Help with migrating FreePBX instances

Hey all. I’m currently running an Asterisk 1.2.10 box with FreePBX 2.1.3, and I’ve been running weekly backups for it for quite some time. Recently I decided to build a replacement server using 1.4.13 and FreePBX 2.4.0, and would like to transfer all of my system recordings, voicemails, and general configuration over to the new server.

I’ve tried using Backup and Restore to do this but I can’t get it to work–it either wants to replace ALL of my system files (bumping my FreePBX back to 2.1.3) or it won’t replace anything. (For example, if I try to restore “system recordings,” nothing happens. Same with voicemails.)

Is there any simple way to do this? And if there is not, could anyone point me in the right direction for a manual way of transferring all voicemails and system recordings to the new system? I really can’t afford to lose anything in the transition.

Thanks for your time.

I would duplicate the old server through a disk cloning, then upgrade to FreePBX 2.4, then upgade asterisk to version 1.4. This seems the faster method.

So you think I should clone the old server, then use backup and restore to migrate the files to the new server?

I don’t mind getting into the nitty-gritty and doing manual transfers; my two main goals for this project are:

1.) maintain existing extensions, voicemails, system recordings, etc.
2.) shift to new server with MUCH cleaner Ubuntu install.

I don’t just want to “upgrade” the software I’m using–the main impetus is moving everything to a server that’s much more properly configured for what it needs to be doing, since my first Asterisk machine was hastily thrown together.

Thanks again.