Video File Location

I have a considerable number of home movies (mp4) on an external hard drive. I would like to add them to my iTunes library so I can watch them on my ATV. My question is: When the title is added to the iTunes library, is the entire video file physically copied from the external hard disk to the Mac's hard disk? I don't want to fill up my Mac's hard drive with videos. Thanks.

You can move the iTunes library to the external and leave/use everything on the external.
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder ot teh external.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Now on the external, move all your movies into /iTunes/iTunes media/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder.
This will move them to the correct location and add them to your iTunes library.
I keep a shortcut to this folder on the desktop then just drop movies onto this shortcut and iTunes will take care of them.

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Play meny kinds of video files located at client?

I want to play *.rm, *.asf, *.mpe, *.avi video files , How to write HTML code to play them according its format? my code can not play video file but only a black background:
<object classid='clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95' id='MediaPlayer1' >
<param name=单选13.avi' value='C:\\testtest\\mmes\\单选13.avi' height='100' width='150'>
</object >
How to........
thanks in advanced

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Error while trying access video file in KM Content

Hi All,
I are having an issue while trying to access video files located in KM.
When we try to access the file we get and error : getting content of document failed: /usr/sap/pa8/SYS/global/config/cm/ep/content/73/47/6176162974773.CONTENT (no such file or directory)
The file is a .wmv file and has a size of 49 MB. Whereas some other files of size 34 MB opens up with no issues.
This is happening on production environment but the same works fine in pre prod environment.
I am trying to access the file from Content Administration -> KM Content
This issue is happening for multiple files of larger size in that environment. Please suggest how to rectify the issue.
Regards,
Somnath.

Hi Somnath
The issue you are facing is dealt in the below Note. Kindly check if you are at the specified SP and
Patch level as per your Portal Version according to the note or not.
1849886 - Content could be lost when using DBFS repository
Regards
Santarshi Samanta

Encoding error, unrecognizable video file

I've been trying to compress a project from FCP 5 in compressor using the Mpeg-2 60 minute high quality encode preset. I'm able to get the encoding process started without a hitch and it appears the project does go through the entire encoding process. However, the final video file that is outputted from compressor is unrecognizable. It appears as a blank icon in the folder I set for it. I have tried multiple different project files (some of which I have not touched in months) and the all come out of compressor as unrecognizable file types. Interestingly, compressor is able to encode audio files appropriately. The problem appears to be solely linked to video files. I'm using Compressor 2.0.1 amd FCP 5.0.3. Any ideas what the problem might be? I posted this also in the compressor discussion board.
Thanks.

Hi Novitskyam,
Where is the video file located on your system.
Please copy the file to your local hard drive and then try to import
the file. Also check whether you have quicktime player installed.
Thanks

Error import video file

I import video-file avi with video-codec – dv, audio-codec – pcm.
Appears message «file is already open on disk»
I have pc with Windows 7 64 bits.
Adobe Premiere pro cs6.

Hi Novitskyam,
Where is the video file located on your system.
Please copy the file to your local hard drive and then try to import
the file. Also check whether you have quicktime player installed.
Thanks

How do I relink my video files when the source files are located in an AVCHD folder structure?

I am using FCP X 10.1.1 and I was completely done with editing a simple multicam video for a choir track and when I was exporting it it failed. I re-opened FCPX and found that there are several missing files, when I had just been working with them just a second ago! I know about relinking video files, but when I try to locate the source files (knowing where they are), the browser will not let me select ACHD file contents to get at the video files. Also, I cannot open the Library file for my project either.
Here is a snap shot:

If it comes down to it, use clip wrap to carve your .mov files out of the SD. I am confused tho - if you were originally able to import all you needed and still have the original media ? Why can't you do it again to add other clips? To "get in" to your Library, control click on it>show paskage... but do NOT MOVE anything only copy.
Perhaps soeone else can shed light on this?

