iMovie; link to new iPhoto library location?

Question

iMovie; link to new iPhoto library location?

Problem:

i want to link my iMovie app to a new iPhoto library location where i can grab movies imported from my iPhone. I want this to be on an external drive to save space on my retina SSD.

What i've done:

I know how to move events stored on the internal hard drive to an external HD, but am having issues trying to reference iMovie to always look for the iPhoto library off of an external drive.

I have already moved my iPhoto library, and now all my events from the library are not found in iMovie because its always looking in the old location. The events that were not imported from iPhoto, but rather (for example) from the webcam are fine because i can move them from within the iMovie app. There is no way of dragging and dropping the iPhoto library, in the iMovie app, to my external HD.

If someone could help me with this (provided there is a solution) that would be greatly appreciated as many of my events are long videos, that i would rather not have stored locally.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7; 8 GB DDR3

Posted on Jul 18, 2013 8:11 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Jul 18, 2013 9:22 AM in response to MAC_Intelligence

Try making an alias of the iPhoto library and put the alias in the old iPhoto library location where iMovie is looking. This works for me using a network storage drive.

Finder/File/Make Alias.

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Answer 2

Jul 18, 2013 10:30 AM in response to Eric Root

Does this look right? Still says it cannot find the source files. Is there anything else i have to do? This seems brilliant.

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Jul 19, 2013 8:40 AM in response to MAC_Intelligence

It looks right, but it appears iMovie interacts with iPhoto and not just directly with the iPhoto library (may be poorly worded). You can delete the alias. If the below doesn't work, try posting in the iMovie community where you may have access to more iMovie expertise.

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

Does iPhoto 'see' the new location of the iPhoto Library? If so, what happens in iMovie when you click the camera button. Mine brings up iPhoto as shown in the screen shot below.

Another thing you can try is using the Import command under the file menu.

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Answer 4

Jul 19, 2013 9:32 AM in response to Eric Root

For starters im using version 9.0.9 of iMovie.

My Events Library looks like such...(without my external drive mounted of course)

I have also opened iPhoto with the "option" key and select various configs, such as running it from the external, from the internal, from the internal alias (referencing the external library) all to no avail.

If i can use the import command as you say and save them to my external HD i don't see what would be wrong with that.It would just be nice to use iPhoto for all my stuff, but i will try that when i have time, and get back to you.

Thanks for the reply, i appreciate it!

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