Hi, ok i'll make this as simple as possible i have a website, 40,000 members all squeezed into a flat file database im now in process of converting that to MYSQL, so ive wrote a simple PHP script out which uses a loop to dump each users details into the table it works fine, the script is flawless, but after 30secs it stops processing now obviously this is due to a PHP limit of MAX Execution Time Noted, and altered to 700 secs, restarted apache, then the server, still no luck any ideas roamhosting.net

I would personally perform this in the command line. You should read the php documentation. set_time_limit() can be called in-script. It accepts an integer parameter, in seconds, which will add that time onto the php.ini value max_execution_time. Also, you can ini_set('max_execution_time', INTEGER). I think safe mode turns all these off, however. The server also has its own timeout value (check httpd.conf for Apache). The browser may have its own timeout limit too. (again, I would use the CLI) So, decide how many operations will be performed in a batch (let's say 250, completely arbitrary). Whatever you do, break the operation down into smaller pieces. Write your script to call set_time_limit() and double the preset value. Note, this could propogate your script forever. I would increment a counter for each record and print that to a file at the beginning and end of each batch. You could even throw in a loop which checks to make sure this value is incrementing.