Where is the temporary file located for streaming audio or video?

I've noticed that when listening to streaming radio that Safari (v. 4.0.2, MacBook, Leopard 10.5.8) is apparently storing the feed temporarily someplace on my computer, as one is able to go forward and back on the content, if one has paused the feed for awhile. Where is this temporary file located, i.e., what is the path on my computer for it (assuming that is where it is), please?

"Audio and video file that do download by way of Safari (progressive download) ...there are temp file, but the temp files themselves can't be open."
Thanks for your answer. Sorry for using the wrong term (streaming v. progressive), but my basic question still remains: WHERE then is the progressive temp file stored on my Mac (even if it can't be opened)?

Elements 10 - Location of temp video files

Hi all,
I imported a video into Elements 10 for Mac, and then it crashed while manipulating the video. When I restarted the project, the video clips don't appear anymore. However, my HDD still has lost space from the project. Can someone tell me where those files are stored so I can delete them to regain the 2GB of space lost?
Thanks

I read that post you made, and thanks so much for responding.
I understand that the projects link back to the original video file form the import, so the project files themselves aren't large. I was curious about this and was checking my HDD storage capacity during my project editing. When I started the project, I had about 16.5GB of free space. After I had edited a few clips and deleted others, I checked again and my HDD was at ~14.5GB. I assumed that meant that my tinkering had resulted in Adobe making temporary video files and that was what had taken up my HDD space. So I was confused as to what had happened. I noticed that some of the space has now returned since my original post, but I'm not sure why that 2GB was lost.
I should also mention I haven't downloaded/changed anything else on my HDD during this time.
Thanks again for responding Bill!

Unable to Sync Video files after Itunes 9.0.3 and iPhone software update

This is my problem with Itunes- After I the Software Update program installed iTunes 9.0.3 yesterday, and I upgraded the iPhone software (to 3.1.3.) shortly thereafter. The iPhone upgrade failed (it froze). When I restarted the computer, I had to restore the iPhone and then I synced. I could not sync my video files.
The apps, music and "push" items sync perfectly. However, it ignores the Movies, Podcasts and iTunes U files.
In terms of the location for these files, all of my Library and Media files are contained in a firewire external drive. They have been there since I started up with iTunes many years ago. All worked well before the Install/Upgrade.
Problem is- iTunes ignores the pointer in Preferences/Advanced/Location and creates an empty folder, named iTunes in the Music library (in my Home directory) at every sync (even if I delete it, it recreates it on the new sync).
Question-Why does iTunes ignore the pointer, and create a new empty folder in Home?
Thanks for your help.

Apparently Apple doesn't bother to test their software updates. This problem was introduced last September and has persisted through a number of updates that were supposed to address the bug. Very discouraging. I keeping holding out hope that an iTunes update will eventually fix this feature that worked fine for years before iTunes 9 was introduced.
Unfortunately, it is impractical to go back to an earlier version of iTunes.
I have reported this bugs several times (via iTunes feedback). If Apple actually reads the feedback, they never respond.
It's not like there are other vendors or unknowns involved: current iMac 24, new iPod Touch, the latest version of iTunes and iPod OS.
So what do we have to do to get Apple's attention? Stop buying music? Stop buying Apple devices? I'd love to buy the new iPad, but I'm darned if I will if they are unable or unwilling to fix this bug...

Copy video file from iPhone 3GS to windows XP

I have a video on my iPhone which is about 18 mins long and 482MB in size. When I try to copy (from Windows explorer) and paste the file to my Windows XP system, it shows it is trying to copy the file but then nothing happens. It creates a zero byte file on my Windows system.
I even tried the 'scanner and camera wizard'. This program shows the progress bar but when it reaches 100% it gives me the message that 'The current picture cannot be copied. To copy this picture, click "Try Again". To stop copying, click "Cancel".'
I had other video files which copied successfully but were probably half the size of this file.
Could the reason be the file size? If the file size is the restriction, then there is no point in using the video feature to shoot continuous video.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

The size of the file shouldn't make any difference as long as there is room on your PC for it. What I do is use the Camera Wizard and select the open to view files option. From there I just click on the files to locate the video I want to copy and either drag it to where I want it on the PC or copy and paste it there. If it's a larage file it may take a few seconds to copy over.

