Basic Questions - Where are threads saved and how does posts come to play (for a mod)

[Quarterbore]

I want to create a long term "Archive" database that will live on my server that will ONLY have the old posts and threads that I have archived frommy active forum database to the new archive database...

I outlined my logic months ago in this thread:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=114702

I have been working on enough custom mods and hacks to my various forums now that I am darned near ready to just code this myself if I can...

What I would like confirmation of is that the "threads" and "posts" tables alone would be adequate to allow vbulletin to search?

My plan, is to create a script that will look at the age of a thread and if the thread has not beed replied to in say 2-years (my forum is not so huge yet) then I would copy that thread and all posts from the "primary" database over to my "archive database".

Now, for people to use the archive database, I plan to simply modify the search code to include a toggle that will let me select if the search will look at the current site or the archives. To view threads in the archives, I will also use copies of "showthread" and "showpost" such that these will be read only (no replies, polls, etc).

I welcome any advise but I g=have been looking for this long enough... I just need some advise before I get started working on it!