Moving multiple catalogs to a new computer

[Kristian Walker]

I'm a professional photographer and just bought a new iMac. I have 4 catalogs set up in LR right now for this year's work. All of the folders and files for those 4 catalogs reside in the same folder in Documents. I need to transfer everything to my new iMac. I can't use Migration Assistant because I don't have the right cable to connect my old MBP to the iMac in Target Disk mode, and the volume of files is too big to go over my slower WiFi.

In the past when I've transferred catalogs to a new disk, the folder/file structure came through, but none of the Develop Module settings for the images transferred. How move my catalogs to the new machine and keep all the settings intact (I don't convert my images to DNG)? I know there is the Import From Another Catalog option but when I've used that before, it just shows a million folders but the window doesn't open enough to see the full path. Plus, like I mentioned, I have 4 catalogs but all the files are in the same main folder.

Help!

[johnrellis]

Start with this article, and come back if you have more question:  http://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

[JohanElzenga]

Don’t you make backups at all? Migration Assistent can also be used with a Time Machine backup if you can’t use target disk mode.