Quicktime Update No Longer Plays Any of My MP4 or M4V Video Files!?

Hi there everyone. I am absolutely desperate to find a solution to my problem now, so I was hoping someone on here might be able to help me out. I have a G4 that I use as a media center via frontrow to play my huge collection of MP4 and M4V video files that are local and streamed from the library on my main intel mac. This has been working fine for some time and I haven't had any problems playing files.
However, when iTunes 9 came out, I ran software update and updated iTunes and Quicktime to 7.6.4, as well as updating the OS to 10.5.8. As soon as I did this, all the MP4 and M4V files that had worked fine up until that point stopped being playable by frontrow/itunes/quicktime. A lot of these are movies that I bought from the iTunes store, and it will not even play those now. It is definitely not a video format problem. When I try to play them in quicktime, I get the error "file is not a video file". This applies to all old files, plus new ones I have attempted to add. Also, frontrow WILL play video files streamed from my main computer, but not local ones (same files). I did the exact same updates on my main mac, and all the files will play perfectly fine on that machine, it is only this one that won't play.
I have tried everything I can think of, I have reinstalled both apps several times. I have also checked the System/Library/Quicktime components and they are all intact, exactly the same as on my other machine. Now it looks as though my only option is to start again from scratch and reinstall the operating system - a time consuming option as I do not back up this secondary machine..
Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do to fix the Quicktime installation? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you

Ok well if you want to go about it down and dirty you can try this. Take a file that does copy over correctly, for my purposes I had a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode that if I changed the file extension to .m4v it would add correctly through iTunes. From Terminal search /Volumes/youripodname/iPod_Control/Music/ for any file with the m4v extension and take note of them. Now add the "supported" file through iTunes then after it finishes do another search from Terminal and see which file with an m4v extension wasn't there before. Now from Terminal copy the "unsupported" file over to the same location with the same name. Here's what mine looked like cp /Volumes/harddrivename/Video/MUTEMATH.mp4 /Volumes/youripodname/iPod_Control/Music/F12/SJXB.m4v Now in iTunes change the Info for that file with the "Get Info" menu and your set. Mine now plays a video file that it wouldn't let me add through iTunes after the 9.0 update.
I'm sure there's a better way and when I figure out a quick script to do this by directly modifying the itunes database I'll try and repost a solution.
Message was edited by: Eli Barb

