Backing Up iMovie External Package?

I see that it is advised that you downsize your local iMovie library by migrating events and/or projects via iMovie to an external drive- rather than just creating a duplicate folder on your external drive.  I think I read something about hidden files being created being the reason for this.
So my question is this - if I migrate files to an external drive and want to keep a backup, can I mirror (copy) the Movie folder from one external drive to another?  Or do I have to create the backup folder by alsocopying the files from one drive to another via iMovie?

If you're just creating a copy for backup purposes, there's no reason you can't just copy the iMove Library in the finder.
If, on the other hand, you want to have multiple libraries to use with iMovie (which is a cool feature), than you should manage things from within iMovie.
Matt

Similar Messages

  • How do I move a project from an external drive back into Imovie

    I recently bought an Iomega external hard drive to store documentary movies so that I wouldn't jam up my Imac's free space. However, after I moved an imovie/idvd project to it, and wanted to make changes, I could not move the project back into the Imac's drive. (It also would not burn from the external, giving me a multiplex error) When I tried to move the movie back into Imovie on the Imac it said Quicktime couldn't parse it. I saw various posts about parsing, but not about specifically about moving a project from an external drive. Can anyone offer any suggestions? It seems to me that I should be able to move a project back and forth without that much trouble.

    Sounds like you have a DVD format (MPEG-2) and not an iMovie Project file.
    The key phrases are "multiplex" and "parse". Both suggest MPEG-2 format when opened in QuickTime. It would also throw an error -2048 message if MPEG-2.
    But another issue could be the file format of the external drive. Most ship pre-formatted for the Windows OS's but a Mac user should format using HFS+ (and others). If you didn't format the drive before moving the large iMovie Project onto it it may have become severely fragmented if the external used FAT 16 or FAT 32 (very common) formats. They have a 2 or 4 GB file size limit, respectively and would have made your Project unreadable when moved back and forth.
    Use the Disk Utility app to find out the format of your external drive.

  • If I back up iMovie projects to an external drive does it take the media with it? I want to free up space and remove pictures that were in iPhoto...that were used as media by iMovie when project was under way. In short I want archive iMovie stuff

    If I back up iMovie projects to an external drive does imovie  take the media with it? I want to free up space and remove pictures that were in iPhoto...that were used as media by iMovie when project was under way. In short I want archive iMovie stuff. If I pull pics out of iPhoto, and later want to drag an archived projet bac into iMovie and the pics are no longer in iPhoto, will I be able to keep working in the project in iMovie?

    Very likely not, as the iPhoto's can be used for something else.
    More like it took a copy, or it's referencing that spot on the drive in the editable files and most likely made a copy to create a new permanent export file.
    Sample one picture and a iMovie file and see what happens.

  • I have been backing up iMovie 08 files to my external drive, but for some reason I can't open these files in iMovie.  I used drag and drop to copy them.

    I have been backing up iMovie 08 files to my external drive, but for some reason I can't open these files in iMovie.  I used drag and drop to copy them.

    You really should be doing backups with an actual backup application, especially one that will work automatically, and, if your external HD is large enough, back up your entire system.  These can automatically back up only what's changed since the  previous backup, and some will keep "archive" copies of things you've changed or deleted, also.
    Too many things can go wrong, such as your internal HD failing, and you'll have a major project to reinstall everything.
    You already have Time Machine, built-in to OSX.  You might want to review the Time Machine Tutorial, and perhaps browse Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
    #27 in the second link mentions some alternatives, too.

  • IMovie has some how deleted my "source clip". What can I do to get it back?, iMovie has some how deleted my "source clip". What can I do to get it back?

    iMovie has some how deleted my "source clip". What can I do to get it back?, iMovie has some how deleted my "source clip". What can I do to get it back?

    Is it possible that you have moved or renamed any of your Event clips through the Finder? If so, iMovie will not be able to find them. The solution is to move them back and change the name back to the original name.
    Also, if the clips are on an external drive, make sure that drive is attached.

  • After renaming and moving to my desktop an iMovie project, i can not open it. I moved it back to iMovie but still it is not working. I noticed that there is not an Event Folder for the project. Can someone help me?

    I renamed an iMovie project, then I moved it out of iMovie to my desktop. It did not work from there. Finally I managed to move it back to iMovie, but still does not work. I can't edit it, it does not even appear as an option. I found out that the Event Folder for this Project is gone. Is this the problem? Is there a way I can get it back? Can somenone help me?? Obviously after so many mistakes you can tell I am new on this. Any help will be appreciated it!!!!!

    OK Let's take a step back.
    If you imported video clips from a camcorder there would be an Events folder in the Movies/iMovie Events/ folder.
    You have the option as you import from a camcorder to send your Event to an external drive instead. In this case, it would be in the iMovie Events folder at the top level of the external drive.
    If your project has no video clips, but only photos, there may be no events folder, only links to iPhoto.
    Similarly, if your camera imported your video clips to iPhoto, and you used the iPhoto event in iMovie, then your clips are in iPhoto, and there is no separate iMovie event.

