How to export users, threads and posts but nothing else?

[maxwolfie]

Hi All,

I have a messed up DB but I want to keep my users, threads and posts.

Is there an easier way to do this than exporting the db out my phpmyadmin, installing XF and replacing the new tables with the existing ones (xf_users, xf_posts, xf_threads or whatever they are called?)

 

[Jake Bunce]

There is no supported method for doing this. Using an import to "clean" a database is normally a bad approach. It is better to fix whatever problems you are having with the current database. What problems are you having?

Attempting to manually copy tables between databases can work, but it often has side-effects. And it is difficult to account for all joined tables and relations when doing this. If you are good with MySQL and have a good understanding of XenForo's database schema then you can try it, but I still don't recommend it.

 

[maxwolfie]

There is no supported method for doing this. Using an import to "clean" a database is normally a bad approach. It is better to fix whatever problems you are having with the current database. What problems are you having?

Attempting to manually copy tables between databases can work, but it often has side-effects. And it is difficult to account for all joined tables and relations when doing this. If you are good with MySQL and have a good understanding of XenForo's database schema then you can try it, but I still don't recommend it.

Thanks Jake, to be honest I'm only have problems with avatars and attachments (at least so far), as I copied the DB over but not the internal_data or data directories. However, the original database was also exported from phpBB prior to me changing over to XF, and considering I only have a small amount of registered users (200ish), perhaps its just better to start over?

I also had some problems with installing addons and styles, which left the board broken a number of times. I had to go into phpmyadmin and manually remove all the tables that were created by the addon/style that ended up getting "half installed" due to timing out errors. I've just stuffed around with it so much that I think it would be better to start over new.

 

[Jake Bunce]

This may not be necessary. What problems are you trying to fix by exporting your information?

Simply backing up and restoring your database accomplishes nothing. It's the same data, just in a new database.