My complaints and Questions MP4 M4V video files and other complaints

My complaints and Questions MP4 M4V video files and other complaints
I have been scratching my head as to how to fix my problem and I found some answers and some questions along the way. First of all, I have a video that should be correctly formatted for my iPod. Its specs are:
Kind: MPEG-4 video file
Size: 19.4 MB
Bit Rate: 125 kbps
Date Modified: 8/18/2009 2:15 PM
Play Count: 1
Last played: 8/21/2009 12:25 PM
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: Stereo
Total Bit Rate: 360 kbps
Video Dimensions: 352x264
Video Codec: H.264
F:\File\AnotherFile\A3rdFile\TheMovieFileInQuestion.mp4
Wow that was a chore. Apple! Let us drag copy and paste our info tabs information so we don’t have to type all this stuff when we are having trouble. **another problem and suggestion** right there.
Ok, back to the problem of the forum.
From what I can see from http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/specs.html this file falls in line of everything required in order to be able to play on my iPod. It plays in iTunes fine but will NOT sync with my iPod. I get an annoying message that states, “Some of the Songs and videos in your iTunes library, including “BlaBlaBlaiPondFixYourJunkBlaBlaBla”, were not copied to the iPod “My iPod” because they cannot be played on this iPod.” Why oh why can iTunes play this video file but my iPod cant. Especially when the specs on Apple’s website say it can.
So that was bugging me for a LONG time until I found my “Create iPod or iPhone version” option in the “Advanced” heading. Thank goodness this made my files playable on my iPod. Extremely LONG wait though. I know that other programs convert it in ½ the time. But times not to important as long as it gets done, (would be very convenient if it was faster though **Problem and suggestion**)
Ok, now that I have used the “Create iPod or iPhone version” option it has slowly but surly converted my video. Ok, here is my main problem, the new file which is the result of the conversions information is as follows:
Kind: MPEG-4 video file
Size: 35.4 MB
Bit Rate: 125 kbps
Date Modified: 8/18/2009 2:15 PM
Play Count: 1
Last played: 8/21/2009 1:28 PM
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: Stereo
Total Bit Rate: 658 kbps
Video Dimensions: 352x264
Video Codec: H.264
C:\File\WhyIsThisNewFileInMyMusicFolder\TheMovieFileInQuestion.m4v
So basically it has made my file bigger *not a bonus in my book* greatly increased my Bit Rate *another interesting feature*, and I think the biggest change it has changed it from an .mp4 to an m4v.
Why does it need to be an .m4v I could have sworn some of my videos were or are in mp4 which shouldn’t matter anyway because I was under the impression that iPods could play mp4 files. So that’s my biggest complaint and question. Why can my 80GB classic iPod not play my MP4 files and why am I forced to convert them??
This conversion also creates 2 files in iTunes when I am done which is annoying because I have to go into my files info and look to see what file is the mp3 in order to remove it. Very annoying I can open my iPod options and see the files and some are faded (the ones it can not play) why can’t I remove them from that area.Suggestion Apple please make files that cannot be played on my iPod stand out some how for easier cleaning Suggestion. Thank you.
Speaking of cleaning iPods, when I moved my entire library to an external drive I was faced with a terrible problem. “This file could not be found, would you like to locate file”, I was faced with this annoying message at least 600 times. Now I am glad that iTunes has a little “!” mark to show dead links so that you do some minor cleaning, Good Job iTunes No compliant there. However iTunes has no way of selecting all the broken files for major cleaning (like in my case). Going through and deleting over 600 files 1 by 1 is extremely time consuming and annoying. **Suggestion Apple please add more cleaning features for organizing iTunes**.
Ok, speaking of organization now, another problem that appeared when converting my video files was that it put my new videos into the location where I have all my songs (my external hard drive) why can’t it put the new files in the locations of the original file? I have my computer highly organized and my original files were in that drive in that folder for a reason. If I could open my original file and skip the conversion, my iTunes would go to that specific folder to access the file which is fine. But now these new conversion files are elsewhere taking up space and disorganizing my computer. True I can go into the new location and move the files to where I want them (original location) but I don’t think I should have to hunt them down, copy, move, delete ect etc for all these files over and over. Very annoying, time consuming and should be unnecessary. **Suggestion Make file creation and location more customizable, and user friendly, your customers will love you for it**.
Well since I have gotten into Apples iTunes and iPod problems that I have had to face I might as well bring up one or two more problems and suggestions. About a month after purchasing my iPod a sibling bought one as well. His however is way more convenient then mine. I suppose he has a 5th gen. so here is my question: why does he have a search option and I don’t!!!! Why does he get more features every so often and I don’t?! Why can’t Apple write some software for us classic guys which got the iPods going! It’s very annoying when I have to spend more time looking for the song then I spend actually listening to it, when he can pull his up in like 3-6 seconds? I highly doubt the hardware between our iPods is that dissimilar and even if they are why cant software be written for us. **Suggestion treat all your customers good not just the newer ones, and make some more features for the classics like me and my iPod.” We will be grateful for it I promise.
Ok, I am almost done. Let me just recap my questions, I know my post is kind of lengthy.
#1. Why can’t my iPod play MP3 video files? And why do I have to convert to almost all the same settings except changing it from an mp4 to an m4v. according to Apples own site I should be able to play .m4v .mp4 and .mov files!! Note: remember iTunes plays them fine but my iPod will not.
#2. Would be much more convenient to be able to copy the information from the windows in iTunes so that problems and trouble shooting would be much easier. A little check on off options in iTunes advanced settings would be terrific.
#3. Why is the conversion so slow? Please speed it, you have the power. Convenience is the thing that sells products.
#4. Files that cannot be played on the current iPod need to be easier recognized for simpler cleaning.
#5. Also make an easier way to select all dead link files for faster cleaning, deleting, etc. This one is important.
#6. Make a user friendly way to change where my files are going to end up once I convert them for iPod more options and better customizable settings are need.
#7. One of the most important is ADD A SEARCH OPTION. I and we classics will LOVE Apple for it.
For you readers, I apologize for the long post, and any grammatical errors you might find throughout it. These are problems that I have faced with these programs and hardware and I wanted to make sure they got acknowledged and hopefully addressed. Any information about why I cannot play MP4 Video files on my iPod would be the best. If anything in my post gets answered that’s the one I want most. Will save me a lot of hassle.
Thank you all and I look forward to your suggestions and comments. All are welcome and appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bond, James