  • Backing up iMovie files to make hard drive space available

    has anyone developed a good process for backing up iMovie event video on an external drive, but still working on those events in iMovie?  Or do you have to copy the event back to the hard drive to work in the event?

    Hi Jeff
    Have a look at > http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/
    or pop on over to the iMovie section of the Community where all the iMovie Guru's hang out. > https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie?forumID=1411
    Dennis

  • Exporting then importing projects back into imovie so I can re-edit

    If I have almost completed a project but want it off my hard drive for awhile, is there a way to save that project on a portable drive, then latter, if I need to make changes, import that project back into imovie so I can add video or change the transitions, etc. I find after exporting a project if I import it back, it cannot be re-edited without starting all over. In other words I want to save and store a project with all the editing instructions and then be able to import it back for changes. Thanks for any help on this...
    Jerry

    If I have almost completed a project but want it off my hard drive for awhile, is there a way to save that project on a portable drive, then latter, if I need to make changes, import that project back into imovie so I can add video or change the transitions, etc.
    Project files (which are merely a set of instructions describing how a file will be made when it is to be exported/shared) are relatively small compared to Event (i.e., source) files and you would normally reap greater benefits by moving/keeping them on an external drive. If Events are moved from within iMovie '08, their paths will remain unbroken. If, however, you remove the the project files and anything happens to change either the Project or Event paths, you could be in a lot of trouble trying to get/fit everything back to its proper location with path references in tact at a later time.

  • Best Way to Back Up iMovie?

    What's the best way to back up iMovie? Copy the entire folder to an external hard drive? Or just the application itself? Someone at the Apple Store said that with newer iPhoto and iMovie you just copy the application itself and that includes all your data. Is that correct?
    Thanks.

    If you projects and events are on the internal drive, you will need to back up the Movies/iMovie Projects folder and the Movies/iMovie Events folder.
    You can either do this through Apple's Time Machine or by simply copying the files. Time Machine is good because it is automatic.
    If you projects and events are on an external drive, you need to back up the iMovie Projects folder and the iMovie Events folder on the external drive.
    If you create camera archives when importing, be sure to back up your archive files as well.
    Video Event files get very large, so it can take a lot of storage space to back them up.
    There are two reasons to back up...
    1) To protect against hard drive crash
    2) To protect against disaster like fire or theft.
    Time Machine is great for number one. For #2, you need storage off-site.
    For #2, I use Crashplan so I have automated backup to an external site.
    Currently, I backup my projects and archives to Crashplan, and will recreate my events from the archives in the event of a disaster. However, there are several events which I do back up to CrashPlan because they are from older tape cameras that I do not have an archive for. Crashplan automatically updates over the internet. Because video files are so large, I used their service which lets you send them your initial 1TB upload on a hard drive. Then subsequent incremental changes are done online.

  • How to back up an external hard drive using Time Machine

    I have a Macbook. I have iTunes. I have my iTunes folder and contents stored on an external (Lacie) hard drive. I want to be able to back up that external (Lacie) hard drive and my mac using Time Machine to a separate external hard drive. At the moment it is only my mac that is backed up, and not the Lacie.  How can I also back up the Lacie so that only the recently added iTunes content is added? Cheers.

    You may consider reading the detail in what third-party clone utilities could
    do in regard to a backup clone and then use their utility to update that clone.
    Once the copy/clone is made (a bootable backup, btw) the same utility can
    be used to update the clone. Not certain how it works, and am a bit behind
    on making backup bootable clones of my several Macs as it is. I do a whole
    backup clone, though a partial or update supposedly is possible.
    SuperDuper or CarbonCopy, I don't remember if one of them or both, do this.
    Good luck in any event!

  • I can not get Time Machine to back up an external WD Passport 2 TB drive!  Has anyone else had this problem?  The drive is new and I was running Snow Leopard and upgraded to Lion and it still won't do it.  Time Machine backs up the internal drive fine.

    I bought 2 2TB WD Passport Drives with the intention of housing my iTunes/iPhoto libraries off my older MacBook.  I have successfully transferred the Libraries to one and am using the other one for Time Machine.  In Snow Leopard I could back up my computer to Time Machine no problem but when I did not exclude the iTunes/iPhoto drive the back up fails.  Both drives have been reformatted, permissions repaired and checked in Disk Utility and one was replaced.  I have been to the Genius Bar now 5 times.  I have tried using USB drive and FireWire.  Both drives are recognized and are working properly otherwise regardless how they are connected.  Finally yesterday the Apple store installed Lion to see if that fixed the issue and it did not.  Time Machine successfully backed up a USB Flash drive, and today I will try an older external drive.  Any ideas on what else to try??? Do I have to resort to third party software like Carbon Copy Cloned to get this done?  Any ideas why this wont work?  I am using a FireWire converter but as I said, both drives are working normally otherwise (libraries working, time machine working for the computer's hard drive.  Any ideas would be appreciated!!?

