Storing copies of iMovies

Archiving Movies - How to?
Posted: Oct 7, 2010 11:19 PM
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I'm using iMovie08 and make DVDs. Now I want to archive my material to a designated "archival" HD preferably so I can re-edit should I decide to do so. Whats the best way to do that?
I've tried A) Simply draging and droping a finished .iMovieproj to my external HD its a small file less than 100MB and double clicking opens iMovie with the full library of projects and the latest one I'm working on (not the one I archived) in the events pane. So I imagine if I deleted the project from my source drive it would not be retrievable via my archived "copy".
I also want to archive the final DVD for possible re burning. This will free up space for my current movie work but If I drag 'n drop a .dvdproj it also seems just an alias only 78KB size. ( I don't expect to be able to redit this, except the final DVD prep.) ...and
I also have movie files labeled .rcproject and the type is listed as an iMovieproj. Any significance to the .rcproject designation?
thanks .....johnpeds

With iMovie 08, if you want to be able to edit again, do this.
Your external HD must be formatted as MacOS Extended (journaled), not FAT32.
In iMovie, click VIEW/EVENTS BY VOLUME.
You will see your external drive in the Event Library List.
In iMovie, in the Event Library List, drag your Event to the small icon in the Event Library list for your HD.
For your Project file, you will need to go to the FInder. In the Movies/iMovie Projects folder, you should find your project file with an extension of .rcproject. You can drag this to the external drive using the FInder.
If you want to edit your project, you can move the RCPROJECT file back to the Movies/imovie Projects folder on your internal drive and edit.
If you have photos from iPhoto or music from iTunes, take care not to move or rename them if you want to be able to reedit hte project.
If you upgrade to iMovie 09, there is a FILE/CONSOLIDATE command that let's you move projects, events, music, and photos to the external drive and edit it there.

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