I’m not telling them how to do their job, i’m saying they took an easy choice over a nuanced one. Which they did. Also development of a script that’s using backed up data, doesn’t require the servers to go down… at all. You extract the data in a way you can insert it into a live system safely during an update(or restart would be ideal here). It’s harder to do, absolutely. It’s absolutely a real option though, to think data can’t be extracted and carried over to another database is hilarious.
The only arguments anyone is making is one of “They’re not competent enough coders to accomplish it”, which who knows, maybe that is the case, but it’s a -really- bad starting point when you’re looking for a real solution.