Export to New Computer

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RalphS

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I've installed LR on my new desktop computer and want to move all my work from my laptop.

I've seen 2 ways to do this:
(1) copy the original photos and necessary files (catalogue, presets, previews, smart previews, preferences, plug-ins, publish services) to the external drive and then to the HDD on the desktop computer or
(2) use the LR "export as catalogue" function.

What are the differences between the two methods?
Are there any other files that need to be copied in wither method?

When using "export as catalogue" it seems the previews and smart previews, the catalogue and original raw files are exported in one step (by selecting the three necessary options in the dialogue box that opens) but I still need to separately copy presets, preferences, plug-ins and publish services to the new computer. Is that correct?

Also, I would like to continue using my laptop to work on the photos I've moved and new ones.
How is that best accomplished with a cloud service like Dropbox?
I have 9GB available in my Dropbox account - not enough to store smart previews but sufficient for the LRCAT file.
Thanks.
 
I have 9GB available in my Dropbox account - not enough to store smart previews but sufficient for the LRCAT file.

I haven't tried it myself, but apparently you can do this in the following way. First, copy the entire Lightroom catalog folder to your Dropbox folder. When Dropbox starts to sync, go to the Dropbox preferences and then to Selective Sync, and exclude the previews and smart previews. Dropbox will delete them from the folder, so make sure you copied everything, not moved (an/or make sure you have a backup). Now copy the previews and smart previews back into the catalog folder in the Dropbox folder. Apparently, Dropbox will not sync them and will also not delete them. On the other computer(s) you have to do the same thing, so open Lightroom with the synced catalog, let it generate some previews, quit Lightroom again and then perform the Selective Sync/Delete trick here as well. You do this at your own risk...
 
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