Delta Drive, Delta Trust & My Drive

Delta X is Storage Studio's storage family: Delta Trust for backups, Delta Drive for working files on storage we run, and My Drive for the same working drive on storage you own. Open it from More (•••) → Delta-X.

Delta Drive is a working drive for your everyday files on storage Storage Studio runs. You can add, open, share and delete files from the Delta Drive window on your Mac, from Finder, or from any browser.

Delta Trust is Storage Studio's backup vault on storage we run. Once something is backed up, nothing on your Mac — no program, no intruder, not even us — can delete or overwrite it for a set number of days.

My Drive is Delta Drive running on storage you already own. It looks and works exactly the same — same screens, sharing, Finder disk and browser view — but the files live in your own storage instead of ours.

Delta Drive and My Drive are the same drive with different storage behind it: Delta Drive uses storage we run and needs no setup; My Drive uses storage you own, so the account, the bill and the risk of deleting it are yours.

Delta Trust is for backups that nothing on your Mac can delete for a set number of days; Delta Drive is for everyday files you add, share and delete freely. They're kept apart on purpose.

Backups must be impossible to delete while working files must be easy to change, so Storage Studio keeps them in two halves with different protections. Changing your working drive never moves your backups.

Use the menu bar icon: More (•••) → Delta-X lists every Delta Trust and Delta Drive screen. Delta Trust also has its own card on the Data Backup screen, with a Delta Drive button beside it.

No. Delta Trust and Delta Drive run on storage Storage Studio looks after, so you don't need a cloud account of your own. Using your own storage is optional — that's My Drive.

Yes. Once backed up to Delta Trust, nothing on your Mac — no program, no intruder, not even us — can delete or overwrite it for a set number of days, so ransomware can't destroy your backup history.

No — not during the protected period. Nobody, including you and us, can delete or overwrite what's already backed up in Delta Trust for a set number of days. That's the point of the lock.

Each vault has a set number of protected days, shown on the Copies screen in Delta Drive. During that time nothing on your Mac — and nobody at Storage Studio — can delete or overwrite your backups.

Open Data Backup and follow the Delta Trust card: choose a plan, create your vault and pick where data is kept, then print your 24-word recovery kit and keep it safe. Then choose Delta Trust as a backup's destination.

Yes. Creating your Delta Trust vault includes a step where you pick where your data is kept. For extra resilience, an optional second copy can be kept with a different storage company where your plan offers it.

In Data Backup, open a backup card's Destination menu and pick Delta Trust — it's listed first under Included with Storage Studio, above your own drives and cloud accounts.

Yes — choosing Delta Drive as a destination puts versioned backups in a _Backup folder, opened by the same recovery kit. Unlike Delta Trust, that folder can be deleted like any other file.

Choose Delta Trust if you can only have one: nothing on your Mac can remove its backups. Use Delta Drive as a convenient second copy that you can see and manage — and therefore delete.

Open Storage & restore on the Delta Trust card (or More → Delta-X), pick the version you want and where it should go. On a new Mac, your recovery kit opens the vault.

No. Delta Trust backups are deliberately impossible to browse — not on your Mac, on the web, or by us. Use Storage & restore to get files back, or keep a browsable copy in Delta Drive.

Delta Trust's switches back the folders up into the vault (encrypted, versioned, not browsable); Delta Drive's switches copy the real files into your drive to open and share. They're independent — use either or both.

Backing a folder up to Delta Trust doesn't copy it into Delta Drive — vault backups can't be browsed. To see the files in your drive, press Keep a copy of my Documents here in Delta Drive.

Where your plan offers it, a second copy keeps your vault with a different storage company so an outage at one doesn't strand you. It's the same backup elsewhere, not a second vault, and it runs on our servers, not your connection.

Turning the second copy off stops the charge and new writes but keeps what's there; deleting it is a separate step. While on, you pay for the space the second copy actually uses, not a flat fee.

We don't publish which storage companies run behind Delta Drive and Delta Trust. What matters for you: you choose where vault data is kept, only your recovery kit opens it, and a second copy elsewhere is available where your plan offers it.

