Hi Road fan -
Take heart about the search function - The back door method (as mamijim showed me above) works OK - so i very much doubt that the thing is so broken as this code could not be recycled to work elsewhere. Anyway I think there is cause for more optimism.

There is always a substantial risk when you change anything in systems: Risk is risk, but the certainty is that your systems will degrade and atrophy when you change nothing.
That's why migrations are a way of life in the IT world: That is unfortunate in a way - but credit is due when these events are used as opportunities to improve the user experience, as was done here (with exception as previously noted).