iMovie storage of original media

Hi, bakkermenno,

iMovie stores all imported files in the iMovie Library in a Finder folder titled Original Media. If your iMovie library is on an external drive the Original Media folder will be on the external drive. Your folder is titled Final Cut Original Media possibly because you have or did have the Final Cut app on your Mac. When you select a clip in iMovie and do a File/Reveal in Finder, the Original Media folder will pop up with the selected clip name highlighted. If you remove the file from the Original Media folder you will remove it from the iMovie Library and, therefore, from all iMovie projects that may be using that file.

Because files imported into iMovie are already stored in the Original Media folder it is not necessary to have the files stored in separate special folders before starting editing. However, it is a good idea to have your original media also stored somewhere other than in your iMovie library. Files in a separate finder folder are much easier to access, move, and organize than if they are located solely in an iMovie Library. Also, iMovie Libraries can become corrupted and there can be updates/upgrades to the iMovie app and/or operating system that can affect the media stored in the library. In ten years when you want to access the files you may discover that you have deleted the iMovie app and now cannot access the library with the current version. So, I would say that you do not want your media tied up in an app whose future history you cannot control, even though also storing them in separate folders takes up space on your drive. But then, that's what external drives are for.

-- Rich