i have a few very simple informational sites that run dnn (mostly v 4.3 or so, some on 4.0.2) that i want to upgrade to 4.5.3.  i've tried the upgrade on a few of these and have then proceeded to have to debug multiple problems over what's turned out to be days.  i had hoped the upgrades would be less painful than this. 

i wonder if i would be better off completely deleting the sites and going with a fresh (full) install of the latest dnn framework?  of course, i'd then have to re-create the site, which on some of these simple sites would take a day and probably as much effort as i've put into debugging the upgrade. 

my question is this: in theory, is there any difference between an upgraded installation and a fresh install?  anything significant to be wary of?

other questions: is upgrading just something you need to do more regularly?  does it get less painful as you get more familiar with using the framework?

i'd love to hear someone with a lot of experience share their thoughts on this.  thanks.

thanks for the response leupold...

i had assumed from a files standpoint upgrade vs clean install would have no differences (although an interesting side comment are the extra files that are no longer used- are these just wasted space and cannot harm the installation?). 

i was exactly concerned with the database and the tables and data related to dotnetnuke (not modules).  for example, i found that event log entries had changed format, so viewing events from before the upgrade threw an exception.  aside from the tip about the log files in dataproviders/sqldataprovider, are there any other 'gotchas' or things to look out for when upgrading?  do you recommend upgrading consistently to reduce the amount of change (ie going from 4.5.1 to 4.5.3 is less risk / change than going from 4.0.2 to 4.5.3)?

see, none of these sites is very complex- they all use very basic modules & functionality.  in fact, some of the upgrades i've gone through which have had problems are that very type- very basic without a lot of complexity.  that i'm seeing so many problems is what led me to post this topic- maybe i am going about it wrong and need some tips. 

i *can* and will dig in technically if i need to, but i would have guessed upgrades would have been cleaner when dealing with a simple site.  maybe i'm going up too many steps at a time (4.3.4 to 4.5.3, in some cases 4.0.2 to 4.5.3).  i didin't want to be digging through database tables and code when i decided on upgrading. 

i'm toying with the idea of deleting and installing clean for some of the remaining sites i want to upgrade, but the problem with that is that even though they are informational, they tend to have loyal users who don't tolerate a lot of downtime. 

i just wish things were a little more consistent.  or maybe i need to be doing things differently or be more prepared.

i'm open to suggestions.  anyone?