How to move my photos from PC to Mac...

I just loaded up LR1.0 and imported my library (about 15000 images) from PS Elements 4.0. Huzzah! It worked perfectly, including all keywords and even the keyword hierarchy. So far, life is very good, indeed.



Now, there are two more steps, and I'm not sure how to take them. I want to convert all the .nef's (about 7500) to .dng's, and move the whole thing to my new MacPro. I'd like to archive the .nef's, but then get them out of my main tree.



How should I do this?



I can think of a couple methods, but I don't know which will work better.



1. Write the metadata to all files, which will create lots of xmp's including my keywords, etc. Then archive the whole tree, and convert to dng, deleting the .nef's. Then move the photo tree to the mac and re-import into LR there. Since I haven't done any LR developing / editing that I care about, I guess I won't lose anything important, right? The keywords should be there, though not the keyword hierarchy.



2. Move the library as well as the photos. Then do the dng conversion on the mac. If it works, this would be better because I wouldn't lose my keyword hierarchy. Is this possible?



Once I move, I don't expect to move back to PC, so I don't need to retain interoperability.
How to move my photos from PC to Mac...
The Library should open on the Mac.

Then use the Convert to DNG option in the Library Menu in Grid. You can check the option to delete the files after conversion to make it automatic.



Then do the NEF archiving on the PC while you play with the Mac.
How to move my photos from PC to Mac...
Thanks, Sean.



Does it matter what directory I put the photos and the library db file in? Does the db contain absolute file names or relative ones? Relative to what? I did a ''leave files in place'' import from PSE, so they're in the usual ''My Pictures'' place now.

I don't know. Copy the parent folder and the Library file. Don't bother moving the previews LR will regenerate them.



If Lightroom can't find them a ? will be beside them. Click it and then point to the file. Lightroom should find the rest, but you may need to do it for each folder..