Moving iMovie '09 events and projects onto an external hard drive

I have moved my events and projects from my laptop to my external manually by going into the library and dragging them over (not being aware that it's possible to move them within iMovie 09). They appear in the event list, on the external, and behave just like the originals on my laptop. Are they complete files, even though they weren't moved in the approved method?
I tried moving one additional file (not folder) from within iMovie, but it won't let me click and drag it to the external - it only highlights it, along with any other folder that gets in the way. Why is this happening?

The event files you moved are fine. But by moving them outside of iMovie, you'll have broken any links to them from the Project files (which are just lists of references and instructions). You can recreate the projects using the new event files if you want.
iMovie will only move to drives formatted as MacOS. Many drives come formatted as FAT32 by default (because it's a format readable on both Macs and Windows PCs. You can reformat the drive using Disk Utility (use the Mac Os Extended (Journaled) option, but that will erase any data on the drive. However, it will let you move files within iMovie, which is the safe way to do it.
One major reason why iMovie won't let you use FAT32 is that FAT32 has a file size limitation (2GB, I think) - and video files are routinely way bigger than that. And just to preempt another possible question, you can't use NTFS format because Macs can't write to NTFS drives

Similar Messages

  • Moving and copying events and projects to an external hard drive using Imovie09-Source clip is missing

    Some background on what I am doing is importing all of my home video into an event in IMovie. Since DVD's can only hold about 2 hours of footage, I am making a new project for each 2 hours so I can burn the footage onto a DVD. I want to make space on my internal hard drive so I am trying to move the projects that are completed to an external drive. Because I also don't want to lose any footage I have imported into the event I am also copying the home video event to the external drive. (didn't want to move it yet until I know what i am doing, just in case it is lost somehow).
    I tried moving a project to the external drive (it was a slideshow for my daughters first birthday which contained photos and video clips from the event that was already copied to the external drive). The project did move to the external hard drive but on the video clips there is a yellow triangle that says source clip is missing. I am moving and copying from within Imovie and NOT the finder so I don't understand why it says the clip is missing when it is definitely a part of the event that is already on the external drive.
    What is interesting is the source clip is missing error showed on the first birthday project but it did NOT show as an error when I moved the 2 hour home video project. (All of the video in these projects are coming from the same home video event)
    I am trying to make sure that when I move the projects permanently off the internal hard drive and onto the external drive, that I am not losing any part of my projects. I want to be able to easily move them back and forth if needed without any missing files.
    Any suggestions as to why I am still receiving the yellow triangle?

    As I can't see what you are doing, I can't tell you what you might be doing wrong.
    You could try trashing the preferences.
    Many weird things happen as a result of corrupt preferences which can create a vast range of different symptoms, so whenever FCP X stops working properly in any way, trashing the preferences should be the first thing you do using this free app.
    http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/
    Shut down FCP X, open PreferenceManager and in the window that appears:-
    1. Ensure that only  FCP X  is selected.
    2. Click Trash
    The job is done instantly and you can re-open FCP X.
    There is absolutely no danger in trashing preferences and you can do it as often as you like.
    The preferences are kept separately from FCP X and if there aren't any when FCP X opens it automatically creates new ones  .  .  .  instantly.

  • If i move my iphoto & iMovie source library / Events and Projects to an external hard disk, due to size, will my existing slideshows work ?

    I need to move my photo library and Movies (Events and Projects) to an external hard disk as my 700gb drive on my iMac is now full (*see note below)
    I have brought 2 Samsung External drives (3TB each) which I plan to partition each for Photos and Movies i.e 2 partitions on each drive, and will use one for use with iPhoto and iMovie, and the other drive for a dedicated backup. I will backup the remainder of my iMac hardisk to a seperate disk.
    What has just occured to me is that after I have moved the libraries I cannot see how existing iMovie projects and iPhoto Slideshows will work, as each Application will be looking for the source files on the original iMac hardisc (I assume).
    I am running Snow Leopard v10.6.8 ( I did not want to upgrade to Mountain Lion as I was told the iPhoto and iMovie changes were a 'backward' step. However I now want to upgrade to Mountain Lion, for security updates reasons mainly, and so need to free up my hard drive.
    Can anyone advise on the best way to proceed ?
    * - the iMac hard disk become full very suddenly, possibly due to duplicates, as I have noticed duplicate events and clips in my iMovies event library. I have noticed that some events are also now not showing, with message 'No video clips match the current selection' (I have not search criteria set).
    Thanks

    I was planning on manually backing up my external to the time capsule - but is there a way to set it up to back up automatically instead?
    Time Machine will backup up automatically - you can not have your iPhoto library on the same volume as the TM backup (it will not work and it would not be a backup)
    Dragging the iPhoto library to any external drive will backup it us also
    I was also thinking about having the library copied to another external (I mean we're talking about irreplaceable photos here) - would i just drag a copy of the library to that drive as well?
    Yes - that is a good idea - I run TM giving me hourly backups and a daily clone of my entire system giving me a bootable backup - plus do an occasional TM backup at our second home so I have one off site
    is it possible to deal with my imovie library in the same way? so all my movies and photos are on my external?
    Probably - but I use iMovie very little - better question for the iMovie forum
    LN

  • Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

    Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

    The procedures below are for "moving" your library but as long as you don't delete it from your internal drive you are basically backing up.
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    Simple answer:  Copy your whole iTunes folder to the external drive.  For subsequent backups you might want to learn about cloning and using a tool that only does incremental backups of recently changed items rather than copying all your files each time.