Was playing with iTunes and thought of another suggestion! Let us play files in iTunes from an iPod! A friend or sibling should be able to plug his iPod into my computer open iTunes and play any of the files there. Many times I have wanted to show a movie clip or video to a friend, and I have the dock so I can do it on my T.V. but play it on their computer in their iTunes forget it. That would be a very nice feature as well so we can watch our movies at maximum size or listen to music on a better sound system, just another suggestion that would be nice. Thanks

Best software to recover video files on reformatted SD and CF Cards? Or worth seeking professional help?

Hi all,
The person I work for has mistakenly re-formatted a collection of SD and CF cards (incl. Sony F3, AJA Ki Pro Mini). He needs to recover video files.
Is it worth it to have the cards professionally recovered at a place like Tekserve, or is there a software program anybody here has had success with? There seems to be a lot of recovery software out there and it's hard to tell what's trustworthy. I should mention that the software doesn't have to be free, it just has to be effective and cheaper than a professional recovery.
A few other stray but important questions:
-What are the risks of running a recovery program that fails? In other words is it possible for software to damage the old data so that no other program has a chance of successfully recovering it?
-Most importantly: is it possible to recover at least some data from a card that has been reformatted and then recorded over a bit, but not all the way? I have read that if the whole card has been recorded over, the old data is irretrievable. But there's only a little bit of new material on this card.
Thanks!

Reformating storage devices usually involves deleting the catalog that tells the OS where files start and end. The files are still there unless you have chosen a secure erase where the systems writes zeros over the whole drive several times (sometimes known as a DoD format).
What this means is as long as you do not try to write to the media, the files are still there. Best practice would be to clone the media then work on the clone. This way you do not introduce any addiional changes.
The more important element of your question is "can I get these files that still exist off the the media?". The answer is a resounding "maybe".
I have used FileSalvage to try to recover material from a failing hard drive. It was pretty successful with small files (Word docs, Acrobat files, Adobe Illustrator images and the like) but considerably less successful with large video files. I believe it is because video is more sensitive to end of file (eof) markers and if those are not found, the whole file is useless.
If you have reused the card, the chances of getting anything go WAY down as the way files are written to storage devices is not that orderly. Bits get written all over the drive/ flash storage. When there is no catalog to tell the OS what memory locations have a purpose, new files can be written over multiple old files. Will this completely remove any chance to recover your material? Most likely, but if you are purchasing software anyway it will not cost you any additional cost to try on those cards. You might get lucky.
Also, in the locking the barn after the paddle is lost upstream, this is why I always create two copies of the contents of cards before I start editing. 1 copy goes on the on-line editing RAID and the other copy go to an archive drive. Then once a week, I'll back up the archive drives in the studio to a set off-site. This way I have 3 copies while I'm working and 2 copies once the project is closed out. Given the low price of hard drives, it's easy to create redundant backups.
Good luck,
x

How to move huge HD video files between external hard drives and defrag ext drive?

