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iPhoto alias for iMovie

How come i can't make an alias for iphoto from an external hard drive and use it to run iMovie from the local HD?

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 12:07 PM

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5 replies

Jul 18, 2013 7:39 PM in response to Barney-15E

Sorry that was worded badly. Its not difficult. iMovie in synced with iPhoto to retrieve video and picture files to be used in projects. I want to run my iPhoto from an external HD (save space on my internal SSD) so i move it, and therefore leave a "dead" space in my old directory (if you will) in which case iMovie is lost trying to find a deleted library. SO...i make an alias in the "dead" space so that iMovie can find a link to where the actual library is stored (my external HD)


Seems brilliant. Doesn't work. Is there a way that i DON'T need my iPhoto library ON my INTERNAL HD and still use my iPhoto library in iMovie?


Hope that clears it up. 🙂

Jul 18, 2013 8:08 PM in response to MAC_Intelligence

My best guess would be to delete the com.apple.iapps.plist and com.apple.iphoto.plist files from your user/Library/Preferences folder. Maybe iMovie's also.


Once you delete them, open iPhoto while holding down the option key. Tell it where your iPhoto Library now resides.


You'll have to reset all the individual app settings. You might just move them to the Desktop so you can restore them if it doesn't work.


Edit: Looking deeper at the iApps plist, it stores all the lcoations for each database, so you may have to update all of them, iTunes, iMovie, PhotoBooth.

Jul 18, 2013 8:45 PM in response to Barney-15E

Sorry to say...Been there. Done that.


I'm running out of options REAL fast. I know im not the only one with this problem and i havent been able to find a proper answer anywhere on this forum or online anywhere i have looked.


This seems like a very reasonable option for someone that needs space on their internal HD that iMovie should have no problem with. Certainly should not be this much of a hassel to a respectably avid mac user..

Jul 19, 2013 2:29 PM in response to MAC_Intelligence

Two suggestions. If you have successfully linked iPhoto to the new location, in iMovie, click on the camera to see iPhoto and try to access the files from there.


User uploaded file


Or you can try importing the files using iMovie/File/Import. From iMovie help.


Import video from movie files

You can import movie files into iMovie that are stored on your computer or a connected hard disk. These movie files can be in a number of formats, including MPEG-4 and standard (DV) file formats and some .mov file formats.

iMovie imports AVCHD video files directly from the camcorder only. See the topics in this section about importing video from the type of camcorder you use.

HideTo import video from a movie file:

  1. In iMovie, choose File > Import > Movies, and then find the file you want in the Finder window.The File menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.
  2. If the HD Import Setting dialog appears, select Large or Full, even if you aren’t importing high-definition (HD) video now, and then click OK.
  3. Choose the disk where you want to store the video from the “Save to” pop-up menu.You can choose any supported hard disk that’s connected to your computer. It takes 13 gigabytes (GB) of space to store about one hour of video in standard (DV) format and 40 GB for video in HD format, so make sure your disk has enough available storage space for the video you’re importing. The amount of free space on each available disk is shown in parentheses next to the disk’s name in the pop-up menu.
  4. Choose how you want to organize the imported video in your Event Library:
    • To add the imported video to an existing Event, select “Add to existing Event,” and then choose its name from the pop-up menu.
    • To create a new Event, type a name for it (for example, “Birthday Party”) in the “Create new Event” field.
  5. If you’re importing high-definition video, choose a size from the “Optimize video” pop-up menu.The option you choose overrides what you chose in the HD Import Setting dialog in step 2.
  6. Choose what to do with the original files:
    • To retain the original files intact after copying them into iMovie, select “Copy files.”
    • To delete the original files after copying them into iMovie, select “Move files.”
  7. Click Import.iMovie can take several minutes to more than an hour to import the video and generate thumbnail images of each clip, depending on how much video you have. The progress indicator in the Import window shows you how long it might take.

iPhoto alias for iMovie

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