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iMovie Disappeared, Deleting files didn't work

My project completely disappeared after the iMovie crashed today. I am maxed out at memory so that may be the reason why/ HELP!

Posted on Nov 11, 2018 5:47 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 11, 2018 8:58 PM

Hi,


Not to worry. Your project probably is in the iMovie backups folder.


First you need to move some files off of your computer hard drive so iMovie has space to work. You can drag some files to an external drive, or delete data that you don't want to keep. One thing you can do is to select your iMovie Library icon in the Movies folder, and Edit/Copy, Edit/Paste, it into an external drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). NOTE: If you need to reformat the external drive using the Disk Utility app on your Mac, you first need to back up or move all data on the external drive that you want to keep, because reformatting erases all data on the drive.)


Once you have enough space, you can likely restore your project from the iMovie Backups folder. To get there, follow this file path from the finder menu on your desktop: Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovie Backups. (If you don't see a Library item when you click on Home, hold down the Option key while you click.) When you get to the iMovie Backups folder you will see a list by date of previous backups of your library. Click on a library backup dated just before the crash. iMovie will open in that library and you can go to the Projects browser screen and see if your project is there. It should be.


-- Rich

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 11, 2018 8:58 PM in response to kimbo4prez

Hi,


Not to worry. Your project probably is in the iMovie backups folder.


First you need to move some files off of your computer hard drive so iMovie has space to work. You can drag some files to an external drive, or delete data that you don't want to keep. One thing you can do is to select your iMovie Library icon in the Movies folder, and Edit/Copy, Edit/Paste, it into an external drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). NOTE: If you need to reformat the external drive using the Disk Utility app on your Mac, you first need to back up or move all data on the external drive that you want to keep, because reformatting erases all data on the drive.)


Once you have enough space, you can likely restore your project from the iMovie Backups folder. To get there, follow this file path from the finder menu on your desktop: Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovie Backups. (If you don't see a Library item when you click on Home, hold down the Option key while you click.) When you get to the iMovie Backups folder you will see a list by date of previous backups of your library. Click on a library backup dated just before the crash. iMovie will open in that library and you can go to the Projects browser screen and see if your project is there. It should be.


-- Rich

iMovie Disappeared, Deleting files didn't work

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