Creation and publication, as well as user data (oh mine!)

Question

What is the best way to upgrade a “web application” (“republish” from a dev server to a live server) while saving user data (such as images, video and audio stored in the file system) in VS 2010 build / publish setup?

Also, what is the best way to minimize site downtime during these updates?

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My background:

Usually I “create / publish” a site in a folder on my dev, ftp: // machine in a real server, and then drag new “published” files and folders to the site in real time, making sure not to overwrite user created directories.

Obviously, this method comes from my static html days when it didn't matter. And, obviously, this is dangerous, incorrect and counterproductive for any web application with user data in FS.

Answer 1

The easiest way is to have a directory located outside your code folder where you store user data. You can even map this folder as a virtual folder in IIS when you need this folder to be accessible from the Internet. How:

C:\Inetpub
    \ProjectWebsite
    \ProjectFiles