iMovie: ripping old tapes to hard drive. Can I delete 'Original media'?

[TokyoElbow]

MacBook Pro 2010 High Sierra
iMovie

Hi,
I have some old mini DV tapes from 20 years ago and I've connected an old camera via FireWire to my MacBook 2010 to import the tape contents.
As you can imagine it takes up an enormous amount of space on the hard drive and therefore I want to move the files to an external USB.

My aim is to copy all my tapes over to the hard drive and then maybe use a better video editor on my new MacBook Pro 2020.

Am I right in thinking that the Original Media folder is where it's ripping the tape data too? It seems to be the only place where the files are being stored, I can't find them anywhere else.
And if so is it okay to just copy this folder to my USB drive and then delete the contents and continue ripping the tapes?

Would these files still be okay to import into the newest version of iMovie 10.2.2 on my new MacBook Pro ?

thanks

Elbow

 

[ColdCase]

Yes, original media is where it is and copy is fine. I would delete the originals via your iMovie screen so it can keep its data base reference up to date, I think iMovie has one. Otherwise you will get can't find media error notifications. You may want to copy to two drives so you have a backup.

 

[TokyoElbow]

Thanks very much for the information.
👍

 

[Dave Braine]

I would delete the originals via your iMovie screen so it can keep its data base reference up to date, I think iMovie has one.

Yes, that's the best way. Also, you can always import via iMovie direct to your external drive. Go iMovie>File Menu>Open Library>New...then create one on your external drive.