Backup your database and files!
"A new version of Movable Type is out! I'm updating my site right now!"
So as quickly as you can, you upload the new files to your Movable Type directory on your site, without reading any of the release notes or backing up your database. Because really, those guys at Six Apart know what's going on. They've even got a full QA team!
So you load up the new MT in your browser and your upgrade starts... And then stops with a big red error. Can you roll back? No. Can you go forward? Who knows? Is your database destroyed? Possibly.
Is playing it fast and loose worth it? It all depends on how much you like your data. Of course, it's not just the upgrade that has the potential for doing something. One of the worst kind of bugs is the subtle insidious one you don't see that make things worse over time until one day, all of your data is unusable.
We really, really can't say this enough. Just like car and health insurance, you never think you need to worry about backing up your data until your do, at which point it's too late. No matter how solid we or anyone else thinks this beta version is, no one is infallable. Beta software can absolutely have big, ugly, unseen, data-eating bugs. It only takes one to have all of your years of blogging sucked down the drain.
You don't want that and we don't want that.
So, back up your database now before you go any further because once you upgrade there's no going back and once one of those bugs comes out from the shadows, it's too late.
We've provided instructions for three of our four supported databases. If anyone needs instructions for postgreSQL, I'll be happy to get them:
Posted on June 2, 2006 3:01 PM in Known issues
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