    Thanks so much but none of that helped.  It was driving me crazy because it would back up another external drive.  I just changed the name of the drive from iPhoto/iTunes Library to Media Libraries and IT WORKED!! I guess for some reason it didn't like the drive being called iPhoto or iTunes ???? I don't understand but I have tried so many solutions and exchanging things out but the name change did it????!!!
    Thank you for your help and replying to this.  Guess I made my own issue!

  • How can I tell if Time Machine is backing up my external HD?

    Mac Newbie here. I just have a quick question: I have two external HD hooked up to my 2012 iMac, one holding media files (not iTunes, just miscellaneous avi and mkv type files) and the other serving as the backup drive for use with Time Machine. When I first hooked up the media external HD, the OS asked me if I wanted to use it with Time Machine. Interpreting that as a request to use it as the backup drive, I replied "no." Then when I hooked up the second external HD, I replied "yes" when asked if I wanted to use it with Time Machine.
    Since that time, Time Machine has been running smoothly, but I'm not sure if it is backing up both my internal HD and my external HD #1 used for media files. When I open Time Machine using Launchpad, it shows me a picture of Finder listing all my different hard drives, but only in the "now" timeframe. When I go back a few backups, the external HD used for media files is grayed out. Does that mean it has not been backing up my external HD files? If so, how do I tell it to include that external HD in the backup process?
    Note that I am trying to backup contents of one external HD (including my internal HD) to another - the internal HD has 1 TB, the first external HD has 2 TB, and the second external HD has 3 TB (this is the one I'm using as the backup drive). So I think I should be ok from a space standpoint.

    Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options and see Excluded Items. If the external drive is there, it's not being backed up

  • Can time machine be used to back up one external drive to another external drive?

    I use the photography program Lightroom to organize and develop digital photos.  All my photos are stored on my iMac internal drive.  The internal drive is almost full so I want to move my photos to a new external drive.  At present, I have an external drive devoted to backing up my iMac using time machine.  I have no need to change this arrangement.  I would like to use a new external drive to serve as the primary location for my pictures, which I will move from the internal drive.  Then I would like to backup that drive to a third external back up drive.  Can time machine be used to automatically back up the second drive to the third drive as well as for continuing to provide ongoing backups to my internal drive as it is currently doing?
    Thank you in advance for your assistance.

    Jeffery t wrote:
    Thanks for the links, but I don't see in the pondini links, the scenario I am asking about.
    Time Machine can easily back up multiple internal and/or directly-connected external drives and partitions simultaneously (but Time Machine cannotback up data that's on a network).
    From the first link.
    Jeffery t wrote:
    ... Please note that my iMac internal drive is backing up to external drive number 1 using time machine.  I want my pictures on external drive two and those backed up to external drive three.  So are you saying that if I have 500 GB of pictures on drive number 2, I will need a third drive that is at least 1 TB?
    the confusion starts in your above statement...
    There should be Only One Time Machine Drive.

  • Backing up an external hard drive with time Machine

    I backed up my internal disk with Time Machine, but I can not back up an external drive that I use for my media. I see the drive in the options part of Time Machine system preferences, but the minus sign to take it off of the "do not back up these drives" is blanked out. Any suggestions?

    I successfully backed up the contents of an external hard drive, but the next time Time Machine did a backup, I didn't happen to have that drive connected, so Time Machine said it couldn't find it and deleted the existing backup. Is there any way to get it to keep the backup? The drive I want to back up is only used occasionally (naturally, anything I use more frequently is on my Mac) and I don't want to have to plug in both hard drives every time I want to run a backup, only to risk losing all of that history if I ever accidentally plug in only the backup drive. But I do want to keep Time Machine backups of that drive because it contains my iPhoto Library.

  • Backing up an external drive using Time Machine

    I am trying to back up an external hard drive with Time Machine, but in Options, the drive is greyed out and cannot be removed from exclusions.
    I read that it cannot back up Fat32, if that is true, how do I work around that?  My Aperture library is on this drive.

    If the drive is formatted FAT32 then there is no way around it. Time Machine will not be able to backup the drive. You would have to repartition and reformat the drive for OS X, but that will make it unusable on a PC. You should try using a third-party backup utility if you cannot reformat the drive:
    Backup Software Recommendations
    Carbon Copy Cloner
    Data Backup
    Deja Vu
    SuperDuper!
    Synk Pro
    Tri-Backup
    Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore.  Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
    If you backup to the same drive used for your Time Machine backup, then you should create a separate partition on the drive for these backups.

Maybe you are looking for