Comparisons & alternatives · Doing it yourself
Is it better to install apps straight onto an external drive or move them there with Storage Studio?
Short answer: Installing directly to the drive often fights updaters and the App Store. Moving with Storage Studio checks safety first, leaves a link in Applications, moves vendor re-installs back to the drive, and can be undone.
Installing straight to the drive can work for some apps, but it tends to cause small, ongoing problems: updaters and the Mac App Store expect the app in Applications and may reinstall it there, and some apps behave oddly outside it.
Moving with the Apps window avoids most of that:
- it checks whether each app can safely move first, and explains any caveat — such as macOS asking again for permissions the first time;
- a link stays in Applications, so Spotlight, Launchpad and the Dock still find the app;
- if an updater reinstalls the app in its original spot, the watch moves the fresh copy back to your drive once the app is closed;
- Move back returns it to the exact folder it came from.
Apps that can't survive a move are marked Blocked and left in place. See Apps.