Title: Post Views Counter cannot be activated after website backup

Title: Post Views Counter cannot be activated after website backup – database table still exists

Hello,

I am having a problem activating the Post Views Counter plugin on my WordPress blog.

After a website backup was restored by my hosting provider (IONOS), the Post Views Counter plugin was missing. I downloaded and installed it again, but when I try to activate it, I receive the following error message:

“Post Views Counter could not safely recover data from a previous destructive deactivation. Retry activation after checking the database.”

The plugin version is 1.8.0.

I checked my database using phpMyAdmin and found the table by7q9dwp_post_views. It contains approximately 331,978 records, so the table and its data still appear to be present.

I have also exported a backup of the database before making any further changes.

Could you please explain what causes this error and how I can safely reactivate the plugin without losing my existing post view counts?

I do not want to delete or recreate the database table because I want to preserve my existing statistics.

Thank you for your help!

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