Am i right to be paranoid about playing with database..

[infexious]

Im reluctant to install hacks to my forum because of the way they affect the database. The thing that worries me is that they will leave something in the database that causes a problem (big or small). something along them lines.

Like how when you install certain software on your PC you can never completely remove it all...

Like VBAdvanced, everyone on my sites crying out for a propper portal and vbulletin seem to have made false promises then ignored everyone on that so vbadvanced has sprung up... thats cool but in 2012 when vb cms eventually comes out and i upgrade it, what happens then?

How easily does a mySQL database become corrupt? What can you do to one that does?

Im just a bit paranoid about hacking my forum up and destroying it...

Some reassurance from people who know more than me would be appreciated.

Thanks

[DirectPixel]

All you will need to do (if you want to) is to drop the vbAdvanced database tables and revert the modifications it made to the original tables. IIRC, vbAdvanced comes with an uninstall routine that should remove everything.

Uninstalling scripts on a server is not the same as uninstalling programs in Windows. Windows programs have lots of places to put system files and thus things tend to be "lost" by the uninstall. On the other hand, when you're installing a script online, you've got the database and the files. That's it. (For the most part.)

[MRGTB]

Best to just backup your database first before you install something that requires database tables being added etc. That way you can just restore the database to be 100% sure it was as it was before. If your not to sure what to do.

But unless you really need the hacks etc. I wouldn't bother. As when it comes to upgrading to a new vB version. That's when you sometimes wish you had an un-hacked board.

[Jose Amaral Rego]

vbadvanced uninstaller should remove phrases, but it did not in my case and I had to delete them one by one. I did try to install again to uninstall and see if it will take the phrase, but again it did not in my case. I do so much like my board unmolested thou.

[Joe Gronlund]

Backing up is always a good thing before making any major changes.
No need to worry, hacks dont usually cause much of a problem, just install them very carefully and you should be ok..