Yes. Any time Storage Studio touches your vault's account it's recorded in your own Vault activity log in plain English (More → Delta-X → Vault activity). We still can't open your backups without your recovery kit.

No. Delta Trust backups are encrypted on your Mac and only your 24-word recovery kit opens them. We can't look up or reset that kit, so we can never read your backups.

The recovery kit is 24 words, printed when you create your Delta Trust vault. It is the only way back in: if you lose it, your backups can never be recovered — not even by Storage Studio.

Your recovery kit is the only way back in; if you lose it, your backups can never be recovered — not even by Storage Studio. On the Mac the vault was set up on, the key button on the Delta Trust card shows the words again after a code we email you.

Keep it somewhere safe and separate from the Mac it protects — a kit that lives only on that Mac is lost with it. Don't share the 24 words with anyone.

We don't publish the technical details, but the promise is: backups are encrypted on your Mac, only your recovery kit opens them, and for the protected period nobody can delete or overwrite them — including us.

Signed in to your account on our website, Delta Drive opens without a second sign-in. Otherwise sign in with your licence email and the 12-character code we email you — copy and paste it. Two-step sign-in still asks for its code.

Delta Drive signs you in with a one-time email code instead of a password — nothing to forget or leak. For extra protection beyond your inbox, turn on two-step sign-in with an authenticator app.

Copy and paste the newest code rather than typing it — it's 12 characters and capitals matter. Each code works once for fifteen minutes. Use your licence email, check spam, and have your authenticator code ready if two-step sign-in is on.

In Delta Drive on the web, open Security → Set it up, add it to an authenticator app and enter a working code. Then sign-in needs your email code plus the app's code. Save the recovery codes — they're shown once.

Sign in with one of the recovery codes you saved when you set up two-step sign-in — each works once. They can't be shown again, so when you're low, turn two-step off and on to get a fresh set.

In Delta Drive's Security screen on the web, enter a current authenticator or recovery code and choose Turn off. The code is required so someone with only your inbox can't remove the protection.

Yes. Delta Drive's Activity screen lists sign-ins (successful and failed), uploads, downloads, deletions and shares, with the rough country and city of each — never the address itself.

Right-click a folder in the Delta Drive window ▸ Lock…, choose a 6-digit PIN and confirm with an emailed code. It opens only in Storage Studio on your Mac — never in a browser or Finder. Forget the PIN and lose your recovery kit, and it can never be opened again.

Choose Forgot PIN…, type your recovery kit's 24 words and paste an emailed code — the PIN is shown once. If you forget the PIN and lose your recovery kit, the folder can never be opened again; Storage Studio can't recover it.

Only someone with both your PIN and your email. Storage Studio never opens a locked folder, and our support team can't unlock one for anyone. Finder's Locked checkbox is different: it only stops accidental changes and doesn't keep anyone out.

After 5, 15 (the default), 30 or 60 minutes without use, and whenever your Mac sleeps, its screen locks or Storage Studio quits, or on Lock now. Files you opened from it are private copies, deleted when it locks again.

Three ways, all showing the same files: the Delta Drive window on your Mac (click the Delta Drive card on Home), Finder, where the drive can appear like a disk, or any browser signed in with your licence email.

Yes — when your Mac has the software for it, Delta Drive shows in Finder like a disk. If not, Storage Studio opens its own Delta Drive window instead and says so; the files are the same.

Yes. Double-click a Delta Drive file to open it in its usual app, and your changes save back to the drive automatically. Use Save a copy… when you want a detached copy on your Mac.

Nothing is overwritten. If the file changed elsewhere while you had it open, your version is saved beside it under a name saying where it came from, and the app tells you. Both copies stay in your drive.

Click Add → Files… or Folders… (or New folder) in Delta Drive, or drag files in from your desktop in a browser. Use Add → Link a folder… to keep a Mac folder feeding the drive automatically.

Yes. Uploads run in their own queue and keep going after you close the window. Big files go in pieces so a dropped connection resumes, and anything that keeps failing stays listed as failed.

Every Delta Drive starts with Documents, Desktop and Pictures (matching your Mac's folders), Shared (things sent to you) and Team (for your organisation). These five can't be removed.

