RedMigrators gets stuck in about 1/3 of migration

Question

I try to migrate an old 1.5.9 site to 3.4.4 through redMigrator. However, after about 1/3 of the migration it gets stuck - the migration just pretend to continue, but nothing changes for hours (I check the new site's database about hourly and each time there are only 96 or 97 rows out of 243 in my content table).

I tried it several times with slightly different settings, but every time with the database method. No errors are thrown, and I have no idea what's wrong. I found I'm not the only one who faced this problem, but the other guy had no solution but to pick another migrator. Before trying other options, I would like to find out why there's this strange bug, while others reported to upgrade their sites through redMigrator cleanly. And especially: can I solve it without moving to another software?

EDIT: I've upgraded to 1.5.26 prior to migration to Joomla 3.4. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

Answer 1

Migrating Joomla 1.5 to 2.5 or 3 can be a complex process, depending on what extensions you have on your current website. It's almost never a one-click process.

First of all, make sure you have a complete backup of your site (I recommend Akeeba Backup)

There are several ways to do the migration, I'm going to list a couple of alternatives, but first keep in mind the following:

1. Your current template will most probably not work with Joomla 3. You'll have to:
   • modify it to make it compatible
   • download a new version from the template provider (if available)
   • use a different template
2. You'll have to look for an upgraded version of most of your extensions.

1. Build a new site

Taking into account the points above, you might be better of creating a completely new site. Then use J2XML to import articles (with images), categories, menus and users. This will give you a kickstart, and the advantage is that you have a very clean Joomla installation. They even have a guide for Joomla 1.5 -> 3 migration.

2. Try other migration tools

A list of different tools for Joomla migration is available at JED. As long as you work on a copy of your site, there's nothing wrong with testing different solutions (except it might be time consuming).

In order to reduce the risk of extensions causing trouble with the migration process, I recommend uninstalling as many components and plugins as possible before beginning the migration process. Also try setting the front end and admin template back to default.

Answer 2

I faced the same problem with J2XML - the content import stopped at some point. However, its tutorial explained where the problem is:

If you receive the error message "File format unknown. Impossible to import file." or a blank page, you probably tried to import too large file. Please, try exporting articles without images. You can copy them in a second time via ftp.

EDIT: confirmed for redMigrator - I skipped the contents table (including the large files) and migration finished succesfully.