Kodi Mysql/ MariaDB upgrade



Hello, my library is over 10 years old and went thru several migrations and is extremely slow to library updates. I am trying to see whats the best way to create a new library from scratch and import the playcounts/ watched episodes etc. intact. 
the import/export separate file option seems like the recommended approach by Kodi but I am curious to know, if I delete season 1 from a show from disk, will Kodi keep the watch and playcount history for the same? if so, how can I import this in to the new library when the actual files are not on the disk ? 

main reason for seeking to do a clean upgrade is the library update is slow and the percentage progress goes back between 25-50-33 etc. for a long time. 

hope this is easy to understand, please let me know if I am not clear… 

thanks