The five starting folders can't be removed because backups and shares point at them, but their contents can. Right-click one and choose Empty this folder… to move everything inside to the trash.

Deleting moves it to Delta Drive's Trash, on your Mac and the web, after showing what will go. Same-named items binned on different days are kept separately, and anything can be put back.

No. Items in Delta Drive's Trash never expire on their own and count towards your storage until you remove them with Delete for good or Empty trash.

Open Trash, right-click the item and choose Put back. It returns to its folder and never overwrites anything — a same-named item comes back as name (2), and a missing folder is made again.

The marks show where a file is and who can see it: Online only, Ready to read, Always on this Mac (hollow while arriving), Shared, Versions kept, Linked and Comments. Hover one for its meaning.

Last heard means the Mac holding that offline or cached copy hasn't checked in for a couple of days, so Delta Drive can't confirm the copy is still there. Opening Storage Studio on that Mac updates it.

Press ⌘/ in Delta Drive for the full list. Handy ones: ⌘↓ open, ⌘↑ up, ⌘T folder tree, ⌘F search, ⇧⌘S share, ⌘K versions, ⌘⌫ trash, ⌘N new folder, ⌃⌘1–3 change view.

Pick Icons, List or Details in Delta Drive (it remembers your choice) and use Sort by for Name, Kind, Size or Date modified — choose it again to reverse. Folders always sort first.

Click any step of the breadcrumb trail at the top, or press Folders (⌘T) for a folder tree. Clicking My Drive again takes you back to the top.

Drag items onto a folder to move them, or hold Option as you drop to copy. Right-click for Rename and Get info; in a browser you also get Cut, Copy, Paste and Move to….

In a browser, right-click a file or folder and choose Add to favourites. Favourites belong to the drive, so they follow you to any browser and keep working when the item is moved or renamed.

Select an item and choose Get info (or press space) to see its location, size, last change, whether it's kept on this Mac, any linked Mac folder, and links to versions and comments. Folders show no size.

Yes. Click a file on the website and it opens in the browser — pictures, PDFs, video, audio, text and code, Markdown, JSON, spreadsheets as tables, Office documents and archives — with search, print and full screen.

You choose from the gear menu: Always keep on this Mac (per folder, works offline), Keep a copy while I'm using it (files you open stay a day up to ninety days and reopen at once), or Online only (no disk used).

Right-click the folder and choose Always keep on this Mac. A full copy stays on your Mac (or your fast drive), kept up to date, and opens with no network.

Use the gear menu's Delete downloaded copies from this Mac in Delta Drive. It removes the copies kept on your Mac without deleting anything from the drive; files come back when you open them.

Delta Drive refreshes a folder older than a minute when you return. Otherwise use the gear menu: Reload what's on screen, Delete downloaded copies from this Mac, or Recreate anything missing… — which never deletes a backup.

Delta Drive shows the folder you last saw at once, then checks it with the drive. Returning to the window refreshes a folder older than a minute, so changes from the web or another Mac appear by themselves.

The Finder folder is named after your active drive — Delta Drive, or My Drive and your storage's name — so a favourite or alias to the old name stops working after a switch. Nothing moved; make a new favourite.

Choose Delta Drive → Storage → Connect storage you own…, then enter your bucket, region and access keys. Storage Studio tests a write before saving, and the drive becomes My Drive with the same screens.

No. My Drive reads and writes only under one prefix inside the bucket you name, so everything else there is untouched — and removing the drive only deletes inside that prefix.

Storage Studio writes and deletes a test file before saving, and shows your provider's own refusal if that fails. Check the bucket name, region and keys, and make sure the keys can write and delete.

Yes — My Drive stores your access keys encrypted and never shows them back to anyone, including you and us. Limit the keys to the bucket My Drive uses.

No. Anything holding your keys can delete what's in My Drive. Delta Trust holds a credential you don't have, so nothing on your Mac can erase it — keep it for backups that must survive a bad day.

Only if you've turned versioning on with your own storage provider — it affects their bill, so Storage Studio won't switch it on. The Versions screen tells you which setting it found.

