<blockquote>Upgrade Steps :
- Do not uninstall the component for upgrade. As it will remove the Database entries and you will need to reconfigure your account details.
- If you accidentally do uninstall it. You will need to configure the account info and in buckets you can click on import buckets. This will update the earlier bucket info for you.
- To upgrade to latest version. Simply, install the new version over the old version. No uninstall required.
</blockquote>
This is from the getting started guide : >> http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/old-getting-started-with-ja-amazon-s3-component/
The database removal with uninstall is recommended so as to remove the S3 login details. You can always install over the current version, so as to save the DB values or even use JA extension Manager for upgrades.
Arvind