Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by john mcgarvey -
Number of replies: 7

I have a fresh 2.1 moodle install. I understand that with Moodle 2.0, the data structure of the moodledata folder has changed (hash files and database structures).

Question: Where do I place the 1.9 backup files within the 2.1 moodledata directory so they can be seen within the Course backup area of the restore window.

I don't want to have to use the Import a backup file (file chooser). It takes too long and some of my files are too large.

Thanks for the help. Been a few years since I have posted a question. smile

Attachment moodle_backup_question.png
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In reply to john mcgarvey

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Mary Cooch -
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Hello there. I wonder if the File system repository might be of benefit  here?

http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/File_system_repository_configuration

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by john mcgarvey -

Thank you for the suggestion Mary. I had never set up a repository before and I was able to create an effective work flow.

For those of you interested, this was the process I used:

Follow the directions in Mary's link above to set up a repository. I created a repository folder in my moodledata folder and created a backup sub directory in that folder.

Backup individual courses in your Moodle 1.9 install.

Use cpanel to copy the 1.9 backup files to the file repository directory in the Moodle 2.0 moodledata folder.

Use the import a file, file picker to select the 1.9 backups to restore into Moodle 2.0.

One of the 1.9 course was over 200 mb and would fail in the restore process (white screen of death).

I went back to the 1.9 version of Moodle and created three different backups of the course (assignments only, resources only, quizzes only). I restored each one of these course into Moodle 2.0. Then I selected one of the courses, and imported the others courses to merge them.

Thanks for the help.

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In reply to john mcgarvey

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Alan Forsyth -

Thanks John - that worked for me too, at least for a test 2.1 install on my Windows machine via XAMPP.

It's probably worth mentioning that I had to play around with the Restore utility in the Moodle admin panel before I successfully restored a course backup from our Linux 1.9 installation. Specifically I discovered that:

  • I could not successfully restore a 1.9 zip file if I selected 'Restore as a new course' - nothing happened after clicking 'Continue'. This did, however, start to work after I had created more than one course category (i.e. more than the default 'Miscellaneous' category), and selected a non-Miscellaneous category.
  • Selecting 'Restore into an existing course' (Delete the contents of the existing course and then restore) worked better, but eventually failed with an error something like 'Can't go above front page', or similar.
  • The only method that worked to import a 1.9 backup zip file into a clean 2.1 installation was to create a new empty course, click the 'Restore' button in that course and then use the options to restore and merge into this new course.
Other than that, the restore seems to be without problems. All videos and media files (PPT, PDF) appear to be working.
Alan
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In reply to Alan Forsyth

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Ron Pfeffer -

Alan-

I took your advice and followed the instructions in your 3rd bullet. Worked well, except our 1.9 theme did not come thru. I need to work on that.

Thank you,

Ron Pfeffer

Mitchell Community College

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In reply to Ron Pfeffer

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Rosario Carcò -

THEMES are totally rewritten in Moodle 2.x I do  not think they can simply be imported through backup-zip-files.

Besides that migration from 1.9x line to 2.x line is to create a clone/exact copy of your production site, then upgrade this clone to the latest Moodle 2.x you want, do automated backups of every course and finally install a new fresh Moodle 2.x on a separate server, transfer the course-backup-files there and restore them there. This way you never lose your production server and you can repeat the procedure as many times as needed without ever touching your production server. Even after switching to the new server you can continue to run your old server until shutting it down.

Rosario

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In reply to john mcgarvey

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Khairiltitov M. Zainuddin -

Thank you John (and Mary).  I have the same problem and I succesfully restore all our M1.9 to the new M2.1 site, after 2 days searching for the solution.  Thanks again to both of you.

Regards,

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In reply to john mcgarvey

Re: Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.1 backup and restore

by Melinda Kraft -

We use the Choose A File button (in your screenshot) to upload the backup. Once it is uploaded you can restore it. It has worked quite well for us. We only had a couple 1.9 sites that we had to run through 1.9.13 and back out again because they had been archived with a very early version of 1.9.  I think the file you are seeing the course backup area are those generated inside of Moodle 2 when you cilck the link to back up an exisitng site. Hope this helps!

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