Yes. Make another drive active from the Viewing picker or Storage — it asks first, and if anything fails the switch is undone. Nothing is copied or deleted, and your Macs and the website follow the active drive.

Switch off asks first and deletes nothing — files, folders and settings stay as they are, and an Undo appears straight after. Nothing opens until you choose Reconnect, which needs nothing set up again.

Yes. The website's Viewing picker changes only what that browser shows; your Macs keep using the active drive. On the Mac, the Viewing picker opens any other drive in your browser without changing anything.

No. Delta Trust stays where it is whichever working drive you use — switching between Delta Drive and My Drive never moves or replaces your backups.

Open Documents, Desktop or Pictures in Delta Drive and press Keep a copy of my Documents here (also on the right-click menu and Copies screen). It's then kept up to date; turning it off leaves the copy in place.

Choose Add ▸ Link a folder…, pick a folder on your Mac, name it in your drive and choose online only, offline only, or both in sync. You can change the mode later without deleting anything.

Online only keeps files in Delta Drive and frees your Mac; offline only keeps them on your Mac and never uploads them; both in sync keeps a full copy in each place, using the space twice.

No. Offline-only folders are never uploaded — Delta Drive learns only names, sizes and dates so you can see what's there. The contents stay on your Mac and are reachable only while it's on.

No. Linked folders go one way, Mac to drive: deleting on your Mac doesn't delete from Delta Drive, and Delta Drive never changes your Mac's folder. Delete it in Delta Drive if you want it gone there too.

Unlinking forgets the connection and deletes nothing on either side. If the Mac folder disappears (say, an unplugged disk), the link stays and says so, and the drive copy is untouched.

A link is refused when its name is already used in your drive, you picked a file, the folder is already inside Delta Drive, or it's already linked under another name. Fix that and try again.

The Copies screen in Delta Drive shows your main copy's size and lock days, whether a second copy is on, and every Mac folder kept in the drive with its status and a Copy now button.

A synced folder keeps a folder on your Mac and one in your drive the same — Both ways, Mac → Drive or Drive → Mac. Anything a sync removes goes to a Trash, never erased. When both sides changed a file, Newer wins by default, or choose Keep both.

A sync stops before a big delete — over 50 files, over a fifth of the folder, or every file changed at once. Open Sync settings… and choose Sync anyway (removed files go to the Trash) or Keep paused.

Open Recent and use Recent by to choose Added, Updated or Opened (including opens by people you shared with). Filter by kind, time and name; folders are left out on purpose.

Web search supports type:, in:, after:, before:, size filters like >10mb, quoted phrases and partial words. It searches names, kinds, sizes and dates only — never file contents.

Index & notes lists everything on your drive in one grid with actions on each row. Lenses show Everything, Largest files, Duplicates, Orphaned, and items with or without notes.

No. Notes are private labels of up to 280 characters that only you see. They're searchable, follow the file when it moves, and survive rebuilds. Use comments for conversations with others.

Use the Duplicates lens in Index & notes (or the Analytics card). It groups files with identical contents, shows the space you'd save, and lists only proven matches.

Orphaned lists files unchanged for over a year. It's only a date, not a verdict — files you rely on but never edit look the same — so review before moving anything to the trash.

Turn on Keep old versions for a folder and choose how long they're kept: Forever, a number of months, or until a date. Settings are inherited from the parent folder, and turning off never deletes existing versions.

Three months is the minimum so nobody loses a version they need, and a folder can't keep versions longer than its parent. Shortening shows what would be deleted before you save; current copies always stay.

The Versions screen shows how many old copies exist, their space and age, and which files hold the most history. It counts daily; Count them now updates it immediately.

Right-click ▸ Colour for a shared colour, or ▸ Mark for personal marks — Favourite, Star, Heart, Like or Dislike, Follow up… or Remind me…. Marked & due lists them, and your Mac notifies you once when something is due.

Yes. Right-click a folder ▸ Create index ▸ This folder, or This folder and everything inside. You get a page with each item's name, kind, size, date, location and note, which updates by itself.

Set Recent to Opened to see who last opened or downloaded each file, or check the Shared screen, which shows each share's opens and downloads — or Nobody has opened it yet.

