exporting/importing nodes without losing disqus comments / social media stats I've been working on a website and the live version there is still content being created while i develop the local site.

Whats the best way for me to import the new nodes that have been created on the live site into the local site without losing the disqus comments or social media stats (fb likes etc.) it has?
To export single nodes you can use the Node Export module. This one allows you to export a node, it's fields and contents to a text file which can be imported on another site with the Node Export module.

Assuming you are using the Disqus module: To export comments and social media stats you will have to use the Disqus Migrate submodule. To use either Import/Export, you have to register an Application with Disqus and fill in both your public and private keys in the main Disqus settings page. Make sure your authentication method is set to the deprecated legacy method. Download the PHP API implementation here and upload the disqusapi folder to your sites/all/libraries folder.

Export:


Export your comments using the XML method until the API method is fixed, and save the file to your computer.
Upload the XML file to your Disqus site in the Tools section (generic WXR method), and wait for the import to complete.
Check for errors after importing, but most comments should have been imported successfully. They will appear automatically on any Disqus-enabled nodes on your website.


Import/Sync:


You can do a one-time import at Comments->Disqus Import. Specify the timestamp you want to import from.
You can have comments automatically import from Disqus on an interval basis. Turn this on in the import settings at Site Config -> Disqus -> Import. Turning on syncing will query Disqus for any comments that came in since the last import.