Saving and backing up iMovie projects
Here is a question I never dreamed I'd be asking: how do you save an iMovie "project"? Since 1984, every Mac application has had "Save" under the "File" menu where you could name and save your file. "Save often" became the main way to avoid disaster in the event of a application malfunction. Idiocy reigns at Apple; saving is no longer possible. Now I know iMovie is supposed to auto-save, but really...the Web is full of disaster stories of crashed apps and lost files.
Anyway, I want to do several things: 1.) I want to save my project so that I can open it at a later date and work on it again. 2.) Related to #1, I want to start a new project, confident that my old project is still accessible. 3.) I want to do twice daily back-ups of my working project so that if iMovie crashes I don't lose more than a half day of work.
All of this has become almost automatic in my nearly 25 years of working on Macs. File saving and backing up are one of the few constants that, until iMovie, were unchanged. Apple, in a regrettable display of poor decisionmaking, has abandoned this tried and true procedure. I really hope I'm missing something simple and I have to eat my words. Can anyone help me save my files? Thanks. By the way, no Time Machine here. I want to save these files manually.
Hi:
Michael Brown12 wrote:
Anyway, I want to do several things: 1.) I want to save my project so that I can open it at a later date and work on it again.
Quit iMovie and open it later when you want to restart your project.
2.) Related to #1, I want to start a new project, confident that my old project is still accessible.
In iMovie, menu File > New. It will open a dialog box that allows you to name your new project and set the aspect ratio you will use.
You can see your old projects by clicking the "Project Library" button at the upper left corner of the iMovie window. It will show you all your projects. You can duplicate or rename any project, as you wish, in the library. If you want to edit an older project, select it in the library and then click the button "Edit Project" in the upper left corner of the iMovie window.
3.) I want to do twice daily back-ups of my working project so that if iMovie crashes I don't lose more than a half day of work.
iMovie store the projects and project events in the folder Home Folder username > Movies > iMovie Projects and Home Folder username > Movies > iMovie Events. Feel free to back up those folders as often as you'd like. I would incorporate some kind of naming convention that allow you to readily see the date/time of your backup, but that is up to you. If you crash for some reason, you can restore the contents of the folders from your backups.
All of this has become almost automatic in my nearly 25 years of working on Macs. File saving and backing up are one of the few constants that, until iMovie, were unchanged. Apple, in a regrettable display of poor decisionmaking, has abandoned this tried and true procedure.
Well, hmmmmmmm. Most mission critical software that I know, such as QuickBooks Pro, or Filemaker Pro do not have save commands, as I guess the designers feel that it is safer to have the program do the auto-save after every change the operator makes than leaving it up to the operator to remember.
Even Final Cut Pro, Apple's flagship edit software, has built in auto-save *in addition to* the manual save commands. I have my auto-save in FCP set to every two minutes.
Hope this helps.
Similar Messages
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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. -
My macbook suddenly shut down, and when rebooted, imovie project was completely gone. No record of it at all. Have been working on it for days, and it has always been there. Other projects are still there. Any way to restore it? Thanks.
I figured it out!!!
Hey guys! Here's what I did that saved my project.
-SHORT VERSION-
Use the Finder window on your Mac to copy and paste your old project (the one not showing up in imovie) to a new folder so that iMovie will see it.
-LONG VERSION-
CONDITIONS:
The project has to exist on your hard drive. To see if it's hiding around somewhere go to:
Home (your name)>Movies>iMovie Library (right click and select Show Package Contents)
In the iMovie Library folder (the default is usually the date) open it to see if your Project is inside. If it is, you are in luck!
RESTORING PROJECT:
Open iMovie
start a new folder under the iMovie Library (again, the default is usually todays date)
Close iMovie
In the finder window (as explained above in the CONDITIONS section) select the files and folders of your project and copy them (in my case these consist of folders called Analysis Files, Original Media, "MYPROJECT", Render Files, Shared Items)
There should now be a folder with today's date in that Show Package Contents folder.
Paste a copy of your project;s files into this folder.
When it is done copying, open up the "Original Media" folder and all of your images and clips should be present.
reopen iMovie. Your project should show up in the Libraries list.
*If your full project isn't showing in the iMovie timeline (mine just had empty bubbles where all my clips and audio should be) try dragging and dropping the clips and images from the project's "Original Media" folder into the import section of your project. Once the files were reimported, iMovie recognized them all and put them back in the correct place for me.
Hope this helps someone! -
I saved and backed up my bookmarks using Foxfire. It save them in bookmarks-2011-04-03.json. Now how do I import them into my Current Foxfire?
Please click the '''Helpful''' button next to the answer that solved your Firefox support issue, '''when you are logged in''', so this thread gets marked as '''Solved'''.
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IMovie '09 - saving and backing up Projects and Events
It's taken about two years, but I finally think that IM '09 is better than HD '06.
Now that I am comfortable, have started to work on all those videos going back (yikes, 25 years) and four formats. Hopefully will complete the project prior to getting the "Final Cut" so to speak!!
As I'm anal about saving and backup, I have three copies of the events, and three copies of my projects.
