Saving

Saving Events
Saving Projects
Saving Other Media

Saving Events

Open the File menu, and you'll notice that there is no Save command, because if you recall, you told iMovie where to save the Event when you created it.

Let's assume that you saved the imported Event, e.g. footage imported from a camcorder, to your local hard drive and want to move it to an external hard drive.

1. Connect your external hard drive to a power source, then connect it to your computer using a FireWire cable. If there's a power switch, turn that on now. An orange icon should mount to the desktop. Double click on that. Either right click within the window or click on the GEAR-looking icon to create a new folder. Label this folder with your first and last name. e.g. SalPurpleshirt.
   
2. Next, double click the MACINTOSH HD icon and click on "Movies" on the left hand side of the window that pops up.
3. Drag the entire "iMovie Events" folder to the folder you created on the external hard drive. Depending on how much footage you have as well as the processing power of your computer, this may take some time.
4. If, while in the process of moving the entire iMovie Events folder, you also moved files which do not belong to you, you can erase them now from the folder on your external hard drive. To do this, click once on the file name you want to erase, and a menu will appear. Select "Move to Trash."
   

**Note: If you accidentally delete something you want, double click on the trash and move it to the appropriate folder. The files aren't actually deleted until you empty the trash.

So now you've moved your event to an external hard drive. But you'll also need to know how to move it back once you're ready to work on the project again.

1. Double click on the MACINTOSH HD icon, and open the "Movies" folder on the left hand side of the window.
2. Connect your hard drive. (See #1 above.)
3. Double click on the orange icon and open the folder you created.
4. From the folder on your hard drive, drag the individual Events (not the iMovie Events folder) into the iMovie Events folder on the computer's hard drive.
   
5. Open iMovie '08 to make sure the footage moved properly.

Saving Projects

Projects in iMovie automatically save to your computer hard drive. If you want to save a project on an external hard drive (e.g. if you're backing up your work or if you're working off of a FireWire drive we have in the lab), the process is very similar to the one you did to move your Events folder.

Follow the processes above, but instead of moving the Events Library folder as in step #4, move the iMovie Projects folder, and likewise, move individual projects rather than individual events as described in step D.

Now open iMovie '08 and make sure your project made the transition.

Saving Other Media

If your project includes other media, e.g. music uploaded to iTunes or photos from iPhoto, make sure these make it to the folder on the external hard drive and likewise, from the folder on the external hard drive back into the correct programs on the computer's local hard drive. If you forget to do this and you try to open your project on another day and on another computer, iMovie has no way of knowing that extra media is there. Don't forget!

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