diff --git a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/common/handler.go b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/common/handler.go
index 3edb3815..fa92a541 100644
--- a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/common/handler.go
+++ b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/common/handler.go
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ type DBMigrator interface {
 	// will exit
 	IsMigrated() (bool, error)
 
+	// IsMigratingInPlace returns true if the old database name is the same as the new database name,
+	// meaning that the tables will be altered to match the new schema, instead of creating tables in the
+	// new database and copying data over
+	IsMigratingInPlace() bool
+
 	// MigrateDB alters the database schema to match the new schema, then migrates the imageboard
 	// data (posts, boards, etc) to the new database. It is assumed that MigrateDB will handle
 	// logging any errors that occur during the migration
diff --git a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/gcupdate/gcupdate.go b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/gcupdate/gcupdate.go
index ff2e0718..7e194781 100644
--- a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/gcupdate/gcupdate.go
+++ b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/gcupdate/gcupdate.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package gcupdate
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -22,6 +21,11 @@ type GCDatabaseUpdater struct {
 	TargetDBVer int
 }
 
+// IsMigratingInPlace implements common.DBMigrator.
+func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) IsMigratingInPlace() bool {
+	return true
+}
+
 func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) Init(options *common.MigrationOptions) error {
 	dbu.options = options
 	sqlCfg := config.GetSQLConfig()
@@ -174,7 +178,7 @@ func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) migrateFileBans(ctx context.Context, sqlConfig *co
 	tx, err := dbu.db.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
 	defer func() {
 		if a := recover(); a != nil {
-			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("recovered: %v", a))
+			err = fmt.Errorf("recovered: %v", a)
 			errEv.Caller(4).Err(err).Send()
 			errEv.Discard()
 		} else if err != nil {
@@ -262,7 +266,7 @@ func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) migrateFilenameBans(ctx context.Context, _ *config
 	tx, err := dbu.db.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
 	defer func() {
 		if a := recover(); a != nil {
-			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("recovered: %v", a))
+			err = fmt.Errorf("recovered: %v", a)
 			errEv.Caller(4).Err(err).Send()
 			errEv.Discard()
 		} else if err != nil {
@@ -320,7 +324,7 @@ func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) migrateUsernameBans(ctx context.Context, _ *config
 	tx, err := dbu.db.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
 	defer func() {
 		if a := recover(); a != nil {
-			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("recovered: %v", a))
+			err = fmt.Errorf("recovered: %v", a)
 			errEv.Caller(4).Err(err).Send()
 			errEv.Discard()
 		} else if err != nil {
@@ -378,7 +382,7 @@ func (dbu *GCDatabaseUpdater) migrateWordfilters(ctx context.Context, sqlConfig
 	tx, err := dbu.db.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
 	defer func() {
 		if a := recover(); a != nil {
-			err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("recovered: %v", a))
+			err = fmt.Errorf("recovered: %v", a)
 			errEv.Caller(4).Err(err).Send()
 			errEv.Discard()
 		} else if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/boards.go b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/boards.go
index c5aa1c20..6497c34c 100644
--- a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/boards.go
+++ b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/boards.go
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
 package pre2021
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 
+	"github.com/gochan-org/gochan/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/common"
 	"github.com/gochan-org/gochan/pkg/gcsql"
 )
 
 func (m *Pre2021Migrator) MigrateBoards() error {
+	defer func() {
+		if r := recover(); r != nil {
+			common.LogFatal().Interface("recover", r).Msg("Recovered from panic in MigrateBoards")
+		}
+	}()
 	if m.oldBoards == nil {
 		m.oldBoards = map[int]string{}
 	}
@@ -14,10 +21,14 @@ func (m *Pre2021Migrator) MigrateBoards() error {
 		m.newBoards = map[int]string{}
 	}
 	// get all boards from new db
+	fmt.Println("0")
 	err := gcsql.ResetBoardSectionArrays()
+	fmt.Println("1")
 	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("2")
 		return nil
 	}
+	fmt.Println("3")
 
