imovie not enough space in selected destination

I had the same problem since Catalina. I couldn't add any media files on my project, but somehow the video files captured on my mac camera were able to be added.

Anyway, I uninstalled iMovie completely. Not only iMovie library but all the related iMovie files. I searched some related files in my finder and emptied the trash.

Please refer to this article (don't install the software as you can do it yourself) "Regular Solution to Uninstall iMovie from Your Mac: If you would like to delete iMovie by yourself, follow the manual steps below:"

https://macremover.com/uninstallguides/2015/08/20/how-to-uninstall-imovie/

And then, I redownloaded iMovie from the app store.

It solved my problem since then.

Good luck.

Had a similar error on a brand new 2020 MBP, when it would not allow me to import anything, despite 350gb of available space. Noticed that the App store had an iMovie available. After installing update and a restart it is now working. Looks like a Catalina/ update issue.

As I said earlier in this post, redownload iMovie.

To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the

trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from

there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash and return it to the Applications folder.

-- Rich

Thank you, Motazi! Downloading the iMovie app again solved the issue!

After input from several posters on this forum, the solution is to redownload iMovie. That will solve the not enough disk space issue.

-- Rich

I had this issue today and just re-downloaded the iMovie and It’s just work fine now..

Rich, I too had this problem, and the method of moving iMovie to trash and re-downloading does in fact fix the problem. Maddening issue!

Hi, GibsWin,

Yes, there have been several reports of the "not enough space" message after updates to Catalina. I don't know if it is widespread to a large percentage of users or confined to a smaller percentage. No cure as yet. I think it is something that Apple may need to address in a patch. One person did say that moving the iMovie library to an external disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) did fix it for that user but others have not been able to replicate that as far as I know. Each computer set up is different. If you have to reformat an external drive be aware that reformatting erases all data on the drive, so first backup elsewhere anything that you want to keep.

If you have a Time Machine backup you can restore your previous operating system until the issue is fixed.

-- Rich

--

You might still be able to recover your projects and library from the iMovie Backups folder. To get there, follow this file path from the Finder menu: 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 iMovie library. Open one that is dated just before you deleted your library. iMovie will open in that library. Navigate to the Projects browser view (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are there.

You can also restore your library from a Time Machine backup, if you have one.

-- Rich

Try importing using a USB wire connection, if you haven't already done so. For some reason that seemed to work for another person having this problem.

-- Rich

Reinstalling iMovie as described above fixed the problem for me.

Before doing anything more, read through this thread and see if anything in there helps you:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

Downgrading to a previous operating system can be tricky. Since I have never

done it myself I am reluctant to try to provide instructions on a forum like

this. I suggest that you click on the Contact Support item in the upper right

hand corner of this forum's screen, and talk to an Apple Support person who can

walk you through the process.

For information purposes you can read this Apple Support article re restoring a

previous operating system from a Time Machine backup. 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981

Rather than trying to downgrade your operating system I suggest that you wait for whatever patch that Apple may do, and try some of the diagnostic procedures mentioned in the discussions link above.

-- Rich

Rich839 wrote:

Did the redownload of iMovie cure the "not enough disk space"?

-- Rich

YES!

just re-download it

Yes, for some reason the re-download works.

-- Rich