Can't copy old site database to test site - and can't move on to Drupal 7 as result

I am keen to upgrade my site from Drupal 6 (latest version) to Drupal 7 site, but according to the recommendations here I need first of all to be able to create a test site, and that includes this: "Copy your old database to a test-site database"

I've been trying to do for weeks, with no success and little helpful support from 1&1 Internet.

I downloaded the existing MySQL database with no difficulty, but when I try to import it either using PHPMyAdmin or by SSH, I get an error message and the import is not completed.

The old database was uploaded to the directory exporteddatabases, and called drupal6export.sql.

Following the instructions on the 1&1 FAQ - http://faq.1and1.co.uk/web_space__access/mysql/15.html - I tried this command:

mysql -h db***.db.1and1.com -u dbo*** -p db*** < drupal6export.sql

When prompted for a password, I keyed in the correct one.

But the import did not work and I received this message:

ERROR 1044 (42000) at line 12: Access denied for user 'dbo***'@'%' to database 'db271185759'

What am I doing wrong? The database db271185759 is the old one.

1&1 Internet's tech support has given me this answer:

Could you please check your database file? There might be a dump command inside that. If you able to see this please kindly make it as a comment or just simply delete this line. Please see below for dump command line :
CREATE DATABASE `db390264530` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_german2_ci;
USE db390264530;

I don't know what they're talking about. How can I search a massive Drupal 6 database for a dump command? What would a dump command be doing there?

If I can't import the old Drupal 6 database into a new database, I can't create a test site and move on.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.

Eric Lee