imovie not enough space in selected destination

To redownload iMovie, move the iMovie app from your Applications folder to the trash, but don't empty the trash. Then sign in at the online app store and redownload it. After you have successfully redownloaded and everything works fine, you can empty the trash of your old app. If for some reason you are not able to redownload, then move the iMovie app from the trash back into the Applications folder.

Another thing. Don't touch the iMovie Library. It is separate from the iMovie app. If you delete the library you will be deleting all of your projects.

-- Rich

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

Here's another thread that gives instructions on how to restore your Mac to a previous operating system. The instructions are from the Finder Help menu:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250723268

-- Rich

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

I have the same problem, as soon a Catalina upgrade completed, iMovie no longer worked. Whenever I try to import any media I get the "Not enough disk space at destination" error message, despite there being plenty of disk space (for example I was trying to import a 50 MB clip, and the disk had 8,000 MB free. )

To fix this you need to uninstall and reinstall iMovie. Go to you application Launchpad (the little grey rocket icon towards the bottom left of the dock), find iMovie and drag it to the recycle bin, and confirm you want to delete. Then go to the App Store, search for iMovie in the search box (should be the first result), then click the 'Get' button.

Well Surprise, Surprise Apple have released a product without testing its capacity to fulfil its obligations to the consumer, iMovie does not work on the latest update "Catalina" and yet the Apple organisation are still draining money from its loyal subscribers and continue to peddle inferior products.

The truth, Apple could have such a wonderful product if they stopped being so avaricious and became more user friendly and put more thought into their customer satisfaction.

Ynot

Thanks, Motazi! Recently upgraded to the Catalina OS. After opening iMovie I got the "Not enough disk space at the selected destination" error. I was using iMovie '08. I moved the app to the trash, then went to the app store and downloaded iMovie 10.1.14. Bingo. Everything worked; didn't lose any of my past project either. Well done!

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.

Similar issue, it would open but once I tried to import a video, it said not enough memory. At first I thought CPU memory because I have 80gb free in my SSD. I’m certain my 3 minute time-lapse iPhone video would somehow be more than 80gb.

Any thoughts?

ios Catalina

Similar issue, it would open but once I tried to import a video, it said not enough memory. At first I thought CPU memory because I have 80gb free in my SSD. I’m certain my 3 minute time-lapse iPhone video would somehow be more than 80gb.

Any thoughts?

ios Catalina

mbp ‘19

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