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iMovie library

Doing some cleaning of duplicates and trash video files... Some of older libraries which where in different places – HDrives of three iMacs, couple of external HDDs – now will not open. I get the message that "the library could not be opened. -- You don't have a permission to save the file "FFLibraryUpgradeLock" in the folder xxx.imovielibrary".


Please help, I need my video files.

iMac Pro, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 25, 2020 1:37 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 25, 2020 12:58 PM

If you have time, post back with your results, as it might help others with your situation.


The Privacy folder sidebar contents are different in the Catalina operating system than in Mojave. I am running Mojave and I don't have a Files and Folders folder in the Privacy sidebar. However, I saw that you were running Catalina and so hopefully the procedure outlined in the link will work for you. The poster in the link outlined the process pretty clearly.


-- Rich

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 25, 2020 12:58 PM in response to Antonio999

If you have time, post back with your results, as it might help others with your situation.


The Privacy folder sidebar contents are different in the Catalina operating system than in Mojave. I am running Mojave and I don't have a Files and Folders folder in the Privacy sidebar. However, I saw that you were running Catalina and so hopefully the procedure outlined in the link will work for you. The poster in the link outlined the process pretty clearly.


-- Rich

May 26, 2020 4:50 AM in response to Rich839

Rich839, thank you very much, your help was precious! Videos dear to my heart resurrected.


The story: Never give up but it is not easy.


So... Why never give up? I visited this useful thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251222841

The route is slightly different than shown there. When you get to Security&Privacy - Files and Folders - iMovie

presents not one but three options: I checked Removable Volumes.



After that step there are no messages, suggestions to "Quit Now" or Restart.


I simply closed the window and restarted computer.


The most interesting part was after. There were two libraries which wouldn't open - smaller one (200+ MB) and large (1.3 TB). The smaller one started with operation "backing up...."



Than I got this "Validating..." and rolling "beach ball". After a while checked "Cmd-Opt-Esc" and sure enough "iMovie (not responding)" in grey. It looked like the program has frozen.


Forced to quit iMovie and tried anew few times. Same result. I was ready to quit. But tried one more time and left for lunch. On return I found iMovie library properly opened, all my movies in small windows in a perfect condition!



So problem solved and don't be scared, the process takes time up to an hour. Just leave it and hope for the better.


P.S. I got strange problem with some original files, but that is an issue for another post.


Thanks again for help.

iMovie library

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