I think I have finally worked out what happens when a change is made to a date in an event, and which projects do or don't show up when you open iMovie.
As there isn't any official (as far as I know) method of synchronizing projects, I would imagine that the best and speediest editing protocol would be:
a) to keep and only edit the projects on the host computer (that's doing the editing) - I have noticed that any changes to a project are ONLY made to the copy that you are ACTUALLY working with on the host computer - and copies on external drives are not altered (unless you select that drive's copy in the project finder) - IOW, only one copy is changed at one time.
b) back up the project to the external drive at the end of the edit
c) as all changes (I assume) are only made in the project, as long as one doesn't delete any unused clips, the events should remain the same wherever they are stored - so, no need to back up once they have already been saved to the back up drive(s)?
Once a project is finished, and say, burned to DVD or BD, how do most people save - finished movie back on the tape, or just one or two copies on an external drive?
I would be grateful for input on "best practices" in this regard.Great question. I think the issue of backup is a important one, and one I always worry about since I have a lot of video footage that is irreplaceable.
For back-up, it is helpful to define the risk you are trying to protect from.
For example,
1) risk of corruption in iMovie --> I might use Time Machine (but I do not because I have not had the issue)
2) risk of hard drive failure --> I use SuperDuper! nightly
3) Risk of theft or fire --> offsite backup
Here is what I do...
1) I back up my boot disk with SuperDuper automatically to alternate external partitions every other night so I always have two bootable systems. One is less than one day old, and one is less than two days old.
2) I back up my original video files. For my Motion JPEG, VHS-->AIC, DV, and 8MM to DV, the EVENT is the copy I back up. For my AVCHD high def video, I back up the archive of the AVCHD, but I am not currently backing up the Event files, because I would need from 4 to 8 TB to back up these events depending on whether I made one copy or two.
3) I use CrashPlan for my offsite backup. It costs less than $4 per month, and I seeded the initial backup to an external drive to minimize having to transfer video files over the Internet. I currently have 1.2TB of data backed up to CrashPlan, which includes my entire boot drive, and the files described in #2.
4) All of the above is automated, so I don't have to think about it too much. If I have to manually do stuff, I tend to get behind.
You have to consider the value of total multiple redundancy vs. the likelihood that 2 or three unlikely events would all happen at once. For example, CrashPlan could lose my data. My hard disk could fail. I could lose everything in a fire. But it is unlikely that they would all happen at once, except in nuclear war, in which case, who cares?
I am considering adding Time Machine backup and some off-site backup of the Event files into the mix, but for now I am satisfied. -
Simple question: I can't get my files out of the trash and back in iMovie
I was working on a project just now and iMovie crashed on me. Fortunately, all the clips I was importing were saved in the iMovie trash, but I can't drag them out of the trash and back into the clip menu! There's got to be something simple I'm doing wrong. Help!
If the project is saved on an external drive, check the disk format. And rule out software compatibility issues with third-party iMovie plug-ins and QuickTime codecs.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2920540#2920540
Karl -
I have deleted the video clips used to make an iMovie project as I thought the bits usedt were saved as part of the iMovie project. Initially the project still played post deletion. However it is no longer working as it says it can't find the video clips. Is this rescuable?
I have a very upset daughter as project took her 2 days and was her holiday memories....
Any help gratefully received
KarenThere's no harm in looking inside the Trash folder.
When a file or folder is deleted, it is moved into the Trash folder to give you a chance to recover it if it was deleted by mistake. Of course that means Trash folder could grow large as time goes and more files are deleted.
You can recover your movies if they are still in the trash.
You should also empty the trash if you think you don't need the files in it to free up disk space. -
Best way to backup and remove an iMovie Project?
Hi all,
i am curious of the best way to backup (to external drive) and then remove an iMovie Project from the Mac laptop?still curious about this...
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Saving and backing up projects
This question was posted in response to the following article: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premiereelements/using/WSA4213223-A072-483f-9A0A-B8A95742C2AE. html
One way is to buy an external hard disk and then copy all your directories over. Then copy them back to the same place when your format is done. PPro should see them just fine and act like nothing has happened -- IF you get everything back in exactly the same place. This is one benefit (aside from the performance benefits) of keeping all your Adobo project work on a separate drive (say D: on a PC). It makes an operation like this completely simple.
Another way is to do it project by project, from within PPro. Here's an Andrew Devis tutorial that covers this -- the good bits start around the 2:30 mark. The PPro project manager lets you move the project via PPro, to another place (like, an external drive), with interesting controls that let you decide what files move and what doesn't. It's aimed more at archiving rather than what you're doing, but it's another way to go. -
Saving and reopening an iDVD project from a hard drive - HELP!
Hello! I am a moderately experienced user of iLife and am starting to use it for a business(memorial videos, sports highlight videos, etc) My problem is this: After I finish a project and export it to iDVD I want to save it to my external hard drive and store it there(like a file cabinet for all my finished projects, so that I can come back to them later, if needed) and I am having difficulty when I do this and then go back to open it - iDVD can't find my files for the pictures and sometimes the audio and video. This said, this is my process: Create project in iMovie, export to Garage Band to create chapters, export to iDVD.(this is 08 BTW) At every step I save to the desktop. Then when I am finished burning my DVD, I create a folder(eg., Bob and Kate's Wedding) on my hard drive and put all the media from the desktop in that folder(eg, the iMovie file, the Garage Band file, the iDVD file and a folder of the pictures I used also.
