Upgrading question
 

I'm currently running 3.8.0, I've added many mods and hours upon hours of work to my forum. I'd like to upgrade to 3.8.1 to keep things up to date, but don't want to lose all of my work.

Is there a standard upgrade path to follow for this kind of thing? Overwriting all of the files isn't much of an upgrade, even if all of the data is intact and the tables are updated with the upgrade script.

I could of course install another copy in a different folder, but that has issues itself as many things on the backend are tied to directory structure modwise.

In anycase, I realize there isn't a silver bullet for the problem, but am looking for various ideas that might help ease problem without killing my board or otherwise causing more trouble than the upgrade is worth.

Test an upgrade on a test board that has all your modifications and styles before upgrading your live installation. That is the best method to ensure you won't have headaches on the live board.