I have huge high definition video files on a 2TB external hard drive (and its clone). The external hard drive is maxed out. I would like to move many of the video files to a new 3TB external hard drive (G-drive, and a clone) and leave a sub-group of video files (1+ TB) on the original external hard drive (and its clone).
I am copying files from original external drive ("ext drive A") to new external drive ("ext drive B") via Carbon Copy Cloner (selecting iMovie event by event that I want to transfer). Just a note: I do not know how to partition or make bootable drives, I see suggestions with these steps in them.
My questions:
1.) I assume this transfer of files will create extreme fragmentation on drive A. Should I reformat/re-initialize ext drive A after moving the files I want? If so, how best to do this? Do I use "Erase" within Disk Utilities? Do I need to do anything else before transfering files back onto ext drive A from its clone?
2.) Do I also need to defrag if I reformat ext drive A? Do I defrag instead of or in addition to reformating? If so, how to do this? I've read on these forums so many warnings and heard too many stories of this going awry. Which 3rd party software to use?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions, tips, advice. This whole process makes me SO nervous.

Here is a very good writeup on de-fragging in the OS environment that I borrowed
From Klaus1:
Defragmentation in OS X:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375 which states:
You probably won't need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X. Here's why:
Hard disk capacity is generally much greater now than a few years ago. With more free space available, the file system doesn't need to fill up every "nook and cranny." Mac OS Extended formatting (HFS Plus) avoids reusing space from deleted files as much as possible, to avoid prematurely filling small areas of recently-freed space.
Mac OS X 10.2 and later includes delayed allocation for Mac OS X Extended-formatted volumes. This allows a number of small allocations to be combined into a single large allocation in one area of the disk.
Fragmentation was often caused by continually appending data to existing files, especially with resource forks. With faster hard drives and better caching, as well as the new application packaging format, many applications simply rewrite the entire file each time. Mac OS X 10.3 onwards can also automatically defragment such slow-growing files. This process is sometimes known as "Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering."
Aggressive read-ahead and write-behind caching means that minor fragmentation has less effect on perceived system performance.
Whilst 'defragging' OS X is rarely necessary, Rod Hagen has produced this excellent analysis of the situation which is worth reading:
Most users, as long as they leave plenty of free space available , and don't work regularly in situations where very large files are written and rewritten, are unlikely to notice the effects of fragmentation on either their files or on the drives free space much.
As the drive fills the situations becomes progressively more significant, however.
Some people will tell you that "OSX defrags your files anyway". This is only partly true. It defrags files that are less than 20 MB in size. It doesn't defrag larger files and it doesn't defrag the free space on the drive. In fact the method it uses to defrag the smaller files actually increases the extent of free space fragmentation. Eventually, in fact, once the largest free space fragments are down to less than 20 MB (not uncommon on a drive that has , say only 10% free space left) it begins to give up trying to defrag altogether. Despite this, the system copes very well without defragging as long as you have plenty of room.
Again, this doesn't matter much when the drive is half empty or better, but it does when it gets fullish, and it does especially when it gets fullish if you are regularly dealing with large files , like video or serious audio stuff.
If you look through this discussion board you will see quite a few complaints from people who find that their drive gets "slow". Often you will see that say that "still have 10 or 20 gigs free" or the like. On modern large drives by this stage they are usually in fact down to the point where the internal defragmentation routines can no longer operate , where their drives are working like navvies to keep up with finding space for any larger files, together with room for "scratch files", virtual memory, directories etc etc etc. Such users are operating in a zone where they put a lot more stress on their drives as a result, often start complaining of increased "heat", etc etc. Most obviously, though, the computer slows down to a speed not much better than that of molasses. Eventually the directories and other related files may collapse altogether and they find themselves with a next to unrecoverable disk problems.
