External drives · Setting up your drive
Why does my drive say "not set up" after installing Storage Studio?
Short answer: The drive step was skipped, or this drive was never prepared. Open More → Drive → Choose Drive… (or re-run the setup wizard), select the drive and let Storage Studio set it up — nothing on it is erased.
The drive step of setup was skipped, or the drive you plugged in isn't the one Storage Studio prepared. The menu bar icon shows a small ? badge in this state, and Inspect shows Mounted, not set up.
To fix it, open Choose Drive… (More → Drive) or re-run the setup wizard from the More menu, select the drive and let Storage Studio prepare it. Setting it up doesn't erase anything on the drive.