Backups & restore points

Data Backup keeps versioned, restorable backups of the folders and files you choose, on another drive or a connected cloud account. Every change becomes a point-in-time version, and nothing is overwritten in place.

Choose More (•••) → Windows → Data Backup from the menu bar popover, or click the Data Backup card on the Home screen. Both open the same window with one card per backup set.

Open Data Backup, click New backup set, add folders with Add folder or file, then pick a destination — a folder on a drive or a connected cloud account. Press Back up now or let it start on its own.

A backup set is one card in Data Backup: the folders and files you chose, one destination, and its own schedule, versions and status. You can keep several sets with different rules.

Yes. Click New backup set as often as you like. Each set has its own folders, destination, schedule and versions, so you can back up documents continuously and a big archive overnight.

Yes. Use Add folder or file on a backup set and choose the file. It's versioned like a folder — every change becomes a point in time you can restore.

On the set's card, click Add folder or file to add one, or the minus button beside a folder to remove it. Removing only stops future backups; versions already saved still contain it.

Data Transfers makes two places match right now; Data Backup keeps a history of versions. If a file is deleted or damaged, a sync copies the damage, while a backup lets you restore the earlier version.

No. Data Backup protects the folders and files you pick, not macOS or your apps. Keep Time Machine for a full-system backup; Data Backup adds versioned copies of chosen folders on a drive or in the cloud.

New backup sets skip Trash folders, Caches folders, .tmp files, .DS_Store files, node_modules folders and Git's internal object store — things that are rebuilt automatically and not worth versioning.

Your project's working files are backed up and versioned, but Git's internal object store is skipped by default, so a backup isn't a full copy of repository history. Keep pushing to your remote.

One badge shows how many backups are running now; an amber badge shows how many backup sets need attention. Open the card to see what's wrong and the fix offered.

Backups run while Storage Studio is running in the menu bar. If you quit, they pause; when you reopen the app it catches up, finishing unfinished backups and saving what changed meanwhile.

No. A backup set runs as things change by default — it watches your folders and backs up shortly after you edit something. You can switch to a schedule or to only when you ask.

Use both. Time Machine protects the whole Mac; Data Backup adds versioned backups of chosen folders to another drive or an encrypted cloud copy, including folders on your external drive.

A folder on a drive (Choose a folder…) or any cloud account you've connected in Data Transfers — such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Amazon S3, or an SFTP, FTP or WebDAV server.

Plug the drive in, open the set's Destination menu, choose Choose a folder… and pick the drive. Drive backups are encrypted automatically, with no passphrase to remember.

Connect the account in Data Transfers, then choose it in the backup set's Destination menu and set a passphrase. Everything is encrypted on your Mac before it uploads.

Choose one of your existing buckets from the list — the bucket itself, not a folder inside it. Storage Studio creates its own folders there. Create the bucket with your provider first if it isn't listed.

Bucket names must be 3–63 characters of lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and dots, starting and ending with a letter or number — provider rules. Capital letters are the usual cause.

Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive deliberately throttle large uploads, so backups there are slower. An external SSD is fastest, and bucket storage such as Amazon S3 is the quickest cloud option.

No. Google Photos can't hold backup files, and Google Photos accounts can't be added right now after Google's 2025 rule change. Back up your photo folder to a drive or another cloud account instead.

Yes. Add the server as an SFTP, FTP or WebDAV account in Data Transfers and choose it as the destination, or pick a folder on a share already mounted in Finder.

Yes, but Storage Studio warns you: it protects against mistakes, not against that drive failing. Add a second destination on another drive or a cloud account for real protection.

Yes. Each Mac keeps its backups in its own folder named after the computer, so several Macs can share one drive or cloud account without their backups ever mixing.

That cloud account won't accept the way Data Backup stores files, so the set can't back up there. Choose another drive or a bucket-storage account such as Amazon S3 as the destination.

No. Data Backup is the backup feature; Delta Trust is one destination it can use — backup storage we run, where nothing on your Mac can delete what's already backed up. You can use Data Backup with your own drive instead.

No. Drive and folder backups run entirely on your Mac and work offline. Only cloud destinations need a connection, and they catch up once you're back online.

Yes. Cloud backups are encrypted on your Mac before upload, so the provider only stores scrambled data. A passphrase you set protects the whole backup set — and it's the only key.

Yes. Drive and folder backups are encrypted automatically, with no passphrase to remember. The passphrase step appears only for cloud destinations. You restore drive backups through Versions… in Data Backup.

You're asked the first time you pick a cloud destination, or click Set passphrase… on the card. Use at least 8 characters, type it twice, tick the confirmation box and click Save — then store it safely.

