LSMW and BDC are vastly different.

BDC BATCH Data Communication) is a technology used for data transfer. it is meant for transferring
data thru SAP transactions itself. when u use BDC for data transfer, the sequence of steps is the
same as when u use standard sap transaction screens for data upload. the only difference is that u
can use different options for foreground/background processing.
LSMW on the other hand is a tool that helps migrate data from a legacy system (non-sap system ) to
SAP system. it offers u various options to use either BATCH input, direct input, BAPIs or idocs. it
involves a series of some 17-18 steps to migrate data.
BDC:
BATCH Data Communication (BDC) is the process of transferring data from one SAP System to
another SAP system or from a non-SAP system to SAP System.
Features :
BDC is an automatic procedure.
This method is used to transfer large amount of data that is available in electronic medium.
BDC can be used primarily when installing the SAP system and when transferring data from a legacy
system (external system).
BDC uses normal transaction codes to transfer data.
Types of BDC :
CLASSICAL BATCH INPUT (Session Method)
CALL TRANSACTION
BATCH INPUT METHOD:
This method is also called as CLASSICAL METHOD.
Features:
Asynchronous processing.
Synchronous Processing in database update.
Transfer data for more than one transaction.
BATCH input processing log will be generated.
During processing, no transaction is started until the previous transaction has been written to the
database.
CALL TRANSACTION METHOD :
This is another method to transfer data from the legacy system.
Features:

Synchronous processing. The system performs a database commit immediately before and after the
CALL TRANSACTION USING statement.
Updating the database can be either synchronous or asynchronous. The program specifies the
update type.
Transfer data for a single transaction.
Transfers data for a sequence of dialog screens.
No BATCH input processing log is generated.
For BDC:
http://myweb.dal.ca/hchinni/sap/bdc_home.htm
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki?path=/display/home/bdc&
http://www.sap-img.com/abap/learning-bdc-programming.htm
http://www.sapdevelopment.co.uk/bdc/bdchome.htm
http://www.sap-img.com/abap/difference-between-batch-input-and-call-transaction-in-bdc.htm
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_47x200/helpdata/en/69/c250684ba111d189750000e8322d00/frameset.
htm
http://www.sapbrain.com/TUTORIALS/TECHNICAL/BDC_tutorial.html
LSMW:
The LSM Workbench is an R/3-based tool that supports You when transferring data from non-SAP
systems ("Legacy Systems") to R/3 once or periodically.
The tool supports conversion of data of the legacy system in a convenient way. The data can then be
imported into the R/3 system via BATCH input, direct input, BAPIs or IDocs.
Furthermore, the LSM Workbench provides a recording function that allows to generate a "data
migration object" in an entry or change transaction.
The main advantages of the LSM Workbench:
Part of R/3 and thus independent of individual platforms
A variety of technical possibilities of data conversion:
Data consistency due to standard import techniques:
BATCH input
Direct input
BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces)
IDocs (Intermediate Documents)

The import technique to be used in an individual case depends on the business object.
Generation of the conversion program on the basis of defined rules
Clear interactive process guide
Interface for data in spreadsheet format
Creation of data migration objects on the basis of recorded transactions
Charge-free for SAP customers and SAP partners
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/87/f3ae74e68111d1b3ff006094b944c8/content.htm
http://www.sap-img.com/sap-data-migration.htm
http://www.scmexpertonline.com/downloads/SCM_LSMW_StepsOnWeb.doc
http://allsaplinks.com/lsmw.html
http://myweb.dal.ca/hchinni/sap/lsmw_home.htm

BDC is the way to transfer data by writing a BATCH input program which can use either session or
call transaction method.
LSMW used to transfer data without/less code.
What type of data we transfer using LSMW LSMW is best suited for transferring master data.
Actually BDC and LSMW are not comparable at all.
for example LSMW itself can use BDC as a way of mass data transfer.
BDC is a mass data transfer technique via screen logic of existing SAP Data entry transactions. It
behaves as if you are manually making thousand of entires into sap system as a background job.
And that is probably the reason why BAPI's are preffered over BDC's.
On the other hand LSMW is a tool to facilitate DATA migration from other legacy systems ... It
contains step by step procedure for data migration.
Like Managing Data Migration Projects , Creating Source Structures , Mapping Source structures wid
Target structures , etc etc
LSMW internally might well be using the following techniqes for data transfer..
1. IDOX
2. Direct Input / BDC
4. BAPI's

LSMW is an encapsulated data transfer tool. It can provide the same functionality as BDC infact
much more but when coming to techinical perspective most the parameters are encapulated. To
listout some of the differences :
LSMW is basicaly designed for a fuctional consultant who do not do much coding but need to
explore the fuctionality while BDC is designed for a technical consultant.
LSMW offers different techinque for migrating data: Direct input ,BAPI,Idoc,Batch input recording.
While bdc basically uses recording.
LSMW mapping is done by SAP while in BDC we have to do it explicitly .
LSMW is basically for standard SAP application while bdc basically for customized application.
Coding can be done flexibly in BDC when compared to LSMW
Diff. between BDC and LSMW
"The Data Transfer Workbench (or DX Workbench, transaction SXDA is an integrated SAP tool that
supports data transfer and analysis. It
does not have the built-in features for mapping for source structures to target structures, but it will
allow you to integrate Legacy System Migration Workbench LSMW objects as processing tasks
within a run definition. The DX workbench has many features for creating
test data and performing data migrations - for example, logging of data migration runs.
However, if you need to map or convert data, you should use the LSMW Or, you can integrate
your LSMW objects as task within a more user-friendly data migration run, in which the LSMW
project steps "Read data", "Convert data," and "Start IDOC processing" are automated
and use the features of both tools. If you donot need logging and automated data migration
runs, you can perform your data migration without the DX Workbench."
釘atch Data Communication (BDC) is the oldest BATCH interfacing technique that SAP
provided since the early versions of R/3. BDC is not a
typical integration tool, in the sense that, it can be only be used for uploading data into R/3 and so it
is not bi-directional.
BDC works on the principle of simulating user input for transactional screen, via an ABAP program.
Typically the input comes in the form
of a flat file. The ABAP program reads this file and formats the input data screen by screen into an
internal table BDCDATA The
transaction is then started using this internal table as the input and executed in the background.
In 舛all Transaction・ the transactions are triggered at the time of processing itself
and so the ABAP program must do the error handling.

It can also be used for real-time interfaces and custom error handling & logging features. Whereas
in BATCH Input Sessions, the ABAP
program creates a session with all the transactional data, and this session can be viewed, scheduled
and processed (using
Transaction SM35 at a later time. The latter technique has a built-in error processing mechanism too.
BATCH Input (BI) programs still use the classical BDC approach but doesn稚 require an
ABAP program to be written to format the
BDCDATA The user has to format the data using predefined structures and store it in a flat file. The
BI program then reads this and
invokes the transaction mentioned in the header record of the file.
Direct Input (DI) programs work exactly similar to BI programs. But the only difference is, instead of
processing screens they validate
fields and directly load the data into tables using standard function modules. For this reason, DI
programs are much faster RMDATIND - Material Master DI program works at least 5 times faster)
than the BDC counterpart and so ideally suited for loading large volume data. DI programs are
not available for all application areas.