Newbie questions, Upgrading from 1.5.1.3 to 1.5.6.4

HI good peoples,

Websites, the way they work,hosted,edited..etc.. is all very new to me, & I have taken the first step learn it.
(our IT guys does it for us all this while).


I have currently V 1.5.1.3 and i want to upgrade to V1.5.6.4 due to a fact that our freight Co. has a plug in that wil automate shipping/costing in checkout... (which will save us heaps of time!)

I have backed up open cart SQL data base, which is done in the back end...
I also have downloaded my whole website to my local PC incase anyhting goes wrong.

I now realized my first mistake. In stead of preparing for a UPGRADE.... i ended up Installing a new fresh install.

Now, even though I revert back to Backup original files, All formatting is gone and the templates and looks is screwed up... it currently shows the default opencart front end.

My question is: By me doing a new fresh install... in stead of Upgrade... have i over written the SQL DB? is this why even when i revert back to original backup site.... its still shows it all wrong.. ?

And have i done the right thing by backing up the opencart SQL database ? and is this the KEY to getting my original site all up and running as before?

Can i remotely access my DB and load the backup file so it reverts back to original state?

Just to recap.. i have realized there are Two types of files in play to make a website

1. Server files, root directory... and all the files (which can be seen via ftp)
2. Then there is a database file.... which i believe is all your products and settings etc... template? the looks... etc..

am i correct?

As to replace the SQL database.... is it a specific File i need to replace ... if so where is it located? IF not.....

My guess is.... the database is also Hosted on a SQL server... which needs to be accessed and then from there replace the files...etc...

really need help here.....

(newbie)

thanks in advance!

it's a lot of questions, you have, on this. So, better, you check on those pages, how to access a DB,
to work on, resp. to upload a Backup, first, to generally understand a little more about this.
http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?f=181&t=146165
http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?f=181&t=136850
http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?f=112&t=130425
http://cartadvisor.com/blog/2012/02/20/ ... ew-domain/

Ernie
ipc.li/cart/

Backup your database from phpMyAdmin (access that through your hosting control panel) and then create a subfolder to upload all of the new files to.

You'll need to copy your original config files into your new install and change the database name, database username and password to match the new database you need to create (instructions below) as well as the paths in the DIR section and HTTP and HTTPS sections.

This allows you to keep your working site up and running until you get the new version running properly. You'll need to check for a new theme update and module updates (that aren't part of the Opencart core).

In your hosting account control panel, create a new database and user and then go back to phpMyAdmin and import the database file you just backed up into the new database.

Next, go to yourdomain.com/new-subfolder/install (change new-subfolder to whatever you named the subfolder) and you should be prompted to upgrade.

As long as you've got that screen, run the upgrade. Once this is complete, delete the install folder and begin adding your mods and theme that are compatible with the new version.

Depending on how long all of this takes, you'll need to resync your database to carry over new orders and customers. This is more involved for most.