CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Short version:

What is the best way (if any) of importing data from a CiviCRM 4.2.7 database into a CiviCRM 4.4 install?

Long version:

Howdy,

I've inherited a website that has a second site running off the same Drupal installation.  CiviCRM is installed at the main site, but is only used at the second site.  I also inherited a dev site whose directory as the same directory as the live site (which shares a directory with the second site that's actually running CiviCRM.).

The Drupal sites are all 7.2.2 (Yes, I know I need to update Drupal.).  The CiviCRM install is 4.2.7.

CiviCRM is having a few issues.  Before asking for help/answers, I wanted to be proactive and upgrade to 4.4 (Also, I hoped that upgrading might just resolve the CiviCRM issues.).  I've learned that upgrading CiviCRM is non-trivial.  I've tired to run a test at the dev site, and that's been quite challenging also.

so I've reached the point where I'm thinking about backing up the CiviCRM database, uninstalling CiviCRM altogether from all sites (the main site, the second site, and the dev site), dropping all CiviCRM tables from the database (or dropping the civicrm db altogether), reinstalling the upgraded version 4.4 from scratch, and importing the 4.2.7 database to it.

...and I realize that there's a problem there.  I don't expect that 4.4 will instantly accept a 4.2.7 database.  So I'm turning to y'all.

What is the best way (if any) of importing data from a CiviCRM 4.2.7 database into a CiviCRM 4.4 install?

Jonathan L.

Howdy!  I appreciate the quick response.

"Upgrading 4.2 -> 4.4 often is quite easy. The only times that it's not are if you have a bunch of version-specific custom code or template overrides."

I've found the process to be rather challenging.  (I'm not going into the gory details in this thread as it would distract from the main question.)  That said: I'm taking your advice under advisement, and will tackle the hydra once more.

But I may not succeed, so I'm assessing the viability of other paths.

Is it possible to import data from a CiviCRM 4.2.7 database into a fresh CiviCRM 4.4 install?  If so, how?  I'm happy to read an article or other resource if you point me at one.

Jonathan L.

FYI: I've mostly succeeded in my upgrade.  There's a few things that I'm working on and am likely to seek help with, but by and large, the upgrade is complete, so that's a happy thing.

Jonathan L.