Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
Number of replies: 11
I'm having a very frustrating experience trying to migrate to a new server. There is this course backup that won't be restored properly. The backup process seems to work fine but when I try to restore the course in the new server, it stops in the middle of the process and I get the following message:

Could not restore modules!
An error has occurred and the restore could not be completed!

At the beginning of the restore process I see various modulenameplural labels. I thought they could signal some problem but I get that with other courses that can be restored properly.

Can anybody lend us a hand? It is extremely important that we can restore this course quickly as our old server is failing and we are afraid we are going to loose all the data. Thanks very much in advance.


Josep M.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Paolo Oprandi -
Hi Josep.
I am trying to merge two moodle installations and have the same error for two of my courses:
An error has occurred and the restore could not be completed!
The problem seems to be workshop modules in both cases.  So as long as I delete these from the XML file (between <MOD> and </MOD> (where <MODTYPE='workshop'> ) I am okay... but obviously lose the workshop!
Paolo
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In reply to Paolo Oprandi

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
MMmm. Thanks Paolo! This is helpful to me but I'm not sure the professors in charge of those courses will be very happy when they know that they will have to loose their workshop activities. They've made an extensive use of this module in their courses and migrating them without the workshops will surely be an unsatisfactory solution.

Josep M.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Paolo Oprandi -
Yes, I agree... It didn't fail on all workshop activities, but for two courses which used the module extensively! Well, if you find, like I have, that it is some instances of the workshop activity that is preventing you from restoring then maybe we should file a bug report.

Paolo
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In reply to Paolo Oprandi

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
Hi Paolo,

I just posted a message in the General Problems forum. Since that is a forum with more "trafic", I'm hoping someone might come up with a solution to the problem which doesn't involve getting rid of the workshops. Independently of whether there is a solution, I think definitely a bug report should be filed. I had trouble last time I attempted to file a bug report, though. Let's see if this time I'm luckier.

Josep M.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Paolo Oprandi -
I have added a report to the bug tracker:
http://moodle.org/bugs/bug.php?op=show&bugid=5525
Is there a way of backing up and restoring just a module of a course (possibly via one of the plugins)? If so, perhaps we should try that with the workshops and see if it works.
Paolo
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In reply to Paolo Oprandi

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Peter Sereinigg -

we will check this and make some changes, because we have to make worksop fit for 1.6 ...

but this modul will have no future - it will be replaced until summer with a complete new version.

Peter

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In reply to Peter Sereinigg

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
Thanks for posting the bug report, Paolo. The bug tracker and I are not on friendly terms. For some reason I cannot enter with my old password and it won't allow me to get a new account with the same e-mail address.

Peter, I'm really glad that the new workshop module is coming out soon (Summer is around the corner). However, I hope the bug with the backup is fixed by someone because I imagine there will be people with activities created with the old workshop module in their courses.

Josep M.
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In reply to Paolo Oprandi

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
Hi Paolo,

I tried your solution and it sort of worked. The problem is that besides the workshop activities (which were left out on purpose so that restore could take place) I'm missing also wikis and journals. I tried to create a backup containing just the wikis and journals and then add it to the course but it didn't work. Only some journals were restored.

Josep M.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Paolo Oprandi -
Hi Josep,
That is odd!  The moodle.xml lists modules alphabetically so is it possible you also deleted all or part of the wiki?
As for journals, I really don't know unless they have been replaced by blogs and are no longer maintained(?)
Would you like to attach the amended moodle.xml file?
Paolo
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In reply to Paolo Oprandi

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Josep M. Fontana -
Hi Paolo,

The xml file is 7 MB!!! so, I cannot attach it. It can be downloaded here.

I think you won't be able to identify the problem there, though. My reasoning is the following. After restoring the backup file from which the workshop activities had been removed (by deleting the corresponding parts from the moodle.xml file) I went on to append to the resulting course a backup file containing only the wiki and journal activities. In principle, this should have created a new moodle.xml file where all the information related to the wiki and journal activities should be present. I still couldn't get it to work. I take this to mean that whatever the problem is, you won't find it by looking at the moodle.xml file.

Josep M.
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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: Backup failed: Could not restore modules!

by Paolo Oprandi -
Hi Josep,

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I have been too busy to look at this, but now I have and have successfully restored your course with wikis and journals onto my Moodle 1.5.3 (without the files I didn't have access to).

I will message you with username and password so you can have a look.

Paolo
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