PHP - How to Backup and Move Wordpress Blog Website to different directory on the same host

Question

I setup a blog for development purposes on the *.com/a/ directory and now want to move it to the root directory *.com on the same host.

How do I Backup and Move the Wordpress Blog Website to the Root Directory on the SAME host?

I'm looking at a tutorial on WordpressSites.net & howtospoter.com but am pretty sure I can skip some of these steps because I am using the same hosting service and just need to change a couple settings right?

Here are the steps require to completely change hosting companies:

• Complete Full Backup of Your WordPress Site
• Setup Your New Database at Your New Host
• Change Your Existing DNS Domain Name Servers To Point To Your New Host
• Upload and Import Your WordPress Backup To Your New Hosts Database
• Configure Your Import Settings For Restoration and Completion To Your New Host

Answer 1

The WordPress codex has step-by-step instructions for Moving WordPress Within Your Site:

1. Create the new location using one of these two options: If you will be moving your WordPress core files to a new directory, create the new directory. If you want to move WordPress to your root directory, make sure all index.php, .htaccess, and other files that might be copied over are backed up and/or moved, and that the root directory is ready for the new WordPress files.
2. Login to your blog. Go to the Administration > Settings > General panel.
3. In the box for WordPress address (URI): change the address to the new location of your main WordPress core files.
4. In the box for Blog address (URI): change the address to the new location, which should match the WordPress address (URI).
5. Click Save Settings.
6. (Do not try to open/view your blog now!)
7. WordPress 2.0 only: Delete the folder wp-content/cache.
8. Move your WordPress core files to the new location. This includes the files found within the original directory, such as http://example.com/wordpress, and all the sub-directories, to the new location.
9. If you are using Permalinks, go to the Administration > Settings > Permalinks panel and update your Permalink structure to your .htaccess file, which should be in the same directory as the main index.php file.
10. If you have problems with missing images that you've uploaded, you need to change the path to the images on every post directly on your SQL database. For this, follow the instructions on Tamba2's Tutorial "Moving your weblog inside your PC".
11. You must also check and edit 'store uploads folder' under Settings > Media or all your new uploads will continue to go into the old folder.
12. Existing image/media links uploaded media will refer to the old folder and must be updated with the new location.
13. In some cases your permissions may have changed, depending on your ISP. Watch for any files with "0000" permissions and change them back to "0644".
14. If your theme supports menus, links to your home page may still have the old subdirectory embedded in them. Go to Appearance::Menus and update them.

It is important that you set the URI locations BEFORE you move the files.