Replacing server with CM07 running SQL12

We upgraded our CM07 production environment to SQL12 last year. We like SQL12 and I think I've mentioned before that we saw about a 10% improvement in performance. So yay!

But there is a downside we didn't consider.

This weekend, we replaced our old CM07 central site with a new server. To do that, you simply install CM on a new box and run the repair wizard. But we forgot that you cannot install old CM07 on top of SQL12, so we had to uninstall SQL12, install SQLR2 with SP1, install CM, stop\disable CM, uninstall SQLR2 (actually MS wants you to upgrade, but that's ugly), install SQL12, enable\start CM, then run the repair wizard.

What a pain.

Then the recovery failed because we didn't have our SQL files parked on the exact same drive letters. Part of the point of the new server was to get more drives, so we had to redo our SQL layout, then run repair to restore from backup, then stop CM and move files around again as we wanted them.

More pain.

Anyway, it should be worth the effort, but it would have saved us time had we known about these 2 issues in advance. So now you do - just in case.