kevinonbianchi

Q: iMovie projects "lost" on External Hard Drive

I tried to move several iMovie 11 projects and events to an external hard drive. Had to split them up between four different partitions in the EHD. Now I can't open/see the projects in iMovie, but they are listed on the EHD. HELP--is it possible to retrieve them?

Posted on Jan 28, 2016 8:32 AM

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Q: iMovie projects "lost" on External Hard Drive

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  • by GeeD,

    GeeD GeeD Jan 28, 2016 9:16 AM in response to kevinonbianchi
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    Jan 28, 2016 9:16 AM in response to kevinonbianchi

    The events and projects folders will only be recognised by iMovie if they are the root level of a partition.   Could this be the reason?

     

    Geoff.

  • by kevinonbianchi,

    kevinonbianchi kevinonbianchi Jan 28, 2016 9:21 AM in response to GeeD
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    Jan 28, 2016 9:21 AM in response to GeeD

    Thanks, how would I determine and/or correct this problem?

  • by GeeD,

    GeeD GeeD Jan 28, 2016 9:41 AM in response to kevinonbianchi
    Level 5 (7,676 points)
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    Jan 28, 2016 9:41 AM in response to kevinonbianchi

    The root level means that projects and events folders must not be in an enclosing folder.   If they are simply drag them out of this folder using Finder.

     

    Geoff.

  • by kevinonbianchi,

    kevinonbianchi kevinonbianchi Jan 28, 2016 9:47 AM in response to GeeD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 9:47 AM in response to GeeD

    Thanks! I moved a project out of its folder on the EHD and it is still not visible in the iMovie project section; and I can't open the project.

  • by GeeD,Helpful

    GeeD GeeD Jan 28, 2016 6:35 PM in response to kevinonbianchi
    Level 5 (7,676 points)
    Video
    Jan 28, 2016 6:35 PM in response to kevinonbianchi

    No, you need to put it back.   you need to have the imovie projects folder and iMovie events folder at the root level.

  • by thesurreyfriends,Solvedanswer

    thesurreyfriends thesurreyfriends Jan 28, 2016 6:36 PM in response to kevinonbianchi
    Level 3 (838 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 6:36 PM in response to kevinonbianchi

    On your EHD your events and projects should be in Folders called Imovie Events and iMovie Projects.

    These folders are generated by iMovie.

    I am guessing that when you moved them to the EHD you put them in folders that you created and named(?????).

    Try this.

    With your EHD connected open iMovie.

    You should see your EHD (4 partitions?) in the Event Library on the left. Click on this (one partition) to select it and select File >New Event.

    You should see a New Event(todays date) generated on this EHD.

    Now select the EHD in the Project Library and File>New Project. This will generate a new Project on your EHD.

    I am guessing you will need to do the above for each partition as you have spread events and projects to 4 partitions.

    Close iMovie.

    You should now see on your EHD, in each partition. folders called iMovie Events and iMovie Projects, hopefully not to be confused with folder names that you may have created.

    Just do one Event and one Project first to test the following.

    Drag one of your Events into this newly created iMovie Events Folder and one of your iMovie Projects into the newly created iMovie Projects folder.

     

    Open up iMovie. Can you see this Event and Project now?

    If this works proceed to drag your Events and Projects into these new events and project folders.

    One thing that may be a problem,is that you have divided up to four partitions so a Project may not be linked to it's Event.

    This would depend on how you selected which Event and which Project went on which Partition, as I am assuming that each partition is seen as a separate "Hard Drive".

  • by kevinonbianchi,

    kevinonbianchi kevinonbianchi Jan 28, 2016 6:37 PM in response to thesurreyfriends
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 6:37 PM in response to thesurreyfriends

    Thank you very much for finding time in your day to help me! I appreciate it very much.

  • by thesurreyfriends,

    thesurreyfriends thesurreyfriends Jan 29, 2016 1:09 AM in response to kevinonbianchi
    Level 3 (838 points)
    Jan 29, 2016 1:09 AM in response to kevinonbianchi

    Glad you got it sorted.

    If you need to move any events or projects in the future,then follow the advice provided by AppleMan 1958 in the following link.

    Take note of his comment

    There is an error in the instructions where it says to drag the project icon to the icon in the Event Library. You should instead look for your hard drive icon in the Project Library.

     

    How can i move or copy projects and events to an external drive? (Version 9 and earlier)

    iMovie version 9 (in the link) is sometimes referred to as iMovie '11 , i.e. your version.

    Good Luck.