some home video files went missing

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Level 1

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some home video files went missing

I have 90 home videos that were initially loaded into iTunes 5+ years ago and that now show up on the Library tab within the Apple TV app. Although all 90 videos appear in the library, more than 30 are no longer playable because their m4v files somehow went missing through all the macOS upgrades over the years. Get Info for the missing videos shows the mystery path "file:///Users/Username/Movies/iMovie Library.imovielibrary/My Movie/Shared Items/XSZlzM9YRD2PUbs50ej+1g/Filename.m4v". Get Info for the videos that still work yields a much simpler path: "users/username/movies/Filename.m4v". I have searched all files on the entire disk, and the missing ones are simply not out there. What could have happened to them through macOS upgrades? Thanks for your help.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Mar 29, 2021 4:10 PM

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Answer 1

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pablopr

Level 2

347 points

Mar 29, 2021 5:41 PM in response to dwhewlings

Interesting.

The default file path for the TV app should be movies/tv/media or /TV Library.tvlibrary

If the ones that work are in movies/filename.m4v, maybe check if you have the default path pointing there instead of the default or maybe even the original iMovie file path.

On the TV app, do you see a thumbnail for the movie? Or just the three dots for menu options/get info?

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Answer 2

pablopr

Level 2

347 points

Mar 30, 2021 2:38 PM in response to dwhewlings

My best guess is: 1) the video are still in a container within the HD. Have you tried using DaisyDisk https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daisydisk/id411643860?mt=12 to do a deep look around?

I don't think the migration to TV would have that effect on a file. 2) Have you looked in your iCloud Drive?

3) Did you have some of the files stored in an external drive or a partition?

Let me know how it goes.

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Answer 3

dwhewlings Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 29, 2021 4:48 PM in response to pablopr

Thanks pablopr. The only device I ever synced with was a 1st gen Apple TV, and that's long gone. I had been able to view the missing videos long after recycling that device, and I have not synced with any other device. But I agree that the path is suspicious, especially the reference to "shared items." Why would these files have been moved there?

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Answer 4

dwhewlings Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 30, 2021 5:14 AM in response to pablopr

Under TV > Preferences > Files, the Media Folder Location is /Macintosh HD/Users/Username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. But none of the home video files is there, working or not. All of those that are working are in Users/Username/Movies. And a Finder search of the entire drive for those that are missing comes up empty.

In the TV app, I see a thumbnail for each home video, whether the file is missing or not. When I try to play a video with a missing file, it plays a different video, always the same one, the first one that it can find by ascending filename. And when I try to Get Info on a video with a missing file, I get the message "The video 'filename' could not be used because the original file could not be found."

Is there something about the migration from iTunes to TV that might have dropped the missing files?

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Answer 5

dwhewlings Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 31, 2021 7:35 AM in response to pablopr

Thanks Pablopr. Answers: 1) I will try this and let you know. 2) iCloud is not enabled for this account. 3) Other than a Time Machine backup, no. The TM backup failed several months ago, and I had to start a new one. The files must have disappeared before the backup failed, and the new backup doesn't have them.

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Answer 6

Mar 31, 2021 8:08 AM in response to dwhewlings

The path very clearly indicates something is still inside the iMovie library.

Go to your Movies folder, locate the iMovie library, and control-click and choose "Show Package Contents".

Then continue to navigate to "My Movie", then "Shared Items". Look inside it for folders with that long weird name.

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Answer 7

dwhewlings Author

Level 1

24 points

Apr 1, 2021 1:31 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks Luis. Using "show package contents", I found just one file in that long weird folder. It's a .plist file that was created and last modified on December 26, 2018. I don't know how to read .plist files, but inside I found three primary <key> values ("export", "itunes", "theater"), with most of the contents within the "itunes" key. Under the "itunes" key, there are 53 <dict> entries, most with <string> values of "December 16, 2018", "December 17, 2018" or "December 18, 2018". Sample below. What would have generated the .plist file? Does this get us any closer? Thanks for your help.

<key>itunes</key>

<array>

<dict>

<string>Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 12:58:33 PM Eastern Standard Time</string>

<key>fullDate</key>

<key>playlist</key>

<key>sourceFP</key>

<string>XSZlzM9YRD2PUbs50ej+1g - 2018-12-16 17:51:58 +0000</string>

</dict>

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Answer 8

dwhewlings Author

Level 1

24 points

Apr 4, 2021 9:16 AM in response to pablopr

Hi Pablopr, sorry I wasn't clear. By "the TM backup failed," I meant that TM reported that the sparsebundle file itself was not usable. I had to reformat the drive and start over. So the missing video files are not anywhere in my current TM backup.

I tried to take a closer look using DaisyDisk, but I did not see any video files other than those that are working. Am I looking for deleted files that might be recoverable?

Thanks again for your help.

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