"the JPG comes into LR as a sidecar file" - not so.
The Sidecar file is simply the a repository for the metadata instructions recorded in LR (or ACR) as to how the file should be rendered subsequently in LR or ACR - any change you make to the file (jpg or raw) in LR can (if the option is enabled) be recorded in the sidecar file - so if you then open up that file in ACR it will know the setting you previously established in LR. Bringing both the raw and jpg files into LR is a separate issue unrelated to the the sidecar files.
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Hmm, I don't believe this to be so. AFAIK the metadata instructions are stored in LR's catalog/library, not in sidecar files. I believe you can export the instructions for any given photo to a XMP file, in which case the XMP probably turns into a sidecar file also. I haven't exported instructions to .xmp perse, but this is how I believe it works.
The preview files generated by LR (jpg ?) are also stored elsewhere. Not sure eactly where but they're certainly not in the same folder as where my RAW photo's import to.
The way I believe sidecar files to function is that all files with same prefix but different extensions are considered the same photo and there's some sort of hierarchy as to which file is the main photo file. RAW seems to be on top of the hierarchy and all other files of same prefix, but different extensions are considered sidecar files.
From a CF card full of RAW+JPG shooting, I have certainly seen LR import both the RAW and the JPG into the newly created folder on disk, when browsing the folder in Windows Explorer (PC), yet the photo is shown only once inside the LR library (module) and LR chooses to show me the RAW file. (the filename is under the photo). It then tells me that this DCS12345.RAF ( Fuji raw files have a .RAF extension), has a sidecar file and shows only JPG as being a sidecar file. All this before even making any adjustments to the photo at all. Any adjustments I make are made with the .RAF as the base file.
Am I correct so far?
So, how do you operate or even just view the sidecar files?