Yes, this is repeatable. The .lrbak files are duplicated for every dng file that got replaced.

You can try to replicate the steps and see if you get the same:

1) select several photos, export as a catalog, include the negative files

2) import the catalog into LR on another computer (computer 2). Make some obvious changes to the files so you know they've been replaced when you bring them back to computer 1.

3) on this second computer, select those photos and export to another catalog, include the negative files

4) on computer 1, import the the catalog you just created on the 2nd computer. Make sure you have the option to "replace metadata, negative files, (...et al)" chosen.

5 import the catalog, the modified files should now copy in and you should see the obvious changes in the grid view. If you had "create a viirtual copy of the original" chosen, you'll see it stacked with the change(s)

Look in the folder where the dng files reside and see if you have matching dng.lrbak files.

Oddly, no, I can't replicate it on a single machine.

Using the same steps, I exported the catalog with negative files. Opened that new catalog, modified the file, created a new catalog with modified file. Opened the original catalog, imported the modifed catalog importing the negative file. The change was reflected in the grid view, but there was no dng.lrbak file left behind.

I don't understad why there would be a permissions issue. But if you can delve further into why you think this would be the case, I'm listening.

Alternatly, I can just delete the lrbak files when I see this happen.

@ssprengel,

The method of moving the files should not have caused any permission issues, but here is how I did it:

The two computers in different locations both use Dropbox. On computer 1, I export the catalog & negative files to the Dropbox folder, where it appears on computer 2. Then, on computer 2, I do a catalog import from that Dropbox folder, moving the files to new locations.

I then do the editing on the negative files. No changes happen to the files in the Dropbox folder that came from computer 1.

When I finish the editing, I export a second catalog onto that same Dropbox folder under a different name, including the negative files. This folder then shows up on computer 1.

From computer 1, I do the catalog import on the second catalog (which contains the edited changes), telling LR to replace the negative files/metadata/develop settings. The changed files copy in. What's odd though is the ORIGINAL files files on computer 1 are the ones that end up as the dng.lrbak files. You would think if there were permission issues, it would be with the files coming from another place, not the original ones which I have ownership to.

I have never had permission issues moving files around using Dropbox. The files on each computer are considered "owned" by that computer and Dropbox just makes sure multiple copies on however many remote computers you link together stay identical (in sync).

Today I'm trying a slightly different approach. Today I created the exported catalog from computer 1 on a flash drive. I won't import this catalog on computer 2, I'll open it and edit it directly, leaving all the files on the flash drive. Performance will I'm sure be slow since all reads/writes are going to be on the flash drive. When I get home tonight, I'll import this catalog back to computer 2 and see if the same thing happens. Since the two computers are in different locations, I won't be performing the import back to computer 1 until I get home this evening, so I won't know the results of this experiment until then.

When I tested on the same computer I did not use the dropbox folder. I used a regular folder, one created under "My Documents", so perhaps it wasn't an apples-to-apples test.

The dropbox paths are identical on both computers. Dropbox creates a common folder structure on all machines that are synced.

My method. Well, my method may be wrong, or seem odd, or have excess steps, as I'm learning to do this. I thought about it and you're right, I don't need to create the second set of DNGs when I'm sending back. Similar to how I edited the DNGs that were on the flash drive. I never took them off the flash drive, just let LR edit them at that location. I can do the same with Dropbox by just telling LR to open the catalog at the Dropbox location, and not import that catalog. During the editing period I can pause the syncing so there isn't constant Internet activity in trying to keep the constant changes going on in the Dropbox folder from the editing. When I finish editing, I can just turn the sync back on, and the changes will then be reflected back to computer 1, and then just import those changes back on computer 1.

I've already performed some edits on those afore mentioned files on the flash drive by just opening the catalog on the flash drive. Loading and editing performance was slow, as expected, and tonight I'll import those back and see if I get lrbak files or not. Then I'll try the experiment using Dropbox in the manner I previously described.

The whole point of this is to be able to take a few files to another machine, edit them there, then bring them back to the first machine without loosing the develop history trail. Initially I just copied the DNG files, edited them on machine 2, and copied them back to machine 1. On machine 1 I would get the metadata mismatch warning, and I'd tell LR to take the metadata from the DNG and update the database. The problem I found was that the history steps done on computer 2 were missing, and the history shown after the metadata update on machine 1 simply said "from Metadata" and not the actual develop steps. The edits were all there, but I couldn't undo them individually, I could only undo the entire group of edits done when the file went to the 2nd machine (basically stepping back over the "From Metadata"). I knew there had to be a way to preserve the history, and that when I tried exporting/importing catalogs that included the files, and found it did what I wanted.

The "username" name on each computer is different.

I am bringing the DNGs back because they are updated. I keep the XMP data inside the files, so when edited on machine two, they need to come back to machine 1.

My main LR catalog is not on the Dropbox folder. The catalog on the Dropbox folder was the catalog exported from the main one and anywhere from 1 to 5 negatives files with it. My main catalog file resides on a data drive and is kept well backed up.

Thanks for the link to sysinternals.

Well, here's a new twist. No LRBAK files were created in this scenario:

Export catalog to shared Dropbox folder on computer 1.

On computer 2, after all files arrive, pause syncing.

Open LR on computer 2, open catalog in shared Dropbox folder. Note: open catalog, not import.

Perform edits. Close LR on computer 2when editing complete.

Resume syncing.

When all files sync and are up to date on computer 1, open LR.

Import from Catalog, specifying catalog in Dropbox shared folder.

LR reports some of the files changed (those edited on computer 2), perform import as I have done all along, specifying to updata metadata, develop settings, etc.

Changes import and are shown in grid.

No LRBAK files created.