How to move iMovie Library to External Hard Drive on Mac
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- This guide goes through the steps on how to relocate your Mac's iMovie library over to an external USB Hard Drive.
You'll need a Hard Drive that is large enough to store your iMovie library, it's also good to think about growth and how big your iMovie library may get.
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So your advice worked for me; however, I did delete the library from my MacBook after copying it over to my external hard drive. Now I'm going to remove more of the files from my laptop as well to clear my disk. Thank you 🙏
Thank you for making this video! This may be a silly question but what happens now? Like when I want to upload new footage to iMovie to create a new video, will it automatically upload the files to the external hard drive if the drive is plugged in? Or do I need to move over all the files every time I upload new videos? Just a bit confused if doing this only frees up storage on the computer so that you can add more videos to the computer itself OR if doing this makes it so that you can essentially edit off of the external hard drive so that you're no longer using space on your computer moving forward. Hope that all makes sense and thanks in advance!
Hi Jessica, yep, no longer using storage on the Mac. Adding vids to iMovie will now upload to your external media. Hope that helps.
Good questions! Thanks for asking them
@@David9o8i7u Yup. Thanks.
Great questions, thanks for asking them! @techwithEmlio thanks for the answers!
One random search and you're solving all my storage issues! Thank you
O-M-G !!! You've just helped me resolve a Major Problem I've been dealing with for over a week now iMovie was not working, just the Start Up Screen would open up with a Spinning Beachball. Your clear explanation of the Filing System helped point me in the right direction and now iMovie is working. But I'll have deal with my 200GB+ iMovie Library in a more judicious way. Thanks 😎
Exactly what I was looking for! Super helpful, thank you so much🙏 I’ve been struggling with storage and gets so frustrated when in the middle of editing lol
Great info. I was able to free up 88.85GB on my iMac. Put on a 4TB external drive with plenty of room left over.
This is the first video I have seen that pointed out holding option while opening the app.....thank you
This is what I was losing my mind looking for. Easy directions and worked right away. Thank you a billion times over!
Glad it helped!
Thank you so much for this video. I’m a PC user and I’ve had a difficult time getting used to my new MacBook. Many frustrations in the learning curve until I watch this video about finder and iMovie your videos are awesome thank you so much.
is it necessary to copy iMovie Theater as well? Thank you for the content.
Yup it worked thanks Emilio. Followed your clear instructions
~This is literally saving my life. Thank you.
Exactly what I was looking for. Are you able to recommend a hard drive for this purpose? Thank you!
lacie
Thanks! These steps working for me in Sequoia 15.1.1
Thank you! You made it so simple!
I want to give you a hug thank you that was so easy to follow!!
This is invaluable info. I watched several other vids on this that did not explain this nearly as well.
woohoo!! I get my Seagate external hard drive in the mail tomorrow, really hope this works for me. I've been struggling with the storage on my laptop foreverrrr & its been a struggle trying to edit. Thank you for this tutorial!! :)
glad you found it helpful
Now I've moved it over, there there a way to move one video back so I can edit on the mac rather than the hardrive?
Thank you for tips . The library moved , but it does not open due to permission required. Please advise
Same
Sorry if this is too late being a year old, but here’s what I found:
Go to system settings - privacy & security - files & folders - iMovie (down arrow)- toggle “removable volumes“
This seems to have worked for me
Thank you! My iMovie opens so much smoother now.
Finally had s chance to do this... when I copied the library and the theater.... it said it was going to take 12 days to copy it to copy everything over. I may have to delete some things before I do this again! 🤣
This video is really helpful, only I came across a problem. The movie I want to work on is empty on the hard drive. When I unplug the hard drive and open it in iMovie on my HD it's there...any ideas how I can solve this?
Excellent, just what I needed :-) no more begrudgingly deleting recordings
You just saved me so much time, effort, and frustration. THANK YOU!!!
Is the process the same for final cut pro?
Thank you so much. Nicely explained, I have been trying to do this for a while. You now have another subscriber.
Exactly what I was looking for. Thank You!
What do I do if I don’t have a “movies” tab?
Nice video! But can you do this in other software like DaVinci Reslove”?
Do I have to do the same for the iMovie theater? I was able to copy it over but, it’s not allowing me to do the, “locate” option for that one
what if i dont have Movies right there?
Good video, thx, will this work with other video editing programs, like Power Director
Thank you.
Does this also prevent the Mac from heating up?
Super helpful! Thanks. You gained a subscriber.
Really helpful. Thank you so much. Straight forward. I love it and I'm subscribed.
I followed the steps and updated my computer and now it's not on my hard drive how do I get anything back. nothing is pulling
It might be that your SSD format is incompatible with your new MacOS. if it is formatted to MacOS extended then your SSD should support new updates as well as be backwards compatible with older MacOS. Unfortunately there are no ways to get it back onto your updated system unless you have an older MacOS that will read your drive.
Would this same process work for movies you own on itunes?
Will this work on an iPad?
Brilliant tutorial, thank you very much.
It doesn't work. Using an M3 iMac, I get a permission error when trying load up iMovie when using the Libe on my hard drive. Libraries require Read and Write Permission. Doing get info on the files on my external drive and setting their permissions still doesn't work.
when i go into my finder, movies does not pop up. even when i search it, it opens up imovie! i wish this video helped me but from the beginning i didnt have the same options as this :(
Very helpful and clear. Thanks.
I wish I could tell you how much I love you for this!
How much?
Perfect, thank. you. Liked and subscribed!
Excellent video, precise and to the point!
THANK YOU!!!! 🙏🏾🙏🏾 This definetly worked :)
incredibly helpful, thank you so much.
