One-on-One Upgrade Help? 1.4.9 to 1.4.21

[veronicamae]

I recently took over a website from a friend that doesn't have time to run it any longer.  While I consider myself pretty technologically savvy, I unfortunately have trouble figuring out all the ins and outs of Coppermine.  The gallery desperately needs an update (currently runnin 1.4.9), but I am struggling with how to do it, despite reading the "how to upgrade" documentation, as I just don't have the experience and knowledge to know where and how to do certain things (such as backing up my database, or my albums - really? I need to download over 20,000 images to my hard drive first?).

I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to actually do the upgrade for me, while teaching me how to do it in the process, so I can do it the next time there's a new release - or at the very least, contact me outside the board to hold my hand while I do it myself.

Jumping from 1.4.9 to 1.4.21 is pretty big and I really can't afford to mess it up, since my site is the only one of its kind, and the original admin is rarely available to go back and fix things.

Here's the gallery:
http://www.idina-here.com/gallery/index.php

You can log in to view with:
erintest
bk0v999c

Any help anyone is willing to offer would be so very greatly appreciated.

I'm really sorry if I didn't follow all the rules when posting this - I promise I read everything first!

[phill104]

You really should do a backup of your images. It is common for servers to fail or get hacked and were would you be then?

So begin your backup now.

[veronicamae]

Yikes.  That is a very good point.  And I am backing it all up right now - was already doing so when I posted this just in case.

I'm really sorry - I know I sound like an idiot, and I know how frustrating it can be - I mod a couple forums and understand the frustration that comes with newbies.  I really appreciate the advice.

[Joachim Müller]

Jumping from 1.4.9 to 1.4.21 is pretty big and I really can't afford to mess it up

It doesn't make a difference if the version jump is from cpg1.4.9 to cpg1.4.21 or just from cpg1.4.20 to cpg1.4.21: the last number in coppermine versions just counts the maintenance releases up. There are no new features in cpg1.4.x no matter what, so the jump size doesn't really matter. Back up your database, back up your files, and make sure to read http://coppermine-gallery.net/demo/cpg14x/docs/index.htm#theme_create_rename before doing something silly with your custom theme: your pre-decessor failed to rename his/her custim theme, so you're in great danger to lose the theme if you upgrade. Just rename it as suggested in the docs section I just refered to and you'll be safe.

I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to actually do the upgrade for me, while teaching me how to do it in the process, so I can do it the next time there's a new release - or at the very least, contact me outside the board to hold my hand while I do it myself.

You can hardly expect that: it's beyond the scope of free support. You will probably have to pay someone if you really want someone to babysit the upgrade process. But don't be afraid: you can do that on your own if you do as suggested in the docs: back up everything first so you can savely go back in case anything goes wrong.

[veronicamae]

Eep!  OK, I'll take your word for it and give it a try this week...