Stuck on "Validating Library"

Hi, SarahMascara24,

It looks like your old library, or a project in it, is corrupted. If you have a Time Machine backup, you could restore your library at a point earlier in time. If you don't have a Time Machine backup, there's a couple of ways you could go here. Lets try this one first.

iMovie periodically backs up the iMovie library. It keeps the backups in the iMovie Backups folder. To get there, go to the Finder menu on your desk top and follow this file path: Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups. When you get there you will see a list of previous backups of your library. Click on one dated before you started experiencing the "validating library" problem. iMovie (hopefully) will open in that library. If your projects are there and the library is working fine, you can keep it as your main llbrary.

-- Rich

That's good that your original medial clips show in the Contents Package of your library. It seems for some reason that the iMovie app has lost the link to it.

Here's something you can try. Create a new blank library, with nothing in it. Go to the Contents Package of your old library and do an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy. Now open the Contents Package of your newly created blank library. Do an Edit/Paste to paste a copy of the contents of your old library into the blank library. You will get notifications as to whether you want to replace the sync file, temp file, and so forth. Select replace for all of them. Give everything time to load in. Then see if iMovie can open the blank library with all your projects in it. Post back with your results.

-- Rich

What steps did you do to copy over the file? You also need to copy over the temporary file, sync file, flexo file, etc, that you see in the package contents of the original library. You copy the project and those additional files (I think there are 4 or 5 of them) into the package contents of the new empty library that you created. You’ll get a prompt asking if you want to add or replace the temp file, etc. Select replace.

Be careful to just copy, not move the files.

— Rich

Yes, but don't delete your old library until you are absolutely certain that every single project works properly on your new library.

You external drive where your new library will e stored must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If your external drive is formatted something else then, before you move your library to it, you will need to use the Disk Utility app on your Mac to reformat the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Reformatting will erase all data on the drive, so back up or remove to another drive any data that you want to keep.

I am very happy that the procedure we tried worked for you.

-- Rich

Here are the files I am talking about. Copy them from your old library and paste and replace them in your blank library.

-- Rich

Sometimes it takes a while for the validating process to complete. You might want to give it some more time, just in case.

Go to your Movies folder in the Finder and control-click on your old library. In the drop down menu, click on Show Package Contents. You should see a list of the Projects and Events that are in your library. You can't play them there because they are just codes and data that the iMovie app uses to assemble a project when you click on the project icon from within the iMovie app. In Package Contents open the folders of several of the listed projects. Look in each for a folder called Original Media. Open them and see if there is any media in there. Post back with what you see.

-- Rich

What version of iMovie are you using?

— Rich

Also, you might consider doing a redownload of the iMovie app from the online app store.

-- Rich