Q: How to tell iMovie where to put stuff?
I dont want all my movies and projects and everything on my start up drive. How do I direct iMovie to put all this stuff where I want it?
Thanks
Mac Pro (Early 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Posted on Dec 16, 2012 9:13 AM
If you have already made projects, it is very important to move the Events within iMovie. The reason is that a project is simply a text file in hexadecimal which consists of the paths and the in and out points of the event clips you used, paths to the photos and music that you used, and info on adjustments, titles, transitions, etc.
So if you move an event in the Finder, the projects which reference it will not be able to find it, and they will give you a yellow triangle for "missing media" the next time you open them.
From that description, you might wonder if it still might be OK to move your projects in the Finder. You you can. However, I would still suggest that you move over your first project from within iMovie. This will create the correct folder structure on your other hard drive. Then move the rest of the projects in the Finder.
There is also a "FILE/CONSOLIDATE MEDIA" command. Once you move your project to an external drive, you can select the project in the Project Library View and run this command. It will move or copy all events, photos, and music used in this event to the external drive. Once you have moved over all events that are used in projects, you can move the rest of the events by the Finder, but do so at your own risk. Also be sure to restart iMovie after doing so.
As for your question about future projects...
Click VIEW/GROUP EVENTS BY DISK and you will see all your available disks. You can select a disk and then hit the + to add a project, and it will add in that disk. For Events, the next time you import from a camcorder, you can specify which drive to use on the import screen. Once you do this, it will remember your choice until you change it.
So this user tip for more details, including the error in iMovie Help regarding moving projects.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4141
Also see this user tip so that your external drive is formatted correctly. iMovie will not see it unless it is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). FAT 32 drives are not seen in iMovie.
Posted on Dec 16, 2012 12:56 PM