You need to be an iLife ’08 user before you can download iMovie HD 6.

Apple made this download available after much complaints from its current existing user base that they preferred this version of iMovie to iMovie ’08.

The size of the .dmg file is 154.6 MB.

On the download page, Apple states that Mac OS X 10.4.4 (or later) is required if you want to use functionality such as themes, real-time video and audio effects.

I had to move data from my iMac to my new MacBook Pro, and iMovie event and project clips were some of the data that needed moving.

I wasn’t running Time Machine on the iMac, so I just took the following steps.

Step 1

This is optional, but now is probably a good time to think about rejecting unwanted iMovie clips and moving them to the Trash in order to reduce the size of the files to be backed up.

Step 2

Prepare your backup device.

I used an external USB hard disk.

You could also transfer the files directly from the source Mac to the target over the network, but I found that moving files using an external drive was much, much faster.

Step 3

Locate the Movies folder in Finder.

The Movies folder can be found in your Mac user home folder (davidchin in my case).

There are two sub-folders within the Movies folder, called iMovie Events and iMovie Project.

You might want to go ahead and just take a quick look into what kind of files exist there.

Select both folders (using [command + click] on the folder names), and then just drag the folders to an external hard disk.

Step 3

Locate the Movies folder in the destination machine.

Drag the two iMovie folders to the Movies folder, and you’re done.

Conclusion

Launch iMovie 08 in the target Mac and confirm that the project and event clips appear.

It seems that many enthusiasts of the older iMovie HD 6 don’t like the new iMovie that comes with iLife 08.

Read this article and the comments to get a better idea of the pros and cons of both versions.

There’s also another article comparing the two.

For me, the biggest drawback of iMovie 08 is that it has no multi-track capability for audio.

Thankfully, Apple has provided a download link for iMovie HD 6, free of charge, for iLife 08 owners.