copy project, with project media

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copy project, with project media

In iMovie 10.2.2, is there a way to Copy Project & Project Media to an external drive, in one step?

I have many movie projects I wanted to backup to a backup drive, and I had to figure out how to do this thru several trial and error attempts... 'Copy (selected project) to library...' sounds like you'd be copying a Project & its media to the destination. But this is not true... I figured out that in iMovie there are 'Project Files', and 'media'. When you create a new movie project, you may drag in media from various places, and iMovie will create pointers to where each media resides. If you simply copy the 'Project File' (or move) to an external drive movie library, then open the project on a different Mac, you'll realize the project will open, but the media will be marked 'missing media'.

To properly have the ability to copy a project to an external drive and work on different computers, you must use this process... 1st Copy each project to the backup drive movie library, 2nd open the backup library in iMovie, 3rd Consolidate Project Media on every single project you copied. Then you can shut down, remove backup drive, open backup library on a different computer in iMovie and you'll have both the Project files & media that was in the project. I figured this out the hard way, and it really is a pain in the butt!! Apple should change it to be more clear, like this... 'copy project without consolidating media' or 'copy project with consolidated media'. I'm not sure who would ever want to copy (project) only, unless your media is always on the Mac internal drive and you never work with media that is not on your internal drive. For people that make a lot of videos and want to use external HDs to archive their work and save space on their internal HD, the process I described is the only way that works.

Wish list requests for iMovie:

more clear commands... 'Copy Project without Consolidating Media' (this is the existing copy command) and 'Copy Project with Consolidated Media' (new command that doesn't exist yet).
ability to select more than one project, and perform above commands (or move command).
more clear command... 'Move Project without Consolidating Media' (this is the existing move command) and 'Move Project with Consolidated Media' (new command that doesn't exist yet).
ability to backup an entire library easily, that would copy project files & media. I know this might take a long time depending on the size of the library, but a better progress indicator would help (see next item).
better indicators (than tiny progress circle) about what is happening. A pop up message that explained the function in progress, with estimated time to complete, and a much much bigger progress bar with % would be much better. Sometimes, waiting for so long watching the tiny progress circle and not knowing how it will take to finish, is unnerving :)

Another issue I found is now that I have installed Final Cut Pro, I've noticed that my iMovie media has moved from the iMovie library package file, to some FCP folders. Luckily, the backup process I describe above still works, but if for some reason I rename the backup library (for example, add a date to the file name to keep multiple dated backups), it will cease to open because all the media location pointers still point to the originally named locations.

Posted on May 8, 2021 6:06 PM

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Answer 1

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Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

May 9, 2021 9:11 AM in response to blueguru

I was thinking that if your object were to back up multiple projects it would be easier to simply consolidate the whole library and then Edit/Copy, Edit/Paste, the library to an external drive that is formatted Max OS Extended (Journaled).

To consolidate a library click on its name in the iMovie media side bar and do a File/Consolidate Library Media. As with the Consolidate Project Media procedure, you will get a notification if there is no media to consolidate. Otherwise, it will consolidate it. I agree that it would be nice if a warning would pop up at the time one tries to move or copy a project that the project needs to be consolidated.

The contributors to this forum are consumers like yourself. We have no input into Apple's decisions and software designs. You can give feedback directly to Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/imovie.html

As a work flow, you can accumulate the source files that you intend to use in a project into a Finder folder on your desktop, and from there import them into an iMovie project or Event. That will get all of the source files into your iMovie library Original Media folder. Then you wouldn't need to consolidate because the files would already be in the library.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

May 8, 2021 11:35 PM in response to blueguru

If you import your project media into iMovie to start with you don’t need to worry about consolidating the project media before transferring or copying the project. If you haven’t done that, select the project in the project browser, do a File/Consolidate Project Media, and transfer or copy the project. It’s a pretty simple process.

Sometimes its easier to consolidate the whole iMovie library and copy it to the external drive. That will give you a backup of all your projects. You should be doing that, anyway. A Time Machine backup is another way.

EDITED

— Rich

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Answer 3

blueguru Author

Level 1

8 points

May 9, 2021 8:52 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich, Can you explain what you mean by ?sometimes? it's easier to consolidate the whole iMovie library?

And don't see a function to select the whole library to consolidate the whole library? I only see a function to select each project one by one, which is tedious. I wish the consolidate-media function was in the ellipsis menu.

I like the idea to import the project media into the project to not have to consolidate project media. But most of the time, I select my media from my highly organized Photos library, so I think I'll just have to stick with consolidating media towards the end of my workflow. How about adding a message if you move or copy a project, that warns you that media is not in the library and should be consolidated to keep them together?

Thanks for your help.

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Answer 4

blueguru Author

Level 1

8 points

May 9, 2021 9:46 AM in response to Rich839

I'm using a SSD USB-C external HD formatted the way it came (exFAT) and it seems to work, and it's nice that I can store some other backups to access using other computers (PC). Is there better functionality, or is it critical to use Max OS Extended (Journaled) format for my iMovie files?

Thanks.

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Answer 5

Rich839

Level 8

47,730 points

May 9, 2021 11:17 AM in response to blueguru

You can store a final shared out iMovie project, i.e, an indepedent movie, on an ExFat drive. However, iMovie libraries must be stored on a drive that is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS -- both are Apple formats. Otherwise there could be loss of data. You might not be aware that it is happening.

You can use the Disk Utility app in your Mac's applications folder to reformat the drive. Be aware that reformatting erases all data on the drive, so back up elsewhere any data that you want to keep.

-- Rich

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Answer 6

blueguru Author

Level 1

8 points

May 9, 2021 12:14 PM in response to Rich839

thanks Rich for all your suggestions.

I guess I will move all my projects back to my internal drive, reformat my external to APFS, then move them back to the external drive, and not use it for other OS. But I can live with that :) I should've done that the first time around.

and thanks for the link to the iMovie feedback.

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copy project, with project media

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