PC to MAC How to/best way to transfer lightroom settings/develop

First few times I tried all this, nothing worked.  FINALLY! I restarted both computers, and that did it. The export file looked totally different than before, and the import as well.. lots more options to choose from with copying etc.

Thank you all.! It works

I looked all over for Import from Catalog. I think it was because I was on the import screen that I didn't see it..  I see it now while sitting at the main menu under"File, Import from Another Catalog...."

Is that what I want?  Thank you for the followup.. I'll try that. 

As I surf around my collection, I have a lot more rated and edited that I thought, so making this work would be great.

An since I'm starting over, How do I best configure LR to keep the settings close to the hip of the photo I'm working so its easy to export if I need to in the future?

Well, the export to catalog and import doesn't work either.  I see the .lrcat file there but opening the photos in LR nothing has been applied.

I guess for as few as I have, I'll just start over. Seems like it would be easier.  Maybe its just crossing the OS line that makes it not happy..

Victoria, I only have about 50 photos out of all them that I have ratings on, and have Developed, etc.  I have no clue what Publish Service is so I assume I don't use it.  The link seems really intense. It says that some settings are cross platform and some aren't,  My hierarchy is pretty simple I guess.  I have 24,000 photos in my "Photo" folder and then a folder for each country I've been to inside of that listed below.. In the preferences, it talks about "store presets with catalog" etc... do I want that or not? etc  & parent folder, etc..  I only have the parent option on the main Photo folder

I see all my lightroom files and folders, .lrdata, backups etc, but I've no clue which one to take with me over to the Mac to avoid deleting all of them and reloading 24,000

WHICH brings me to Rikk,

Just right click on my Photos folder, with the 24,000 pics in it and Export as Catalog, send it to my WDBook and then bring them all in on my new Mac with Lightroom 4, and all my Develop/Settings  is/are there?

That sounds a TON easier than the above, and even though more time consuming, the route I'd happily take at this point for simplicity.

Thank you both.

If you use Publish Services (i.e. Facebook, Flickr, etc) then don't do Export as Catalog as those settings don't carry over to the exported catalog.

Instead, use these instructions: http://members.lightroomqueen.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1165/187/how-do-i-move-my-catalog-photos-and-other-lightroom-files-to-a-new-computer

(And you shouldn't need to copy all of the photos again, just the catalog and presets etc.)

PC:

Select all files.

Export as Catalog to a transfer device (EHD)

Mac

Import from Catalog from transfer device.

You may ask in the LR forums. The develop settings are stored either in the LR catalog or as sidecar XMP data and depending on what camera you use and where you stored your stuff, there may be special procedures involved.

Mylenium