Shannon R. wrote:
the reason why i don't want to do the database transfer using data generated by mysqldump is because i want all the auto-generated record_ids to stay the same in the new system.
The record_ids will stay the same with mysqldump. What makes you think they will not?If you cannot have a downtime or disable write access while migrating you could set up replication to keep the databases in sync until you switch to the new server (only with mysql version >= 3.23.15).
Best regards, Henrik -- Henrik Heil, zweipol Coy & Heil GbR http://www.zweipol.net/