Those cloud backups can't be recovered by anyone, including us — the passphrase is the only key. Try variants with Re-enter passphrase…; if it's truly lost, Delete & start fresh begins a new backup.

The passphrase saved on this Mac doesn't unlock that cloud backup — usually a typo at setup. Click Re-enter passphrase…, type the one the backup was made with and click Reconnect. Nothing is deleted.

No. Re-enter passphrase… only tests what you type and saves it once it's confirmed to unlock the backup. A wrong guess changes nothing; the right one reconnects you to every saved version.

On purpose: a passphrase that doesn't match would fail on every retry, so Storage Studio pauses that set and waits for you. Click Re-enter passphrase… and automatic backups resume once it matches.

No. Once a version is written to the destination, it's shown as saved and simply re-checked next run, even if the follow-up check was interrupted. A passphrase warning means the destination really couldn't be opened.

Choose Change passphrase… from the set's Destination menu. It permanently deletes every existing version of that set and starts a fresh backup, so use Re-enter passphrase… instead if you only need to fix a typo.

No. The passphrase belongs to the backup set, so it stays the same when you choose a new destination — the sheet says it's using the set's existing passphrase. Changing it is a separate step.

We don't publish the technical details, but your files are encrypted on your Mac before any cloud upload, the provider only stores scrambled data, and your passphrase is the only key. Choose a long one and keep it safe.

Your passphrase was correct, but it couldn't be stored securely on this Mac at that moment, so it wasn't saved. Your backup is unchanged — try Re-enter passphrase… again, restarting the Mac if it repeats.

No. Backups to your own drive or cloud account go directly from your Mac to that destination, not through our servers. Cloud backups are encrypted on your Mac and we never have your passphrase.

Yes. Each cloud backup set has its own passphrase, kept and checked separately, so changing one never affects another. Drive backups don't need one.

Make it long and unique — a short sentence of unrelated words works well — never reused, and store it in a password manager or on paper away from the Mac. There's no reset if it's lost.

Click Change… on the backup set's card, choose On a schedule, then pick every hour, every few hours, every day at a set time, or every week, and click Done.

As things change backs up shortly after each edit (the default); On a schedule runs at times you pick; Only when I ask waits for Back up now. Change it with Change… on the set's card.

It adds one scheduled version a day on top of As things change — a safety net for folders edited so constantly that a quiet moment to back up may never arrive. Turn it on in the set's Change… popover.

It backs up once when the Mac is next able to — not once for every missed slot — so a week away means one catch-up backup, not a burst of them.

Yes. In the set's Change… popover, turn on The Mac is plugged in under Only when. Automatic runs then wait for power, the card says why, and Back up now still works any time.

Yes. Turn on Not on a personal hotspot under Only when in the set's Change… popover. Cloud backups then wait while you're tethered and resume on a normal network.

Yes. Turn on Stay out of my working hours in the set's Change… popover and pick the hours. Automatic runs wait until the window ends; Back up now still works.

The card always gives the reason: waiting for power, for Wi-Fi, for your working hours to end, for the Mac to be less busy, or for a faster connection. It clears by itself; Back up now overrides it.

Storage Studio tests your upload speed before an automatic cloud backup. If it's far too slow to finish, it waits, shows the speed and tries later. Back up now always starts regardless.

Yes. In the set's Change… popover, open Upload speed and Mac impact and turn on Limit upload speed with a ceiling in MB/s. It's halved automatically on battery.

It turns a set's automatic and scheduled backups on or off. Off, nothing is deleted and Back up now still works; switch it back on to resume.

Click Back up now on the set's card. It starts immediately regardless of the set's mode or conditions, which only hold automatic runs. The button turns into Stop while it runs.

No. Schedules use local clock time, so a 02:00 backup stays at 02:00 across daylight-saving changes and time zones, without skipping or doubling a run.

The backup set's card shows 'Next backup …' with the day and time under its schedule line, or an orange note explaining why it's waiting.

As things change waits for a short quiet moment after your edits, so a burst of saves becomes one version. Press Back up now for an immediate version, or add a daily version for constantly busy folders.

At most every 30 minutes plugged in and every 2 hours on battery (longer while busy); the next version captures every change. Back up now runs any time.

The first backup copies every file once; later backups only save what changed. For a faster first backup use an external SSD, or bucket storage such as Amazon S3 for cloud.

Almost certainly not. A first cloud backup uploads many small encrypted pieces with a small delay on each, so a large folder can take hours. It keeps working, resumes if interrupted, and the card says so.

