How do I copy GarageBand (iLife '09) projects from my iMac 2009 to an external hard drive?
I want to continue working on them in Logic Pro X on my MacBook Pro (2015).
I thought I could simply go into Music > GarageBand and then grab that folder which contains all the projects, but it doesn't work...!
Thank you for your help!
VIN,iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)
Bavanandan wrote:
How do I copy GarageBand (iLife '09) projects from my iMac 2009 to an external hard drive? [...]
I thought I could simply go into Music > GarageBand and then grab that folder which contains all the projects, but it doesn't work...!
that is what you would do (or just drag the single project to the HD)
the issue is that you are using such an old version of GB, that Logic can't open its projects.
get the latest version of GB (10.2.x), open the project with that, and you'll be asked to save a copy; in your case, save that to your external HD and LPX should be able top open it.
Bavanandan wrote:
How do I copy GarageBand (iLife '09) projects from my iMac 2009 to an external hard drive? [...]
I thought I could simply go into Music > GarageBand and then grab that folder which contains all the projects, but it doesn't work...!
that is what you would do (or just drag the single project to the HD)
the issue is that you are using such an old version of GB, that Logic can't open its projects.
get the latest version of GB (10.2.x), open the project with that, and you'll be asked to save a copy; in your case, save that to your external HD and LPX should be able top open it.
what happens if you try to create a new folder on the HD?
(if that works) how about dragging a single project to it? how about multiple projects?
(if that fails) try selecting the HD and pressing ⌘-i, check the permissions to be sure you have READ/WRITE access.
this is a puzzler.
have you tried copying any other file to the HD?
what about moving the GB files to another folder on your desktop Mac, does that work?
TD Mode is certainly worth a try (or airdrop).
Bavanandan wrote:
If I try to drag the GarageBand folder (containing all the projects) to the external hard drive, it simply resists and pings back.
huh.
did you reformat the HD for macOS? external drives generally come formatted for Windows
one other thought, what happens if you try to literally Copy and Paste a GB file (⌘-c ⌘-v) from iMac to HD?
Thank you for your response, HangTime 🙂
Brilliantly enough, LPX actually has no problem in opening these old iLife 09 GB projects. I can do a save-as of any one of these GB projects from my old iMac to an external hard drive and then open it in LPX on my MacBook Pro.
The issue is in being able to simply copy all of these original GB projects in one go across to an external hard drive.
I'm completely stumped. It should be really simple, no?
Bavanandan wrote:
The issue is in being able to simply copy all of these original GB projects in one go across to an external hard drive.
what happens when you attempt to drag the folder to the HD?
If I try to drag the GarageBand folder (containing all the projects) to the external hard drive, it simply resists and pings back.
My concern if that actually worked was that it would move and not copy the projects. However, that's moot as it didn't work anyway.
Totally stumped?!
Definitely have read/write access on the new external drive.
Tried to first drag a single project to the external, and then secondly to a new folder on the external. Neither worked... 😕
All I can think of now is to use Target Disk Mode to mount my iMac to my MacBook Pro and attempt to get the projects that way?!
I really appreciate your time on this. The struggle feels less lonely..!
Sadly, still no joy on those suggestions.
It's as if the folder is locked or "deeply embedded" in the iMac HD... Yet ⌘-i'ing the GB folder tells me I have read/write and share permissions.
I will try TDM. This does require buying a Firewire cable and that very expensive Firewire-Thunderbolt adaptor, eugh! Have ordered it on Amazon so as soon as it arrives I will report back.
If you, or anyone else, have any further ideas in the meantime, shout!
It's new Glyph SSD hard drive, pre formatted for Mac.
Makes no earthly sense..!
Copy GarageBand projects to an external hard drive?
