vB4 Upgrade Advice Please

[Biggles]

Hi All

I have been stubbornly avoiding upgrading my site from vB3.8.5 to vB4x for several reasons (or excuses perhaps).

Having finally taken the plunge and purchased the vB4Suite upgrade, I need some advice on how best to go about the changeover. My site is quite heavily modded. It has the old vB Blog running on it but also a number of mods downloaded from here, such as Albums, MP3 Player (XEON), a video player, and a few others. I also disabled the registration system and went for individual enrolment upon application - not a great idea once the applications started rolling in.

I am rather wary because I really don't want to upset my members, especially those who have contributed to site content.

In short, I wonder whether I am best to simply upgrade as usual and see what happens to the content and then try to fix any snags OR should I perhaps try to create a new site for testing before switching over. The main issue is that I don't want to lose present content during the switch to vB4Suite. I don't know much about coding so would be very grateful for some advice from the experts here.

Regards

Biggles