. I did.

kobra:

When restoring to the new DB do you end up with the same # of tables as there were in the donor DB?

If the DB is large and your host server is slow it can time out leaving you with a non-complete restoreThe number of tables and the overall size of the databases matches, yes. It's not a very large database, 1 MB altogether when saved on my hard drive.

--

I just re-did everything. Wiped the new db, wiped the domain's public_html directory and started over. Followed the guides (the ones linked to previously in this thread) precisely. As advised, I chose to install the demo products.

The end result is a store with English set as its default language and Finnish not even installed (should these settings not have followed with the "old" files or the "old" database? Why do I have to reinstall the languages?). The demo products are installed. None of my own products, categories or customers are installed.

Another question of interest: where do the demo products get installed? Are they just pulled from txt files? Because after I install the store and the demo products, before I even begin copying over my backup files, the database does NOT have any tables. It's completely empty. So where are these demo products stored then?

Sounds like you're looking at the wrong database.

DrByte:

Sounds like you're looking at the wrong database.I only have one.

If you've "installed" Zen Cart, you had to supply a database for it to operate from. You said you also elected for it to add the demo products to the database (which means it will insert various records into the appropriate various tables in the database you specified for installation).
You imply that the installation "worked" and that you could see the demo products shown in the cart.

But then you said that when you looked at the database there were no tables in it.
This clearly means you're not looking at the same database that you specified for installation.

Nipple:

I just re-did everything. Wiped the new db, wiped the domain's public_html directory and started over. Followed the guides (the ones linked to previously in this thread) precisely. As advised, I chose to install the demo products.

The end result is a store with English set as its default language and Finnish not even installed (should these settings not have followed with the "old" files or the "old" database? Why do I have to reinstall the languages?).
If the Finnish language files were part of the files you uploaded but the language is not being offered, that means your database hasn't been told about the new language yet. This is normal for a new installation. Restoring your old database into the new one would add in your settings for whatever languages you had configured in your old database.

So, this additionally suggests that you're looking at the wrong database.

Do you have access to MySQL via phpMyAdmin? If so, the information in the left frame of phpMyAdmin will list all your databases...

... or in your host C-Panel, use the MySQL link to see what databases are set up.

Did you use Fantastico perhaps, to install your on your new host...? If so, Fantastico creates the dbase for you. This may be why you are under the impression that you have just one database.

You can also COMPARE the two sets of configure.php files - the two in the ORIGINAL host set-up, and the two in your NEW host set-up.

See if the NAME of the database in the first set, is the same (or different) from the NAME in the second set.

fairestcape:

Do you have access to MySQL via phpMyAdmin? If so, the information in the left frame of phpMyAdmin will list all your databases...

... or in your host C-Panel, use the MySQL link to see what databases are set up.

Did you use Fantastico perhaps, to install your on your new host...? If so, Fantastico creates the dbase for you. This may be why you are under the impression that you have just one database.

You can also COMPARE the two sets of configure.php files - the two in the ORIGINAL host set-up, and the two in your NEW host set-up.

See if the NAME of the database in the first set, is the same (or different) from the NAME in the second set.My host does use CPanel. I didn't use Fantastico to install ZC though because they offer 1.3.8 and I need 1.3.7. So I did it by hand.

I am quite certain I only have one database as I created it by hand before installing ZC. Yes, I can see how it seems that I am looking at the wrong database, but I literally only have one. When I log into phpmyadmin, it's just the one database there. The new config files have the right mysql login info in them.

Looks to me as though I'll have to ask my host what's going on. They recently transferred my Mysql db to a SQL 5 server from a v4 server. but myphpadmin still reports it as v4...and the old host used v5. Might not mean anything...

So what you have is ONE database on your new host...

... and ONE database on your old host.

The database on your NEW host cannot (will not) contain the data from your database on your OLD host, until you port that database across.

fairestcape:

So what you have is ONE database on your new host...

... and ONE database on your old host.

The database on your NEW host cannot (will not) contain the data from your database on your OLD host, until you port that database across.I have imported the backed up database from the old hose into the new one after installing ZC with demo products. I followed the two guides mentioned in this thread precisely.

What was strange though was that after ZC was installed and the demo products applied, the database remained empty.

I contacted my host (Hostgator) about this and they said they will "reset the cart script" and see if that helps. Honestly, if the db is empty, what does resetting the script do? The data must be somewhere, unless the demo products are NOT stored in a database, which I doubt.

What exactly do you mean when you say the database is allegedly "empty"??

Before Importing a db you should first remove all Tables from the current db. Do not Delete the db, just the Tables within it. Otherwise, you could end up with the "old" products still there and will have to remove them manually.

What I think happened is that the install (with demo products) OVER-WROTE the existing database... ?

DrByte:

What exactly do you mean when you say the database is allegedly "empty"??That I log into phpmyadmin and there is nothing there, no tables, nothing. And the demo products are nevertheless in the store when I visit it. And yes I've made certain that it's the same db as what's in the configure.php files. I only have one db.

Website Rob:

Before Importing a db you should first remove all Tables from the current db. Do not Delete the db, just the Tables within it. Otherwise, you could end up with the "old" products still there and will have to remove them manually.Yes, I dump all tables before importing the sql backup. That didn't remove the demo products, though.

fairestcape:

What I think happened is that the install (with demo products) OVER-WROTE the existing database... ?It was welcome to do so, because the database was empty.

The tech support at my new host has been rather baffled, but they created a new database and imported the database again (they took the backup themselves) I have products now, but they had to manually go into the database to turn off maintenance mode, because adjusting it through the admin console refused to take effect (which worries me.) I have my products showing now, but all customer data is still gone, even though it's the same database import.