iMovie saying disk full (>20GB available) when trying to reimport media

Hi,

In order for the iMovie 10 library to work properly your external drive must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). To check the format do a control-click on the library icon and select Get Info in the drop down menu. If it is not formatted Mac Os Extended (Journaled), Edit/Copy your iMovie library and Edit/Paste paste it onto your Mac's hard drive. It will bring all of the projects with it. See if it works there. If it does, you can back up the data on your external drive that you want to save, and then use the Disk Utility app on your Mac to reformat the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and copy your library back into it. Reformatting the drive deletes all data on it, so that's way you need to back up any data that you want to keep before reformatting.

-- Rich

Possibly your library has become corrupted, or perhaps you did not do a File/Consolidate Library Media before moving or copying your library to a new location, in order to make sure that all media is copied to the new location rather than links which may break. You might try copying your library (Edit/Copy) and then Edit/Pasting it back onto your Mac's hard drive, and then opening iMovie and doing a File/Consolidate Library Media.

-- Rich

Hmmmm. Strange.

Try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and deleting preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if you can import into iMovie.

Failing that, try booting up in Safe Mode (see Help Menu) and, after everything has finished loading, shut down and boot up in regular mode.

I would also run first aid on your disk with the Disk Utility app on your Mac.

If nothing works, you might want to consider taking your computer in to the Genius bar at an Apple Store near you for some hands on analysis.

-- Rich

As I mentioned earlier, possibly your library is corrupted, or possibly the project itself. Try creating a new library and copying your project into it and see if that makes any difference. Go to the Projects screen in iMovie. Move your cursor over the project's icon to reveal a little circle with dots in it. Click on the circle to get a drop down menu that gives you a "copy to library ___" option. Your destination library must be open for the option to be available. See if that helps.

-- Rich