Is it wise to continuing running Lr2 once I have set up Lr3

[AndyWatson]

I am on MAC 10.5.8 and having had some 'missing rated images' problems when I first installed Lr3 have now had success installing Lr3 this time with my program & library files on an external hard drive. Is it wise to continue to work on my image files with Lr2 while I build confidence with Lr3. The Lr3 read-me file seems to advise against this as previews will need to be re-rendered if I use both. Thanks if any suggestions / experience on this. Andy

[RikkFlohr]

I currently run LR 1.41, 2.7, 3.0, and 3.2 RC on my machine. *Mainly because I teach Lightroom and provide forum support various places*

I would never attempt to open a different version of Lightroom without closing the open version. If you have already purchased LR3, I would just dive in and leave 2.x behind. The new world is not so different that you would get lost (except the import module)

[AndyWatson]

Thanks Rikk,
Point taken about not opening LR2 and LR3 at the same time. I'm diving into 3 as suggested and wondered if you would advise using a virtual copy as I work on updating my most important LR2 images from process 2003 to process 2010. It seems there is quite a change needed in the sharpening/noise settings from forum reports I have seen but it sounds like the improved processing gain makes this learning curve worthwhile.  Any others have experience of this ?