  • Final cut is not reading events or projects from my external hard drive, what can I do?

    Final Cut X is not reading events of projects from my external hard drive, what can i do?

    Like this
    Cmd-Shift-4. Drag a box around the area to capture. Screen shot appears on the desktop. Click the camera button in the message reply window.

  • Final cut is not reading events or projects from my external hard drive anymore

    Hi
    I recently backed up using time machine and when I opened FCP X those events and projects stored on my external drive no longer showed in FCPX.
    There is space on the internal but want to save space by saving on external.
    Any ideas how to relink them to FCP X or FCP X to look for them?
    Thanks
    Scott

    Post a screen shot of the root level of your external hard drive.

  • Moving photos, some modified and some original to external hard drive

    I have about 3000 photos that I would like to move either to my external hard drive or DVD to free up some space. My dilemma is that I would like only to have one of each picture. What I mean by this is that if I have modified a photo it seems that both the modified and the original are copied. I don't need duplicates. But if I haven't modified the picture I would need the orignal to copy. Thoughts? Thanks.

    Hi, bows4474. If you select pictures in your library and Export them to a folder on your desktop or elsewhere on your hard drive — being sure to select Original Size in the Export dialog box — then that folder will contain the modified versions of pictures you've modified and the original versions of pictures you haven't modified. It won't contain the originals of pictures you've modified. It also won't be an iPhoto Library database folder, so it won't contain any thumbnails, albums, film rolls, books, slideshows, etc. that were created in iPhoto — it will simply be a folder full of image files. You can then burn it to CD or DVD, and you won't need iPhoto to access and open the files on any Mac or PC. But they won't be organized as you organized them in iPhoto, and if any of them have the same names, you won't be able to put same-named images in the same folder without one of them replacing the other(s).
    To get all the pictures back into iPhoto at any later time, you'd probably want to create a brand new iPhoto Library and import them into it. Importing them back into the same library you exported them from would duplicate every one there, creating real havoc.

  • New computer - Can I open previous FCPX events/projects from an external hard drive on my new computer?

    My old computer died - a Macbook Pro from 2011.  Fortunately, I saved all of my FCPX events and projects on an external hard drive.  Unfortunately, many of those projects were unfinished.
    I have since bought a new iMac with FCPX, but I can't figure out how to open my old projects. 
    On my external hard drive, I have 2 folders: Final Cut Events and Final Cut Projects. 
    Under a specific event, there is an "Analysis Files" folder, a "CurrentVersion.fcpevent" file, an "Original Media" folder, and a "Render Files" folder.
    Under a specific project, there is a "CurrentVersion.fcpproject", a "Render Files" folder, and a "Shared Items" folder.  
    Is it possible to open up my old FCPX projects?  Thanks so much for your help!

    It may have been an earlier version, but that doesn't seem to be working.  See attached photo
    Its not allowing me to click on my Events or Projects.
    Any other ideas?

  • Can I download music and pictures from 2 different MacBooks onto one external hard drive?

    I have looked around for the community, but have not found an answer here.  Both my wife and I have 2 seperate MacBooks, but we wanted to put all of my pictures and music and all of her music and pictures onto one external hard drive.  I read on another board that we can, but only if we purchase a Mini.  Is it possible to do that without having to purchase a Mini?  Or is purchasing a Mini the only way to be able to do that?  Thanks in advance for any replies!

    There is no reason that you cannot use a common external HDD for your communal data.  Naturally you would have to disconnect it from one MBP and then connect it to the other when you wish to access the data or perform a download.  
    Any compatible external HDD will do, but make certain that you format it in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
    Ciao.

  • Can I save my movie projects to an external hard drive?

    I am an elementary music teacher and often make DVDs of my students' performances.  This is maxxing out my hard drive on my Mac.  I have an external hard drive with a lot of memory, so my question is:  can I somehow put iMovie projects onto the external hard drive, to free up memory on the Mac's hard drive?  If so, how do I go about doing this?  Conversely, would this be a bad idea, and if that is the case, could I move iTunes (also have a ton of music, as you can imagine) or iDVD to the external hard drive?  Or iPhotos?
    I'm not high-tech savvy, so need help in simple English, please.
    Thanks so much!!!