By this time, of course, defragging itself has already become just about impossible. The amount of work required to shift the data into contiguous blocks is immense, puts additional stress on the drive, takes forever, etc etc. The extent of fragmentation of free space at this stage can be simply staggering, and any large files you subsequently write are likely to be divided into many , many tens of thousands of fragments scattered across the drive. Not only this, but things like the "extents files", which record where all the bits are located, will begin to grow astronomically as a result, putting even more pressure on your already stressed drive, and increasing the risk of major failures.
Ultimately this adds up to a situation where you can identify maybe three "phases" of mac life when it comes to the need for defragmentation.
In the "first phase" (with your drive less than half full), it doesn't matter much at all - probably not enough to even make it worth doing.
In the "second phase" (between , say 50% free space and 20% free space remaining) it becomes progressively more useful, but , depending on the use you put your computer to you won't see much difference at the higher levels of free space unless you are serious video buff who needs to keep their drives operating as efficiently and fast as possible - chances are they will be using fast external drives over FW800 or eSata to compliment their internal HD anyway.
At the lower end though (when boot drives get down around the 20% mark on , say, a 250 or 500 Gig drive) I certainly begin to see an impact on performance and stability when working with large image files, mapping software, and the like, especially those which rely on the use of their own "scratch" files, and especially in situations where I am using multiple applications simultaneously, if I haven't defragmented the drive for a while. For me, defragmenting (I use iDefrag too - it is the only third party app I trust for this after seeing people with problems using TechToolPro and Drive Genius for such things) gives a substantial performance boost in this sort of situation and improves operational stability. I usually try to get in first these days and defrag more regularly (about once a month) when the drive is down to 30% free space or lower.
Between 20% and 10% free space is a bit of a "doubtful region". Most people will still be able to defrag successfully in this sort of area, though the time taken and the risks associated increase as the free space declines. My own advice to people in this sort of area is that they start choosing their new , bigger HD, because they obviously are going to need one very soon, and try to "clear the decks" so that they maintain that 20% free buffer until they do. Defragging regularly (perhaps even once a fortnight) will actually benefit them substantially during this "phase", but maybe doing so will lull them into a false sense of security and keep them from seriously recognising that they need to be moving to a bigger HD!
Once they are down to that last ten per cent of free space, though, they are treading on glass. Free space fragmentation at least will already be a serious issue on their computers but if they try to defrag with a utility without first making substantially more space available then they may find it runs into problems or is so slow that they give up half way through and do the damage themselves, especially if they are using one of the less "forgiving" utilities!
In this case I think the best way to proceed is to clone the internal drive to a larger external with SuperDuper, replace the internal drive with a larger one and then clone back to it. No-one down to the last ten percent of their drive really has enough room to move. Defragging it will certainly speed it up, and may even save them from major problems briefly, but we all know that before too long they are going to be in the same situation again. Better to deal with the matter properly and replace the drive with something more akin to their real needs once this point is reached. Heck, big HDs are as cheap as chips these days! It is mad to struggle on with sluggish performance, instability, and the possible risk of losing the lot, in such a situation.

How do you move video files from external hard drive?

I moved video files that were originally from Flip Video recorder and uploaded to my Macbook to an external hard drive to save space. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get them back onto my computer, so I can start burning DVDs. I tried dragging and dropping, but that doesn't seem to work. Please help!!

Copy /Home/Pictures/iPhoto Library to your external drive. Delete the one on your internal drive. Now create an alias to the iPhoto Library's new location and put the alias in the original location. Be sure the alias is named "iPhoto Library".

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