Backup and restore

Our current site is using Moodle 1.9.7+ (Bld 20100127.)

I am attempting to move individual courses from that server to our new server for testing purposes.  The new server is using Moodle 1.9.6 (Bld20091021.)

I am not working directly on the server! I backup a course, download the zip file to my computer and upload it to the new server within a dummy course.  I then restore from the zip file to a specific heading.

Everything transfers correctly with one major problem.

All text within the course like the course summary as well as text within the homework assignments and all of the test questions have lost their HTML coding.

I hope the text will display properly here so...
If the original looks like

"<font size="4"><strong style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong><span>Access to this area is restricted to students who have purchased the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">complete</span> locksmith training program. See Options 1 &amp; 2</span></strong></strong></font> "

The restored looks like

"font size=4strong style=color: rgb(255, 0, 0);strongspanAccess to this area is restricted to students who have purchased the span style=text-decoration: underline;complete/span locksmith training program. See Options 1 amp; 2/span/strong/strong/font"

Notice that the "<" and the ">" are missing from the restored file.

Can anyone tell me what I can do to avoid this problem short of doing a two tab copy and paste?

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Harvey Arkawy