Question

I need to migrate some data from one MYSQL database to another but the snag is that the tables and rows are going to be different as it’s going from a custom DB structure or a drupal 7 CMS.

Is there an easy way to do this or are there any tools for mapping the data to the new structure?

I have full access to both databases.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Answer 1

If you were just copying the data, you could use a standard dump, like this:

mysqldump -hhostname -uusername -ppassword olddbname \
 | mysql -hhostname -uusername -ppassword newdbname

But if you have to convert the data into something Drupal 7 compatible, you’re really going to have to write some custom INSERT…SELECTs that do the conversion.

You might want to look into Drupal’s feeds module, which can import data from CSV and other formats. Feeds is officially in “alpha” at the moment, but it’s still in widespread use, and if you come across a bug, it would be good to get it reported (or even fixed, if you feel you have the time to contribute to the project).

There are also various Drupal modules at drupal.org that will help you import taxonomy, users, etc from CSV or other sources. Try something, let us know what problems you have.