If anyone can shed some light on a better process, or maybe a reason why I cannot just go into my hard drive and double click the iDVD project and burn extra copies, that would be fantastic!
I appreciate any insight. I love doing this work, but with 3 kids, I rarely get time to research the answers to my questions outside of this board!!!
TIA - LisHi Mamalisa
iDVD can't find my files for the pictures and sometimes the audio and video.
And welcome to apple discussions. If you plan to do further modifications to your iDvd project then follow these steps. (btw, iDvd doesn't like it when you change the actual location of video / audio assets once encoded / burned to DVD-R unless it's saved or rather archived beforehand).
On the other hand if you plan no further changes then you may wish to follow this instead of the above.
By sdmacuser at 2009-09-03
Hope this helps but if not just come on back. -
Worked on an i-Movie project yesterday but when opened i-Movie this morning, the project showed a date of January 13 as last modified date and the project was completely empty. When I look in Project Library, I can see the project from yesterday. How do I get it back into my i-Movie so it will open. Thanks.
Hi Rour and vc38,
A number of others here have posted about this problem, including me. See the following threads:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21157327#21157327
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21177008#21177008
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4748933?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21157079#21157079
It's best to report this to Apple, as the more they hear from us the more likely we'll get a fix (hopefully). There is probably a common issue with this, but I'm struggling to think of what may have triggered the problem. Was it a "recent" update to iMovie or OS X Mountain Lion, or perhaps another updated app conflicting with iMovie?
To report the problem to Apple, in iMovie's menu click on iMovie > Provide iMovie Feedback.
John
PS. Your English is fine Rour -
Hi,
1) How best can I protect my sequences so that if it gets corrupt I can go back to yesterdays? In Pro Tools I'd open my session each day and change the date so if I goofed anything up I can always go back to yesterdays and begin again from there. How best to do this with FCP?
2) Also, as for as backing up is Retrospect still something I should consider or is there even better software that will do timed back each day of anything thing new on a particular drive? This is for my personal studio and this project currently has almost 300gb of stuff. I have some free internal drives and a couple firewire external drive as well totaling about 4TB.
Thanks!1) In FCP, make sure you have the Autosave feature checked (on). It will save a copy of your project file at the time interval you set. The Autosave Vault folder will be located wherever you assign it to be in the Capture/Scratch Disk assignments. I have mine set to 15 minutes. If my project file becomes corrupted, I can open the last autosave copy and not lose more than 15 minutes of work.
Additionally, you can use any backup program to make backups of the folder where you save your FCP project files.
2) I use Silverkeeper for backups. It's freeware available from LaCie: http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/
-DH
Message was edited by: David Harbsmeier -
Some of Title box when picked and dropped, the iMovie project suddenly disappears
Movie making project with iMovie. :- When some of the Title boxes are picked and dropped at places between frames for different effects, the project suddenly disappears and a drope down window will ask for re opening option. As a result these boxes cannot be put in position and are useless. Is it a spam? Or how to rectify? Please advise. Thanks.
iMovie version 9.
Also I would like to have more softwears installed on my McMini for movie making as the present ones are inadequate. Apple iMovie 11 cannot be installed on this computer. How can I install more reliable softweare.?Kindly advise me. -
I will never ever trust saving and back up my files with Apple anymore!
I would think backing up all my files on iTunes is a safe bet.
When I lost everything on my ipad after restoring, whatever I have backed up in iTunes was not able to sync it back into my ipad even if I chose to install it back using existing back up files on iTunes! nothing!!
what is all this synching for if restoring doesn't even work to bring all information back into my ipad??
Before, I was able to see all the files in an app on iTunes and now not at all!!
If I could use strong langauge here, it would be endless!!
My days with Apple is over!The iPad backs up to iTunes on your Mac. Then, when your Mac backs up, the iPad data is backed up as well.
Or, the iPad can back up to iCloud.
See this Apple Support document for more info on iPad backups:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766
A good product to back up your Mac would be an Apple Time Capsule, which is an AirPort Extreme with a built in hard drive.
More info here.....Time Capsule -
DVD made by iMovie and iDVD transfered back into iMovie
Ok so the problem is... i made 2 DVD copies of a rough draft version of this video i am making. In the mean time my eMac went through logic board mayhem. So i had tried to back up my movies but for some reason it stopped and in all i dont have the video n e more except for on these discs. Is there ANY way that this movie project can be saved put back into iMovie for my final touches?!?
there are many ways....
* DVDxDV (free trial, 25$)
* Apple mpeg2 plugin (20$) + Streamclip (free)
* Cinematize >60$
* Mpeg2Works >25$ + Apple plug-in
* Toast6/7 allows converting to dv/import dvd, hit apple-k
* connect your Camera to a DVD-player and copy to tape/use as converter
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
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