Good thread, although I know that the export option has been discussed numerous times.
Now, just to be sure, since I do not want to break the Mac OS path in LR:
1) I want to move my LR photos and catalog from my Mac hard drive to an external disk, since my laptop disk drive is always getting full.
2) So, in LR 2.x or 3.x, click "+" on the left navbar next to folders. Here, I will name a new folder called the "Pictures". Similar to the current name, but will put the new folder called "Pictures" on an La Cie external drive.
3) Now I will drag all the photos from my laptop hard drive to the external hard drive, within the LR interface.
4) Next, I will close LR and copy the "Lightroom folder" from my hard drive (this folder contains the .lrcat, previews, backups, etc) to my external hard drive using Mac OS.
Correct so far?
At this point, I have a choice, - remove my original LR folder/catalog (thousand photos, plus) on my hard drive or keep it. FYI, I store RAW images with .jpg's as well. While traveling, if I continue to use LR on my laptop, I assume that LR will automatically make a new catalog. Can I merge this catalog with my external master LR catalog? Or will it compromise my workflow?
Comments and suggestions are welcome. I understand the Mac OS and any I/O issues with large databases.
Ever so thankful. charlie