Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

by Pamela Giles -
Number of replies: 5
I'm still having the same problem restoring my largest course (backup is about 2.7 gigs), as described in this thread.

Tonight during my 25th attempt to restore this course (two different local computers locally, + two different online servers, + two different backup files created a month apart), I noticed kind of a weird thing. When I go to restore the backup on any of these installations, I get the following message during restore:restore message
From this dialog box, it appears that the course is trying to restore a 1.5 Beta course into a 1.5 Alpha installation. Is that what this message actually does mean? I've downloaded the latest 1.5.2 zip file to both of my hosted servers, and the local installations are the latest Moodle for Windows (EasyPHP) which also purports to be version 1.5.2.

Am I somehow running 1.5 Alpha despite fresh 1.5.2 installations? And if so, could this be what is causing my course to hang during restores? (The small courses I can restore successfully do not have any student grades in them, so if gradebook is the problem, the small course installations may be bypassing this problem point somehow.)

Or is this dialog just incorrect, and I'm actually running 1.5.2 and therefore the 1.5 Beta backups should restore without difficulty into them. (The version of the backup is also odd, since I'd installed 1.5 release version six weeks before creating this backup, so it should not read 1.5 beta either.)

Getting a little desperate,

Pamela

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In reply to Pamela Giles

Re: Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Those version numbers are the versions of Moodle and the Backup module that you were running when you made the backup .... unfortunately these were fairly unstable versions at the time you made that course (when using Moodle for production I highly advise sticking to stable releases).

However, it's more likely that your problems are related to the huge size of the backup. I'd have thought the recent fix for bug 3800 would have fixed that (are you sure you are using that fix?)... otherwise I have no other ideas at the moment without actually trying the file and examining the restore process closely.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

by Pamela Giles -
It's 2.7 megs, not gigs.  blush  Just seven students and two instructors. So not exactly huge, although probably pretty big for a shared hosted server. (Shouldn't be too big for my EasyPHP installation running on my own computer, though.) In my other thread, Dan Sherman noted that Bug 3800 addresses backups which are failing silently, but mine is not silent, clearly and consistently crashing six dots into the restore of Gradebook / Categories. (changing that line in restore.php does not enable me to get beyond the gradebook / categories point.)

I'm rather baffled that my screenshot indicates that the backup was created in Moodle 1.5 Alpha, since I'd successfully upgraded (into a clean install from a downloaded zip file but into the same mysql database, not using cvs) to the stable 1.5.0 as soon as it was released a good month before the creation of that July 16 backup.

I don't really need the gradebook categories at all and would be willing to sacrifice the whole gradebook if I could get the forum postings, journals, chat logs, and teacher feedback back. (I can see them there in the moodle xml file, so I think pretty much everything was backed up as it was supposed to.) Is there some code I can remove from the .xml file that would make the restore bypass gradebook/categories so I could see if the rest of the backup will work?

I can restore the course into 1.5.2 if I don't attempt to restore any user data.
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In reply to Pamela Giles

Re: Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Hi Pamela,

if you want (can), please send me your backup file privately and I'll try to restore it in my test server. Once done (if I'm able to do it), I'll generate a new 1.5.2 backup to see if you are able to restore it successfully in your server.

If I've to "cut" some information due to changes between your 1.5 alpha backup and its current format I'll inform you too. wink

Ciao smile
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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: Moodle version/Backup Version (Restore Problem)

by Pamela Giles -
Thank you very much, Eloy. Your repair of my backup managed to get back all the forum postings, most (perhaps even all?) of the chat logs, and the Journals--as well as the basic resources. Even the assignment grades and teacher feedback are back--amazing. I think everything is working except gradebook (which you acknowledged was problemmatic in that backup), and the nonstandard Book and DFwiki resources, the latter of which I think I may be able to retrieve from a much earlier backup.

I'm still puzzled as to how I was running a 1.5 alpha when I had attempted to upgrade to the released 1.5, but this whole disaster has forced me to learn
1. how to check the version number of Moodle to make sure the upgrade worked
2. how to run a local copy of Moodle on my laptop so I can keep a working mirror of my site (and have a good way of making sure my nightly backups are working!)
3. the importance of downloading grades regularly into Excel so they exist somewhere other than just in the Moodle.

I'm very grateful for your efforts; my students in the upcoming academic year will also appreciate the lessons I've learned here.  smile
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