Nothing is lost. An interrupted backup — quit, sleep or a dropped network — continues from where it stopped next time and never re-uploads what's already saved.

No. Backups pick up where they left off even after restarting the Mac or reinstalling Storage Studio, and data already at the destination is never sent again.

Click Stop on the set's card while it runs. Progress already saved is kept, and the backup picks up where it left off later or when you press Back up now.

The card shows a progress bar, time left, how much is saved, the transfer speed, and any idle time excluded from the estimate. 'Working out how much there is to do' at the start is normal.

The estimate follows the real transfer speed, which varies with file sizes, the cloud service and how busy your Mac is. Idle stalls are excluded, so it settles as the backup goes on.

They're designed not to: backups match their speed to how busy your Mac is and stop when you need the machine. For less impact, schedule them overnight, set working hours, or limit upload speed.

Storage Studio holds backups while your Mac is under heavy load so your work stays smooth. The backup resumes on its own from where it stopped; Back up now runs it anyway.

Plugged in, a backup keeps your Mac awake until it's done. On battery only Back up now does (above 30%); automatic backups let the Mac sleep and resume later.

Much less than a copy per version: after the first backup only changed pieces are stored, identical content is kept once, data is compressed, and older versions are thinned to daily, weekly and monthly.

The first cloud backup uploads roughly the size of your chosen folders, compressed; after that only changes are sent. Use Not on a personal hotspot and Limit upload speed to keep usage in check.

Very little. The backup's working cache is kept on your external drive when it's connected; without the drive, backups still run using the internal disk temporarily. Versions live at your chosen destination.

An automatic set hasn't saved a version for over a day (a week for Only when I ask). Press the large Back up now on its card; the note clears after the next backup.

Open Data Backup, click Versions… on the set, pick a date and time, then click Restore All… and choose where it goes. Existing files aren't overwritten in place.

In Versions…, click Browse Files… on the version you want, select the files or folders, then click Restore… or Export… and choose where they go. Only the selected items come back.

Restore… suggests the set's original folder, for putting items back; Export… copies them to any folder you choose. Neither overwrites existing files in place.

No. Restores never overwrite current files in place; they land alongside what you have, in a folder you choose, so you can compare and keep what you want.

Open Versions… on the set, pick a version from before the deletion, click Browse Files…, select the file and click Restore…. Older versions are thinned over time, so act reasonably soon.

Recent versions are kept in full, then thinned to one a day, one a week and one a month further back, so history stays long without growing forever.

The set hasn't finished a backup at its current destination yet. Let the first backup complete or fix any problem shown, then press Back up now. Versions at a previous destination aren't listed.

No. Backups are stored as encrypted, compressed pieces, not ordinary copies. Browse them with Versions… and Browse Files… in Data Backup, and never edit the backup folder by hand.

Yes. A running restore or export shows progress and a Cancel button. Cancelling stops it cleanly and leaves the backup untouched; only one restore runs at a time.

Each version lists its date and time, how many files it covers, how many were new, and how much data it added out of the total protected — showing how little each version costs.

Yes, if a version from around then exists. Open Versions…, pick the version just before the moment you want, then Browse Files… and restore the file. Older history is thinned to daily, weekly and monthly points.

Not backed up, Backing up…, Checking… (verifying), Protected (saved and verified), Needs attention (a problem with a fix offered) and Paused (on hold). Only Protected means fully covered.

Protected means the latest backup finished and passed an integrity check, so it's genuinely restorable — not just uploaded. Checking… appears briefly while that check runs.

The last backup or its check hit a problem. The card explains it in plain English and offers the fix; follow it and press Back up now to get back to Protected.

Check verifies the backup already at the destination without making a new version. It shows Checking…, then Protected if all is well, or Needs attention with a fix if not.

The backup was saved but its follow-up check found a problem, so the newest version may be incomplete. Press Back up now to make a fresh one; earlier versions are unaffected.

The set waits and tells you it couldn't reach the destination. Reconnect the drive or network and it backs up on its own, catching up on what changed; Back up now starts it immediately.

Another operation — a check, restore or still-finishing backup — is already using that backup. Only one runs at a time; wait a moment and try again.

Part of the app that Data Backup needs is missing, so backups are paused. Reinstall Storage Studio over the current copy — your backup sets, versions and settings are kept.

Storage Studio closed while a set's first backup was running. Nothing is lost — press Back up now and it carries on from where it stopped.

Each set's card shows its last backup and Versions… lists every saved point in time. Job Insights (More → Windows → Job Insights) has a Data Backup card with recent runs and issues.

