Ken, thank you again for all the time and effort you have provided me free of charge during the past several days.
I do feel like that I am caught between the ISP and the solution provider. The truth is that this ISP has done a fantastic job for me. I have had several ISP's over the years, and for the money these guys provide allot of product. My cost now for one year of hosting is less than what a VDS would cost a month.
Also, the truth is that the moodle developers have been doing a fantastic job for no pay! I guess I am spoiled since I have enjoyed both for several years.
I am thinking about changing by Internet service provider account to a commercial account, then I can host my own server (legally). I do not think that would be cost prohibitive. The problem is time. I have a server I built earlier this year that I need to start using and this would be a good project.
I will keep my 2.x install running and update it as time goes on. Maybe the backup and restore program will change for the better. I remember problems with the 1.9.x backup.php years ago...it got fixed in 1.9.7 I believe.
Thanks again for your help.
-Beau