[MacNN Staff]

Dear MacNN,

First of all my compliments for your website which I daily read with a lot of pleasure and interest. I don't know if this is the right channel to post this message but given the number of reports this issue generates on Apple's iMovie discussion board I think I have a solution for a problem that many Apple users are experiencing, including myself. Incidently, after heavy editing of (often large) iMovie files suddenly after saving and quitting iMovie, reopening of the file results in a "your project file is corrupt" message. Effectively, there is no simple solution and many users see themselves having to start all over again, which is, believe me, very frustrating. As a "more than average" experienced mac-user I tried everything to repair the file and managed to do so (thanks to Apple's policy of easiness and clarity of the Mac, even inside files). For all of those who are anxiously waiting for an update fixing this problem, here's the solution if in the meantime your file gets corrupted.

There are two ways to get going again, one fully repairs your file but you will need some experience to do this. In addition you will need the program ResEdit. If this is too much for you, you can always make a new project and drag the contents of your corrupted projects media folder into that of the newly created. At least it saves your clips. I can tell you that restoring your timeline is a pain in the b*t however.

To fully repair your project file, first open in in a text editor like MS Word (be sure to check "all files" otherwise your editor won't see the file in the open-dialog.

Now you will notice that the project file is nothing more than a text file (very cool Apple, no cryptic file, but a plain and simply structured text file. Thanks!). First all clips on the shelf are listed, then all clips on the timeline and finally all sound files. You will notice that somewhere in the second or third line after the clips name, something is listed like "start 0 0 0 end 1 0 22" (I don't have a file at hand, but believe me it obviously the frame number at which the clip should start and end (remember, cropping leaves the file intact unless you empty the trash. The clip simply starts after frame x). I screened the file by simply deleting the first half and checking whether it was repaired (hold on there is a second step to do this. Well here it comes: After narrowing down the problem it turns out that ONE OF THE CLIPS HAD A STARTING FRAME NUMBER OF - (MINUS) 1 22 8. Just replacing this by 0 0 0 (the same as most of the others) repaired my file. So screen your file on these start and end numbers to see whether a negative number is there and make it something positive.

Well, we've found the problem. But now my project file is saved as a MS word file and iMovie doesn't recognise it anymore. Here's where ResEdit shows up: Start ResEdit and choose "Get file/folder info.." from the FILE menu. Pick your edited project file. Now change the type into "TeXT" and creator into "Hway" and save. Careful, this is case-sensitive; small e in capital TeXT

Finished!

Now open the file in iMovie and it should be fine again. If it doesn't work or you don't find a negative number start using this technique to screen your files by first deleting the first half of the data, see if it works, and further narrow it down to the problematic clip data. Be sure to make a BACKUP of the corrupted file before!!

This is a serious bug and Apple should do something about it given the number of problems that are reported. But you can, with some effort, rescue your important project files. I've now experienced the bug a few times, but repaired it in all instances via the method above. The error was sometimes found in the sound file part of the project file and sometimes in the clip part of the file. I can't remember if there was a negative frame number during the first couple of events, since I found it only the last time when I did a really thorough search. But now I think this is the problem!

Good luck!
Alexander Griekspoor
The Netherlands

I'd like to thank Tom for helping me with this solution

Alexander,

Good news. I had this problem about 5 times and it is very frustratiing indeed. Typically Dutch solution.....

groeten,

Bernard Vercouteren van den Berge
Nederland

[nmirkis]

To simplify, there is a program called FileTyper. While there are many programs that allow you to poke into the hidden details of files, FileTyper allows you to create "AutoTypers". These autotypers are icons you can drag and drop to change creator and type of files. Adobe distibutes one from their website to "fix" pdf files who have no creator and type. FileTyper is available from most shareware download sites.

[Aric]

Thanks for your advice, I wish i knew this earlier. I had to restart a video slideshow not once but TWICE cuz of that friggin problem. I got so paranoid that i'd save a project after every transition and make a back up of the file after every save. Enough of my sob story though, just wanted to thank you and i'm sure this will come in handy in the future.

[mbpriddy]

This solution sounds like it's a perfect target for an AppleScript temporary solution. With a little help, I could build a drag-and-drop AppleScript that combs the text file and locates and fixes these errors. But sadly, I don't use iMovie. (no DV camera. Yet.)

If someone would be interested in helping develop and easy-to-use implementation of this solution, please post your email address here, and I'll contact you with an email address for where to send a sample of the corrupted iMovie file.

To simplify even further, use BBEdit Lite as the text editor. This is not only a free download (unlike MS Word), but also saves edited files without changing the Creator or Type codes. http://www.bbedit.com/products/bbedit_lite.html

[Aussie John]

The bad news is that apparently the negative numbers arent the only form of corruption.
The good news is this has been discussed a number of times on the apple discussion forums http://discussions.info.apple.com/we...dp1^0@.ee6bcd9 - in particular this post http://discussions.info.apple.com/we...z^0@.eecffb5/0

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John

[This message has been edited by Aussie John (edited 05-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Aussie John (edited 05-14-2001).]

hi all

i am currently working on a drag and drop applescript fix, but i need more corrupted files to work with (only have one currently). if you have spotted where the problem was, let me know which line too. please email them to me at juniortan@mac.com. iMovie FILE only please. thanks.