Thank you, but I have a question about the way the M1 iMac is storing iMovie files, and more importantly, deleting them.
I do not store projects and libraries in iMovie (because of limited hard drive space) and I delete everything as soon as I have generated the video file to an external hard drive. If my video and the iMovie project was let's say 20GB, when I delete all those files the free space does not immediately reflect itself on my hard drive. In fact, it takes days for that free space to return to my internal drive. Is there some good reason my Ventura system handles the files this way?
I have a Panasonic HC-V700M. According to quick time the resolution 1080p, the format is H264, and the frame rate is 59.94 fps. I think that's an odd frame rate. I can't make it work! What's wrong? As far as I know I did everything right. The project settings in imovie says 1080p 60. I think the settings are rounded up but I don't know. The clip is a 30 minutes long. I will try again.
PLEASE HELP !!! Hi, thank for your advice to move the iMovie library to external drive. I follow up your steps, UNFORTUNATELY I lost many hours of work after closing my session 😅.
When I reopen it holding the option key I get this:
The document “iMovie Library.imovielibrary” could not be opened. Permission denied
The document “iMovie Library.imovielibrary” could not be opened. Permission denied
lol is my mac messed up. I opened finder and did not have the same list as shown in this video. The only thing mine had listed is airdrop, recent, applications, and downloads.
Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. iMovie Library and Theatre keeps reappearing in the Macbook hard drive after deletion and iMovie will not automatically see the external drive. Pretty sure I followed the steps exactly. Did this several times just to make sure - same result. Using Seagate One Touch external drive. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Straight forward and clear! Thank you. 😊
Hi, I was so happy to free up my drive and I did, but I had 2 unfinished projects and all the work disappeared. Can I have them back in the line with editing? I will appriciate any support, thank you.
Same thing just happened to me !!!
The document “iMovie Library.imovielibrary” could not be opened. Permission denied
will this clear space on my Mac ? the iMovie library is using massive space
Thanks for the straightforward and informative info! Exactly what I needed.
Enormously valuable video. Thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks!
Worked perfectly for me, thank you so much.
So if you have your external hard drive for “regular” back-ups, then your hard drive designated with your iMovie library, will your Mac know the difference? I’m a little afraid to plug in my iMovie hard drive back in for fear that Time Machine will just start the back-up and over-write it.
Man, you are awesome, thank you for this!
when trying to open the Imovie on external drive, the message you need read and write permissions keep coming up and its not opening. What are the steps to have it work?
Same
Excellent video! Thanks for getting right to the point! Liked and subscribed!
Thank you so much!!!! I did everything, BUT.....this may be a dumb question....when I go to open iMovie....do I open it from my External Hard Drive or from the IMovie Icon?? I'm so GREEN!! LOL!
I figured it out! Thanks again!!! 😅🥳
THANK YOU!!!! Been wanting to do this for a while!!!
Thank you sooooooo much!!!!
This was so helpful, thank you!!
Horrible to suggest but I dont think that is such a good idea. When you work directly in movie from your hard drive it is much slower than from within the Mac. If you move that library to the hard drive after editing, then great. Then create a new library for each film on your mac. At least it works better for me. Do correct me if I am wrong. Please.
Did you get a fast SSD drive with usbc?
External drives are one thing, but getting iMovie to operate with iCloud is a whole other matter. A video on that would be much welcome.
By the way, nice job on this video. It was very helpful.
If you want your iMovie back, go to its former location a hold the Command key and press Z to undo the deletion. Otherwise look in the bin and drag it out.
I got all the way to the last step and when choosing external hard drive I get this error : Permission Error Opening IMovie Library...Libraries require read and write permission.
The document “iMovie Library.imovielibrary” could not be opened. Permission denied.
Can someone help ?!
Thanks, this was very helpful and straightforward! ☀
Glad it was helpful!
Really useful, thanks.
Thanks, man. Helpful. It worked for me.
You're welcome!
I wasn't able to copy and paste the iMovie Library and iMovie Theater to my external hard drive.
Thanks for this!
Life saver!!!
Hey, do u have any experience with iMovie not opening external hard drive files ?? I moved my iMovie to my hard drive and now I can’t import my files on iMovie to edit vlogs , any help would be great. Thank you.
Perfect you are a life saver 😊
Thank you Mr.
Really helpful
my iMovie keeps crashing every time i try to import media
I don't have movie in my finder
Thank you so much
For some reason only a portion of the library was moved over. Many of my projects were missing. This happen to anyone else ?
thanks a lot. 25gigs freed :)
thank love
Thank you
Welcome!
Well I can’t find ‘movies’ on the tab?! Crap
Agreed, he sped through that part so fast, I had to pause and rewatch it 100 times before I caught to what he was conveying, after all that, still do not see this in Finder. Not sure what the issue is. I know I am not tech guy, and it takes a bit b4 I get dialed in, but cannot find the way he is showing. Off to next video to figure this out.
@@t3angling575 hey I figured it out shortly after posting this this. I opened Finder then clicked Finder on top left > Preferences > Then you can click what you want to be shown (Movies). Hope it helps
Hope someone help. I lost very valuable material and time.
I can't figure out what you are doing for the life of me... ugh the file creation and "moving imovie over" you lost me i made a file to put stuff in on my hard drive but can't figure it out from there. i can't figure out what screen you are on from the first box you open. i don't have anything that says "movies"
Which external hard drive is everybody using to transfer iMovie library?
most will work :) i like western digital personally
Genius Thanks!
thank you!
this is sooo useful!! thanks!!!
Glad it was helpful!