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iMovie file storage

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poppi


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I am starting to work in iMovie and have imported many videos from my camcorder into my iMac. As expected they occupy a huge amount of file space. I already had a 500 GB external hard drive which I use primarily to house my iPhoto files so I went out and bought a 4 TB EHD. I use that to house my Time Machine files but would also like to use it for my iMovie files.

Presently my iMovie stuff is on the iMac hard drive under HD > Users > My Name > Movies with sub folders iMovie events and iMovie projects. The Movies folder contains 110 GB. Two questions:

1) If f I drag the Movies folder from the iMac HD to the 4 TB EHD will everything related to my movie files be transferred?

2) If that works, will the setup recognize the changes so the next imported video will go to the correct place?

Thank you

poppi
 
MightyGem

MightyGem


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Open iMovies with your external drive connected. The drive should appear in the Project and Events libraries. Drag and drop your Projects and Events onto the external drive.

When you import, you can choose in the import box where you want the imports stored.
 
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poppi


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MightyGem said:
Open iMovies with your external drive connected. The drive should appear in the Project and Events libraries. Drag and drop your Projects and Events onto the external drive.

When you import, you can choose in the import box where you want the imports stored.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply but I think I messed up your instructions. Here is what I did - Opened the hard drive and the external hard drive (G Drive). I then clicked on the 'movies' folder in the HD and dragged it to the EHD where it was copied in (after a very long time). I then dragged the 'movie' folder from the HD to the trash. Then when I opened iMovie there were no files in the events folder.

I then copied the 'movies' folder back to the HD from the EHD so it now exists in both the HD and EHD. However, in iMovie when I click on either the HD or EHD in the events pane neither shows any files. I know the clips are stored in both hard drives because when I double click any clip in either drive it opens and plays in mvi_193 (if a mvi file) or Quicktime player (if a .dv file).

It is clear that I have done something wrong

Any thoughts?

Thank you

poppi
 
MightyGem

MightyGem


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It is clear that I have done something wrong
Click to expand...

Yes, so I've amended my post slightly.

Open iMovies with your external drive connected. The external drive's icon should appear in the Project and Events libraries. As shown here:
Screenshot2012-05-05at193203.png


Drag and drop your Projects and Events onto those external drive icon. New iMovie Projects and iMovie Events folders will be created on your external drive. Then, when you open iMovie, just click on the drive icons to see your Projects and Events.

When you drag the Projects onto the icon, you will be asked if you want to move across the associated Events, so you won't have to move them twice.

You might want to delete what you've already copied onto that drive to avoid confusion.
 
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poppi


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MightyGem said:
Yes, so I've amended my post slightly.

Open iMovies with your external drive connected. The external drive's icon should appear in the Project and Events libraries. As shown here:
Screenshot2012-05-05at193203.png


Drag and drop your Projects and Events onto those external drive icon. New iMovie Projects and iMovie Events folders will be created on your external drive. Then, when you open iMovie, just click on the drive icons to see your Projects and Events.

When you drag the Projects onto the icon, you will be asked if you want to move across the associated Events, so you won't have to move them twice.

You might want to delete what you've already copied onto that drive to avoid confusion.
Click to expand...

Please excuse what probably seems stupid but I am still having problems. As suggested I deleted the 'Movie' folder from the EHD. I then opened iMovie and highlighted the EHD icon in the events folder (labeled G Drive on my machine). I then opened the iMac hard drive and tried to drag the 'Movie' folder from there to the G Drive icon in the Events pane but nothing happened. I then tried dragging an individual clip in the same manner with the same non-result. I know I am missing something

poppi
 
MightyGem

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I then opened the iMac hard drive and tried to drag the 'Movie' folder from there to the G Drive icon in the Events pane
Click to expand...
No. Select the Projects and Events in the iMovie window and then drag them to the external drive icon.
 
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poppi


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MightyGem said:
No. Select the Projects and Events in the iMovie window and then drag them to the external drive icon.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the files do not appear in the iMovie window. Fortunately I still have the raw footage on the original mini tapes so I just re-imported them to iMovie, this time to the EHD. Time consuming but it is now done.

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it

poppi
 
MightyGem

MightyGem


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OK. Glad you got it sorted.
 

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