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PLEASE HELP imovie quit on me :(

Imovie quit just out of the blue. I was working for a couple hours on a project, then all of the sudden it closed out and asked me to relaunch. So i did, and all my work is gone😢. Please help me i need this project back before tomorrow evening (mother's day evening)! This is very important! I will check this posting every hour!

imac g5, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 17inch

Posted on May 7, 2011 10:09 PM

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16 replies

May 8, 2011 12:27 AM in response to nlsilverberg

I have had the same problem just now. 😟 😢

I have been working on about 2 hours of footage i converted to AVI lost because i got the error in 4 different languages telling me to restart. When i restarted, i opened imovie and there were no projects there. All my days editing. GONE. I checked my imovie projects file in movies and the file was there but would not open or preview. Can someone please reply. I have to get my work back by wednesday! I did not have time machine backups on so i there any way to recover the movie???

May 8, 2011 2:36 AM in response to nlsilverberg

From your post (also Kudelka's) we don't know which version of iMovie you are using. However, the following suggestion applies to all versions.


Delete iMovie's preference file. It's located in your User (Home) folder Library/Preferences and, for iMovie '11, is named "com.apple.iMovieApp.plist".


With iMovie closed, drag the .plist file to the Trash. When next opened iMovie will create a fresh file with the default settings which you may change if desired by selecting iMovie>Preferences in iMovie's menu.


Deleting the file will not harm your Events or Projects, but may fix problems when iMovie is misbehaving. The file can become corrupted in some circumstances, such as when iMovie quits unexpectedly or is Force Quit.


NOTE: For users of iMovie '09 the .plist file is named "com.apple.iMovie8.plist". For iMovie '08 it's probably named "com.apple.iMovie7.plist". Prior versions up to iMovie HD 6 will have a similar name. There is no danger in deleting any of the iMovie .plist files, as they will be recreated with default settings when iMovie is next opened.


John

May 8, 2011 2:52 AM in response to John Cogdell

Ok thankyou John for your advice. I am using imovie 11 and when i deleted the files in the preferences and started up imovie again it generated the events again but after it finished it went back to the project library with nothing in it. I'm in desperate need to finish this project and I cannot open the project file in the imovie projects folder.

😢

May 8, 2011 3:39 AM in response to Kudelka

I don't really have the technical knowledge to advise further. My usual standby is to simply delete the preference file. It's possible (? probable) that your project is corrupted, particularly given the nature of your Mac unexpectedly quitting. My understanding is that it wasn't just iMovie that quit, but the whole system crashed.


It may be best if you cut your losses and start your project from scratch, as there is no guarantee that an immediate solution will be recommended here - sorry! You mentioned that your Events are intact, so that is a relief. Also, hopefully you can still meet your Wednesday deadline!


One tip: As you are not running a backup, it will be a sensible idea to create a duplicate project from time to time if the full edit is going to be spread over several days (or even hours). All duplicate projects can be deleted once the edit is complete. To duplicate a project, while in Project Library view, click on your project then select File>Duplicate Project from iMovie's menu. A copy will be created and placed in the Project Library - this will have the same name as the original, but with a number appended (rename as desired).


Hopefully someone here will come up with a solution for you, but in the meantime I would get cracking on starting over.


John

May 8, 2011 3:59 AM in response to John Cogdell

Thank you for your help John. I will start a new project and hopefully finish by Wednesday. I'm sure the whole system crashed as the screen got darker and froze, not just iMovie. Tomorrow i will buy an external hard drive 1Tb for time machine and backups. I'm sad i lost my whole project though... i was really close to finishing. 😐

May 8, 2011 5:05 AM in response to Kudelka

Kudelka wrote:


Thank you for your help John. I will start a new project and hopefully finish by Wednesday. I'm sure the whole system crashed as the screen got darker and froze, not just iMovie. Tomorrow i will buy an external hard drive 1Tb for time machine and backups. I'm sad i lost my whole project though... i was really close to finishing. 😐

Yes, it's a real pain when this sort of thing happens. iMovie is designed to save automatically (there is no manual save command), so you would expect to be able to recover the project from the last saved version - but alas!


Good thinking to use Time Machine. I have mine running on a Western Digital portable Studio drive with FireWire 800. It just works noiselessly in the background - you don't even notice it unless you see the clock icon revolving in the menu.


At least doing the project again may take less time, given that you've been through most of the editing previously. I trust that it wasn't too complicated. Good luck - hope you make the timeframe! Possibly someone else here can still help - just press on in the meantime.


John

May 8, 2011 6:19 AM in response to nlsilverberg

Sorry to hear you've had no luck. Let your Mum (Mom) know what you've been working on - I'm sure she'll appreciate what your doing for her. Remember, it's the thought that counts! Perhaps you could prepare a colourful little document like a Certificate or Voucher that promises to complete a video project for her. When she gets the real thing she will be blown away! Anticipation is a good thing!


Anyway, good luck with this - sorry I couldn't help further.


John

May 10, 2011 9:36 PM in response to lawsofphysics

lawsofphysics wrote:

Same problem (slight difference) - It just quits unexpectedy when I start importing ANY video.

What version of iMovie are you using? What Mac are you using for the import?


What type of video are you importing - AVCHD, DV, HDV, AVI, H.264, MPEG-2 or other format?


Are you importing from a camcorder, digital stills camera, card reader, an archive or other movie file?


Sorry about all the questions, but this extra information may help us to isolate the problem. Possibly the video needs to be converted to another format before iMovie will recognise it and behave normally (without quitting).


Have you tried deleting iMovie's preference file as described in my earlier post?


John

PLEASE HELP imovie quit on me :(

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