Safely moving videos from iPhoto?

Question

Safely moving videos from iPhoto?

I have many years of accumulated videos in iPhoto that I want to finally organize outside of iPhoto.

I think I want to put them onto a set of DVDs, but I'm also thinking of putting them on a thumb drive as well--might as well have two copies.

The last time I tried to do this, things got really weird and I think it's because I renamed the video (from the file number to a brief description of what was in it). I got messages saying that the video couldn't be found. After some advice from people here, I put the original file names back in place and it worked. Phew!

Anyway, I want to try again and do it right this time. If someone can help me, I'd like step-by-step instructions as to how to manipulate each file and eventually get it onto the DVD and thumb drive of my dreams. Thanks!

P. S. Is there a point in the process where you can safely rename the file?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on May 30, 2016 3:40 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

May 30, 2016 3:58 PM in response to James Snedeker

select the movies in iPhoto and export (file menu ==> export) the unmodified original to a folder - there you can rename as you wish and write to CD/DVD or a ThumbDrive -- You must NEVER make any changes to the content of the iPhoto library - only after exporting can you make changes to the file outside the library

LN

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,020 points

May 30, 2016 10:45 PM in response to James Snedeker

Select the videos and go

File -> Export

Set the Kind to Original

Decide where to export to, and that will produce your videos in a folder at the chosen location.

I'm not sure there's much point in backing up to CD/DVD. It's a dying technology. Only one model of Mac now comes with an optical drive, soon these shiny disks will be as useful as floppy disks.

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Answer 3

Jun 1, 2016 6:52 PM in response to James Snedeker

Dear Larry and Terence,

Thanks so much for the help! I'm looking forward to getting these videos organized once and for all.

Yeah, Terence, I know what you're talking about with the demise of discs and all. I still like them, though, and still use iMovie to make fun movies. I bought an external disc drive and also put iDVD onto my brand-new iMac/El Capitan. It worked well and I'm as happy as a Luddite clam.

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Answer 4

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Jun 1, 2016 8:08 PM in response to James Snedeker

You are welcome

LN

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