can't import a magento database

Question

i have a magento database which seems to be corrupted. so i want to repair it. but before i start repair i want to back up the existing database. but when i try to backup the database by exporting it and later try to import it, it gives errors like "#1062 - Duplicate entry '1' for key 'PRIMARY' "

i simply can't take the backup. i tried copying the database from phpmyadmin as well but still same problem and there is no way i can take risk by attempting the repair on the existing database as it is being used in live website.

can anyone suggest what can be done?

Answer 1

It is not much of a Magento question, but more of a general export/import on a live site. What I would suggest is to make export and then import to another clean database, and then rename the old one to "*_old" and new clean to the original name.

Of course, for some time the site would be down and there could be a little user sessions data lost, but if you tell your users about maintenance in advance, it shouldn't be a major problem.

Also what I would suggest is to test this approach on a localhost somewhere and only then on a live site. And of course, have all backups just in case.