How to recover missing projects? (remove com.apple.iMovieApp.plist does not work)

Had the same problem, I trashed the "com.apple.iMovieApp.plist.lockfile" file, didn't work

So I trashed it again and used Time Machine on the whole video folder : works again !

I have the same issue and have tried every solution I could find on the internet. Running the current everything on a brand new macbook Pro that I got for Xmas. Really missing my 2007 iMac right about now. I never had ANY problems with that thing until the screen blacked out on me and, of course, there's no repairs available for those dinosaur machines. Hate to sound like an old timer but they don't build them like they used to. Some suggested sending feedback to iMovie because even trips to the Genius Bar and calling Apple Support have not worked for anyone who has tried it. Here is what I sent iMovie:

I made several projects on my 2007 iMac, which recently died. I replaced it with the model I identified and, though I have Time Machine backups dating back to 2/13, I am unable to find any versions of my projects which will open in iMovie. I tried installing an older version (I had an iLife 11 disk laying around) and frankly, I VASTLY prefer the interface of the older program. But they wouldn't open in that version either. This is hours upon hours of work that I can't access in any version of iMovie, neither the one they were created in nor the current, supposedly improved, version. I have googled this problem extensively and found that the internet is FULL of people with a similar issue and absolutely no successful resolution to it whatsoever (they've tried all manner of user suggestions and gone to the Genius Bar). Since I have to rebuild projects which took me months to create, I am going to look into different editing software because iMovie has proven to be entirely unreliable with no support for it. Having them backed up to Time Machine has done me no good. This is in no way user error. It's a MAJOR issue with the software. I would really appreciate help with this issue, but if that is not available, I need to abandon the software altogether.

If anyone ever comes up with a viable solution to this problem, PLEASE post it here. Sounds like Apple Support does not care enough to look into it, since the posts I've seen about it date back to 2011.

If I understand correctly you used to use iMovie '11 on your old mac and you have been able to instal it on your new mac. To what locations on your new mac have you copied your iMove projects and iMovie events folders? (They have to be at the root level of a drive/partition or in ~ / Movies for iMovie to recognise them).

Geoff.

Yes, I did read about that solution in the forums. I migrated all my data to my new computer via Time Machine so it should have been an exact copy of my old computer. I did double check and all of the files were in the correct folders on the same level.

So do you have your iMovieProjects and iMovieEvents folders in ~/Movies on your new mac? Can you check their contests?

Geoff.

Yes, I have the files in their respective folders under movies on the new mac. I can see the projects there. They are the same size they were (a couple of GB each) so it seems like the data should be there. But when I double click on them, iMovie opens but the projects do not. If I try to open them within iMovie, nothing happens.

What happens exactly? Do any events show up?

Geoff.

It makes that flash that you see when something is about to open and then there's nothing. Just an empty iMovie.

Have you tried creating a new movie just to make sure that iMovie is working properly?

Yes I have. In fact, I've successfully recreated all of the project without complex edits and have been able to export them, re-open the projects, and burn them to DVD just fine. I would abandon it altogether if it weren't for two of the projects which are just full of edits and quite long.

In that case there has to be something wrong with the contents of the projects and/or events folders you copied across. Can you compare them with the projects and events you have re-created? Are they on the same drive?

Yes, they are all on the same drive. The biggest difference I can see is that the original project files are large (2-3 GB each) and the recreations are small (40-60 MB each).

2-3 GB is very large for .rcproject files. 40-60 MB is more normal. What do the directories look like when you right click on a .rcproject file and select "Show Package Contents". What is taking up GB of storage?

By the way I am not clear whether you are using the original Events folder you copied over or if have you reloaded all your original media? It is the Events folder that should be large and contain all your media.

They look different in each one. My biggest one doesn't even have a movies folder in package contents. Other than that it has Project, Still Images, Still Thumbnails (all separated into 2014) and Proxies and QuickLook in 2013. The other large one has a movies folder with one movie in it called 720p.mov. It is 2.54 GB so that is where the size comes from for that, I assume. Also has the same folders and files as in the first project.

I did, however, realize that this is probably for naught anyway because I was having trouble exporting new projects and learned that iMovie can't support shots under 5 seconds in length, which is fine for home movies with long, continuous shots, but a disaster for narratives. Both the large projects are narratives and are chock full of short shots. It can't be what caused the problem in the first place, because the other projects were not complex, but it means I can't use iMovie for those projects files anyway. (The reason I was using iMovie for the narratives in the first place is because I updated the software on my old computer only to find out that my copy of Final Cut Pro was not supported in the new OS. So rather than shell out the money to replace it, I thought I'd try iMovie and never attempted to export those projects before the computer move).

In short, I really appreciate your time and help with this issue, but I now realize that even if I recover those files, I will need to recreate them in a more sophisticated editing program in order to export them anyway. I do hope that others who are having this issue are able to recover their files because when I googled this issue, I found many people suffering from it with little to no resolution.

OK the finalised movie explains the large size. Are you sure about the 5 sec limit? Its a long time since I used iMovie 9 (and I don't have it installed any more) but I don't recall getting any problems with shorter clips. iMovie 10 certainly doesn't have this limitation (but has others which a lot of people don't like).

I am now using FCP 10.1.4 and really like it a lot.

Glad to have assisted.

I've been a bit guilty not actually ever having responded to the original question from mat060 but i don't really have an answer other than the project package must have somehow got corrupted. I have encountered several reports like this over time but have never had the problem myself.

Geoff.