Make sure the destination is reachable, press Back up now, then Check. Job Insights shows details. If it keeps failing, use Contact Support with the optional diagnostics summary.

Paused also means Storage Studio is holding the backup on purpose — the Mac is busy, the connection is too slow, or the destination isn't ready. The card says which, and it clears on its own.

Choose the new drive or account in the set's Destination menu and confirm Change destination. A fresh backup starts there; versions at the old location stay put but get no new backups.

Choose Remove destination (keeps stored versions) in the set's Destination menu, then Disconnect. Backups stop, but every version already saved stays where it is.

It permanently erases every saved version of that set at its destination and starts a new backup from scratch. You must type Delete to confirm; nothing goes to the Trash or Recycle Vault.

Click the trash button on the set's card. It stops and leaves the list; versions already stored at the destination aren't erased. The built-in Fast drive working set can only be switched off.

A built-in backup set that protects Storage Studio's folder on your fast drive, where relocated apps and folders live. Give it a destination other than the fast drive and it backs up automatically.

Not automatically — many backups only see the shortcut left behind. Give Data Backup's built-in Fast drive working set a destination (not the fast drive itself) and it protects what you've moved.

Usually not: Time Machine backs up the shortcut, not the files it points to, and often excludes external drives. Include the drive in Time Machine's Options, or give Data Backup's Fast drive working set a destination.

No. Your Time Machine backups are never touched. Storage Studio can clear macOS's local snapshots on your Mac when you ask, and it prefers ones already backed up to Time Machine.

Yes. A common rule is three copies on two kinds of storage with one off-site. In Data Backup, put important folders in two sets — one to an external drive, one to a cloud account.

Back Up to Another Drive makes one verified clone of your fast drive's folder on a second drive. Data Backup keeps saving versions as things change, so you can restore many points in time.

Partly. Versions let you restore files from before an attack, but backups on your own drive or account can still be deleted by anything with access. Delta Trust is built so nothing on your Mac can delete them.

Anything you couldn't recreate — Documents, Desktop, Pictures and your photo library, project folders, and what you've moved to your fast drive. Apps, caches and re-downloadable files usually don't need it.

As often as the work you'd lose is worth: continuously for files you edit daily (Data Backup's default), daily or weekly for big folders that rarely change, plus Time Machine for the whole Mac.

Both, ideally. A drive is fastest and needs no internet but sits beside your Mac; a cloud account is off-site and encrypted before upload but slower. Use one backup set of each.

Yes. Sync services copy deletions and damage everywhere; they aren't a versioned backup you control. Data Backup adds a separate history of the folders you care about.

Look for Protected on each set — it means the latest version passed an integrity check — and occasionally export a file from Versions… to prove a restore works. Check re-verifies on demand.

You can back up your Mac's internal folders to it, but not the fast drive's own contents — they'd share a drive with their backup. Give the Fast drive working set a different destination.

A restore point protects Storage Studio's own records of what it moved, plus its settings and rules — not copies of your files. One is taken before each batch of moves; find them under More → Restore Points.

No. Any item whose original spot now holds something new is skipped and listed, both before you confirm and afterwards. Everything else in the batch goes back normally.

Yes. Open More → Restore Points, expand the older point and click Roll back to here. It uses the same safe, verified move-back and skips anything that would overwrite newer files.

Open More → Restore Points and click Create Restore Point. It checkpoints what's on your fast drive and Storage Studio's records and settings. One is also taken automatically before every batch of moves.

The last 50 batches and up to 30 days, within a space limit that scales with your drive's free space. The five most recent are always kept and older ones tidy themselves away.

No. Restore points store records, not copies of your files, so they use next to nothing. The Space used figure reflects those records, never the size of your data.

On your fast drive, so they show whenever it's connected. Plug the drive in to see them; 'No restore points yet' means nothing has been moved to it so far.

Expand a restore point with a Settings & configuration section, click Restore settings, then Replace with this restore point. Current records are copied aside first, and your files are never touched.

Yes, with the On switch at the top of the Restore Points window. Leaving it on is recommended: it costs almost no space and is what makes rolling back a batch possible.

Restore Points protect Storage Studio's records of what it moved, so moves can be undone — never your files. Data Backup protects the files themselves with versions on another drive or the cloud.

Yes. It keeps a daily backup of its own settings and records — not your files — on your external drive. See them in Preferences → Advanced.

In Preferences → Advanced, click Restore on the dated backup you want. Your current settings are set aside first; files and apps aren't touched.

Yes. Click Backup now in Preferences → Advanced to back up Storage Studio's own settings and records immediately. It needs your external drive connected.