Select a file or folder and choose Share. Invite named people — they sign in with an emailed code — or choose Anyone with the link for a public link. Pick how long it lasts; every share stops working on its own.

Yes. Choose Anyone with the link when you share: anyone with it can view, and download only if you allow it. Every public link expires after 1, 7, 30 or 90 days — there's no link that never ends.

Each Delta Drive share can hold up to a hundred items and twenty-five people. Disposable email addresses are refused when you create the share, naming the address.

People you invite sign in with a 12-character code we email them — no account or password. It lasts fifteen minutes and five wrong tries end it; sessions last twelve hours or until the share expires.

Delta Drive shares have five levels: Read, Comment, Read / Write, Reshare and Owner. Owner appears only after the person has opened the share, and Read / Write and above include commenting.

Yes. Under Permissions, each person starts at Same as the share (so they follow it), or you can set them higher or lower and it sticks. Changes apply immediately.

Only with Reshare or Owner access, and never wider than they were given — same item or less, same level or lower, and ending by your share's date. Reshares appear in your Shared list for you to withdraw.

Open Shared (Shares on the website), right-click the share under Shared by me and choose Withdraw. Access ends instantly, even for anyone looking right now. A withdrawn share stays withdrawn — Share again makes a new one with a new link.

Recipients see a Delta Drive with only your share in it — not its location in your drive, your notes, trash, favourites, version settings, or who else you shared with.

Anything a guest deletes goes to your Delta Drive trash, which they can't reach and only you can empty. Use Put back to restore it.

Inside your own drive, under Shared, in a folder named after each person's email — not copied, and gone once they withdraw it or it expires. The Shares screen's Shared with me part lists them too.

Anyone who can see a file can read its comments, and Comment access or above can post and react (six reactions; hover to see who). Each comment shows the author and exact time. Notes stay private.

You can edit your own comments. To remove one, withdraw it — the thread shows Comment withdrawn in its place. The file's owner can withdraw any comment; finished threads can be resolved instead.

Yes — the file's owner can export its comments to Word, or from the browser viewer as CSV or Markdown, including who said what and when. Only the owner can export.

Add a password, Max views, Max downloads or daily and total data limits, and leave Allow downloads off for view only. A link pauses at a limit and emails you; unusual traffic suspends it automatically.

Open Shared (Shares on the web). Shared by me and Shared with me list what's active, with every action on right-click; Sharing stats has charts and one list of every share. Extend, rename, add people, email again, reactivate or withdraw from there.

Yes. In the browser viewer, comments can point at lines, pages, areas, video moments, cells or highlighted text, become tasks with due dates, @mention people who can open the file, and feed a review status like Approved.

Delta Trust and Delta Drive come as part of a Storage Studio plan and share one amount of included space. See the pricing page for what each plan includes; manage yours in Settings → License.

Your account's Storage screen on our website shows your usage and share of your plan; Billing has invoices. In the app, see the Delta Trust card in Settings → License and Analytics in Delta Drive.

Yes. Delta Trust and Delta Drive share one amount of space on your plan, and old versions count too. Storage & restore and the Analytics screen show how it's split.

Analytics shows what Delta Drive and Delta Trust hold, version space, downloads and uploads, and plan use, with charts up to a year. Cards below point to big folders, largest files, unopened files and duplicates.

Analytics is measured once a day and can't be reconstructed backwards, so charts fill in over time. If usage couldn't be read, the screen says so instead of showing an empty drive.

You're told at 80%. Above your plan, depending on the plan, extra storage is charged per GB or new uploads pause. Download, restore and delete always work.

It keeps working until the period you paid for ends, then becomes read-only — open and download, but no adding. The data is deleted 30 days after the plan ends; we email you 7 days and 1 day before. Buy again before then and it's all restored.

Choose Renew plan on the Billing page of your account at storagestudio.us, or Data Backup → Get Delta Trust in the Mac app. The plan comes back on the same vault with everything already in it.

Give it a few seconds — your account confirms the payment by itself. If it says it hasn't seen the payment, choose I have paid to check again. A checkout you closed before paying charged nothing.