 	// get boards from old db
 	rows, err := m.db.QuerySQL(boardsQuery)
diff --git a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/pre2021.go b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/pre2021.go
index 0d3ffcc1..ae5ebdd0 100644
--- a/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/pre2021.go
+++ b/cmd/gochan-migration/internal/pre2021/pre2021.go
@@ -12,12 +12,6 @@ import (
 
 type Pre2021Config struct {
 	config.SQLConfig
-	// DBtype       string
-	// DBhost       string
-	// DBname       string
-	// DBusername   string
-	// DBpassword   string
-	// DBprefix     string
 	DocumentRoot string
 }
 
@@ -31,6 +25,11 @@ type Pre2021Migrator struct {
 	newBoards map[int]string // map[board]dir
 }
 
+// IsMigratingInPlace implements common.DBMigrator.
+func (m *Pre2021Migrator) IsMigratingInPlace() bool {
+	return m.config.DBname == config.GetSQLConfig().DBname
+}
+
 func (m *Pre2021Migrator) readConfig() error {
 	ba, err := os.ReadFile(m.options.OldChanConfig)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ func (m *Pre2021Migrator) IsMigrated() (bool, error) {
 		return false, gcsql.ErrUnsupportedDB
 	}
 	if err = m.db.QueryRowSQL(query,
-		[]interface{}{m.config.DBprefix + "migrated", m.config.DBname},
+		[]interface{}{m.config.DBprefix + "database_version", m.config.DBname},
 		[]interface{}{&migrated}); err != nil {
 		return migrated, err
 	}
@@ -82,12 +81,14 @@ func (m *Pre2021Migrator) MigrateDB() (bool, error) {
 	}
 	if migrated {
 		// db is already migrated, stop
+		common.LogWarning().Msg("Database is already migrated (database_version table exists)")
 		return true, nil
 	}
 
 	if err := m.MigrateBoards(); err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
+	common.LogInfo().Msg("Migrated boards")
 	// if err = m.MigratePosts(); err != nil {
 	// 	return false, err
 	// }
diff --git a/cmd/gochan-migration/main.go b/cmd/gochan-migration/main.go
index bf84f45a..c52e87fd 100644
--- a/cmd/gochan-migration/main.go
+++ b/cmd/gochan-migration/main.go
@@ -56,9 +56,14 @@ func main() {
 		fatalEv.Discard()
 	}()
 
-	if !updateDB && (options.ChanType == "" || options.OldChanConfig == "") {
-		flag.PrintDefaults()
-		fatalEv.Msg("Missing required oldchan value")
+	if !updateDB {
+		if options.ChanType == "" {
+			flag.PrintDefaults()
+			fatalEv.Msg("Missing required oldchan value")
+		} else if options.OldChanConfig == "" {
+			flag.PrintDefaults()
+			fatalEv.Msg("Missing required oldconfig value")
+		}
 	} else if updateDB {
 		options.ChanType = "gcupdate"
 	}
@@ -82,8 +87,15 @@ func main() {
 	default:
 		fatalEv.Msg("Unsupported chan type, Currently only pre2021 database migration is supported")
 	}
+	migratingInPlace := migrator.IsMigratingInPlace()
+	common.LogInfo().
+		Str("oldChanType", options.ChanType).
+		Str("oldChanConfig", options.OldChanConfig).
+		Bool("migratingInPlace", migratingInPlace).
+		Msg("Starting database migration")
+
 	config.InitConfig(versionStr)
-	if !updateDB {
+	if !migratingInPlace {
 		sqlCfg := config.GetSQLConfig()
 		err = gcsql.ConnectToDB(&sqlCfg)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/gcsql/database.go b/pkg/gcsql/database.go
index 163c5554..f9cdb51a 100644
--- a/pkg/gcsql/database.go
+++ b/pkg/gcsql/database.go
@@ -416,8 +416,7 @@ func SetupMockDB(driver string) (sqlmock.Sqlmock, error) {
 	return mock, err
 }
 
-// Open opens and returns a new gochan database connection with the provided host, driver, DB name,
-// username, password, and table prefix
+// Open opens and returns a new gochan database connection with the provided SQL options
 func Open(cfg *config.SQLConfig) (db *GCDB, err error) {
 	db, err = setupDBConn(cfg)
 	if err != nil {