Moving users uploaded files from 7.x to 8.x

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   Background:

We are in the process of upgrading our forum from version 7.9 to 8.06. So we can switch across smoothly we have created the new 8.06 forum in a different  location (both site and directory) on our IIS web server. 

The directory structure is similar to below:

- wwwroot
     - oldforum  (version 7.9)
         - ...
         - uploads
               - user1
                     - olduploadedfile1.zip
               - user2
                     - olduploadedfile2.zip

     - newforum  (version 8.06)
          - ...
          - uploads
              - newuploadedfile1.zip
              - newuploadedfile2.zip

Problem:
The links to the old uploaded files are absolute paths that are in the Message field of the database table  tblThreads. These links point back to the original location of the old uploaded files. For example, http://ourforum.company.com/oldforum/uploads/user1/olduploadedfile1.zip

After updating the database to work with 8.06 everything works fine, except we need to leave the old uploaded files in their original location because the links in 7.9 did not use relative paths. 

This means that we can not remove our old forum\uploads  from the webserver until we find a way to relocate them into the new forum.

Question:

Could you please advise us on the best way to relocate previously uploaded files from the old 7.9 forum into the new 8.06 forum? 

Note: It is important that we have very little downtime and that we do not lose any files or data from our users.