Disk Space Alert: "Dangerously Low"

Question

Disk Space Alert: "Dangerously Low"

I posted this under the Macbook forum but thought I should also post it here. Sorry for the double posting:

I downloaded iMovieHD (6.0.4) because I am familiar with it (had 6.0.3 on my old iBook). I then imported about 10GB of video from SD memory cards (video was taken with a 3MP Oregon Scientific camera (ATC2K). This loaded into iPhoto automatically. I then transferred it to iMovie (note: 4GB of card space translated into 2 hours of video on iMovie). When I got to my last 1.5 hour segment, it stopped loading and gave me an alert message that said I was running "Dangerously Low" on disk space.

I trashed all the files in iPhoto that I had already copied to iMovieHD (and emptied the trash).

I downloaded Disk Inventory X and ran it. It says that, of my 160GB (really 149GB I guess), 32GB is being used by iMovie which is the single largest use. Everything else seems within normal size. I am not alarmed by the 32GB. There is 92GB left.

I have run Disk Utility. There were some permissions that needed to be repaired and were. There are no partitions according to Disk Utility.

So, if I have 92GB left and 7GB of video took up (approx) 32GB of space, why am I getting a disk space error for the remaining 3 GB (1.5 hours)?

On my old white iBook I loaded far more video than this off of DV tape and still had a fair amount of disk space to work with. That disk was only 60GB. I know that I can edit the segments that are already loaded to create space but that isn't really the point here.

Naturally, after a $1500 investment, in part for the purposes of these small videos, I am frustrated.

Any help you can give me is much appreciated.

Thank you!

MacBook Aluminum 2gHz Core Duo 160GB, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Apr 10, 2009 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 10, 2009 12:21 PM in response to DownSouthSlidah

Update:

When I get get the "Photo Details" from iPhoto it says the file is 17179869183 GB. Obviously this cannot be but I am now wondering if there was some sort of error when I imported it into iPhoto from the SanDisk memory card.

I have tried exporting it to desktop as "Original." It copied to the desktop fine but when I then imported it into iMovieHD it ate through the memory and gave me the same message. The funny thing is it takes a normal amount of memory up until the very last and then, when it says "less than a minute" remaining, it chews through it.

I am going to try a couple of other things. I am hoping I can edit out what I need in iPhoto and get it into iMovie that way.

Are there any programs that could clean up any issues with that imported file? Naturally I erased it from the original memory card when I imported it into iPhoto. Doofus move.

Again, any help would be appreciated.

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Answer 2

Apr 10, 2009 3:42 PM in response to DownSouthSlidah

Obviously the iPhoto GB size is not correct. Not sure what to do about that. I would definitely delete iPhoto's preference file. Close iPhoto. Go to your Home folder (YourUserName)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iphoto.plist
Drag this plist file into the trash. Reopen iPhoto. See if the size has reverted to normal.

What format is the original footage in iPhoto? Most camera video clips are mpeg, and even if you get them into iMovie, they probably will not play correctly. Mine lose audio.

However, when you import the videos into iMovie, you are probably going from compressed to uncompressed footage, thus increasing the size. See this for a bit more info: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9017510&#9017510

Have you tried using MPEG Streamclip to convert it before importing into iMovie? http://www.squared5.com/
You also need Apple's QuickTime MPEG2 Playback Component ($20) for this to work properly. http://store.apple.com/us/product/D2187Z/A

For use in iMovie 6, export the clips to DV. Do them one at a time to isolate any problems with the original clips. Save each one to the desktop. Then, import them into your iMovie. Save each as you go.

If you get them all converted properly, and they import ok into iMovie, you can delete the originals from iPhoto and see if doing so corrects the size issue in iPhoto.
Post back if this does not help and you are still having problems.

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Apr 11, 2009 10:45 AM in response to DownSouthSlidah

Sometimes restarting the computer can clear up an erroneous "dangerously low" disk space message.

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Answer 4

Apr 11, 2009 4:21 PM in response to Beverly Maneatis

Thanks for all the help!! Beverly, the squared5 and mpeg2 component worked beautifully. Unreal that Apple hasn't made that more seemless. Maybe it is in iMovie09 but I am fond of iMovieHD - it breaks things down so nicely.

My other issue was that my new Macbook doesn't have a Firewire port and one of my cams is firewire based - but now I can get an HDD cam and my DV tape cam actually sells for more than the Panasonic HD60. Yeehaa!

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Answer 5

Apr 12, 2009 12:30 AM in response to DownSouthSlidah

So glad it all worked for you. Streamclip is a great application.

I'm with you on iM6 for now. I am going to try iM9 after I upgrade to Leopard, but with several projects underway, I am not going to change anything that is working well for me until after I finish my projects. Probably going to take me til the summer months. I have two big projects of old family photos to get onto a couple of DVDs, and I am waiting for a friend to ID two people in some photos to complete another project.

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