    Within the project library of iMovie you should see your external drive listed along with the projects stored on your mac.  To copy a project you simply drag the project from its current position to your external drive. You will then get the option of copying just the project or project and events. As Bengt rightly states you should copy both project and Events. If you hold down the alt key as you drag the project you will get the option of moving rather than copying. I would NOT recommend doing this in case there are problems during the copying/moving process (I don't find iMovie to be the most stable of apps) and you might find the original project has been deleted without properly copying it across. Better to copy to the external drive, check it works ok and then delete original.
    Hope this helps.
    Russ

  • Unable to open projects from an external hard drive... Help??

    Ok, so here's the problem.  I recently moved all of my projects onto my external hard drive (G-Drive) and now I am unable to open them in FCP X.  All of the projects were originally created using FCP, opened them using FCP X this morning, saved again to my hard drive but now they won't show up.  Am I overlooking something?? I haven't changed any settings or touched the projects since they were last opened in FCP X and moved onto my hard drive.  Has anyone accessed projects off an external yet in FCP X??
    Thanks for your help,
    Katie

    Sorry, Katie, but as many of us found out very painfully today, Final Cut Pro X cannot open any edit files from any earlier version.  The fact they are on an external drive doesn't matter. 

  • I moved my FCP events and projects folder onto my external hard drive and now everything is gone on FCP.  When I tried to reload those folders onto FCP nothing happened.  I still get the missing files image.

    I moved my FCP events and projects folder onto my external hard drive and now everything is gone on FCP.  When I tried to reload those folders onto FCP nothing happened.  I still get the missing files image.  When I try to import the folders manually something pops up that says it is incompatable.  It is possible to retrieve everything that was lost?

    "When I tried to reload those folders onto FCP nothing happened"
    Brownale6 how can  u reload folder in to FCP.
    As you said folders are moved to external disk but have you checked it should be like this
    For Event
    external disk>Final Cut Events>your event folder.  
    For project
    external disk>Final Cut Projects>your project folder.

  • I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am warned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects   How do I point iMovie to events in my external  hard drive so I can pl

    I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am woarned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects
    How do I point iMovie to events in my external  hard drive so I can play projects which use them?
    MacBook, iMovie 9.0.4

    Hi
    You can do this - by not doing it the way You describe as it will not work.
    a. the external hard disk - MUST BE - Mac OS extended (hfs) formatted -
    UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange - will work for most things - BUT NOT FOR VIDEO (iMovie, iDVD or FinalCut doesn't matter)
    b. Do not alter or move any folder named
    • iMovie Event's - or -
    • iMovie Project's
    on DeskTop/Finder - at all
    All moving's of Events and Projects must be done within the iMovie Application - then connections will not break.
    (move them back and see if iMovie remembers them - then do move as described above)
    Yours Bengt W

  • How do I move all my movies onto an external hard drive and still run imovie

    My Mac hard drive is full due to 300GB's of movies. I don't want to lose the movies and still want to work on them/create projects etc.
    I've bought an external hard drive so have copied and pasted all the movies across from MAC hard drive to external hard drive.
    I want to delete the movies off the MAC hard drive but still ensure Imovie picks up the movies from the external hard drive (continuously plugged in).
    Can anyone let me know how I can do this?
    Thanks

    Hi
    In regard to some versions of iMovie - and to ALL Video workings on a Mac
    All - iMovie - all versions, FinalCut, Adobe Premiere etc etc
    External Hard Disk - MUST BE - Mac OS Extended (hfs) formatted - Else broken files and all kinds of trouble
    and rather a FireWire or Thunderbolt connected ext. drive - as USB/USB2 performs badly to me and especially when filling up, and when I use HD-Material (for SD-Video quality it may work better - but to a severe quality loss)
    iMovie'08 and '09 and '11 ( Don't have iMovie'13 version 10.0.x)
    DO not move or alter ANY video material - On DeskTop/Finder and in any folders named anything like
    iMovie Event's - or -
    iMovie Project's
    If moved to e.g. another hard disk - the link back to iMovie app is broken - and this can be anything from HARD to IMPOSSIBLY to mend !
    BUT instead.
    Connect new (hfs-formatted) ext hard disk
    Start iMovie
    Move Event's and Project's - within the application
    and now links to material is preserved - and space gained on the Start-Up (Macintosh HD) Hard Disk
    Yours Bengt W

  • I am trying to edit a project originally started on another computer, by someone else and saved onto an external h-drive, but keep getting 'general error 48' when I try to render it to work further. Can anyone help?

    I am trying to edit a project originally started on another computer, by someone else and saved onto an external h-drive, but keep getting 'general error 48' when I try to render it to work further. Can anyone help?

    Is this problem only occurring with the project you copied from an external drive, or with any FCP project?
    For example, if you were to create a new project, do you still have this problem?
    In FCP, if you go to the menu FInal Cut Pro > System Settings and look at the Scratch Disks Tab, is it set where you expect it to be? Have you tried switching the scratch disk to a different disk?
    MtD

Maybe you are looking for