{"id":"freeing-space.what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean","url":"/faq/freeing-space/what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean","category":{"id":"freeing-space","title":"Freeing up space"},"subcategory":{"id":"free-up-space-wizard","title":"Free Up Space wizard and button"},"question":"Why does the progress view say \"working out how long that will take\"?","alt_questions":["No time estimate during move","How long will this take Storage Studio?","Progress bar says it's working it out","Time remaining missing in Storage Studio","Why is there no ETA yet?"],"short_answer":"Storage Studio can't estimate the time yet, so it says so rather than inventing a number. Once copying is steady you'll see a plain estimate like \"12 minutes\".","answer_markdown":"It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.\n\nOnce an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — \"a few seconds\", \"12 minutes\", \"1h 20m\". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See [the Show progress button](/faq/freeing-space/what-is-the-show-progress-button).","answer_html":"

It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.

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Once an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — "a few seconds", "12 minutes", "1h 20m". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See the Show progress button.

","answer_text":"It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.\n\nOnce an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — \"a few seconds\", \"12 minutes\", \"1h 20m\". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See the Show progress button.","tags":["progress","time remaining","moving"],"related":[{"id":"freeing-space.what-is-the-show-progress-button","question":"How do I get back to a clean-up's progress after closing the window?","url":"/faq/freeing-space/what-is-the-show-progress-button"},{"id":"freeing-space.why-does-the-freed-figure-lag-behind","question":"Why does the freed figure lag behind while files are still moving?","url":"/faq/freeing-space/why-does-the-freed-figure-lag-behind"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"Why does the progress view say \"working out how long that will take\"? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"Storage Studio can't estimate the time yet, so it says so rather than inventing a number. Once copying is steady you'll see a plain estimate like \"12 minutes\".","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"Freeing up space","path":"/faq/freeing-space/"},{"name":"Why does the progress view say \"working out how long that will take\"?","path":"/faq/freeing-space/what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why does the progress view say \"working out how long that will take\"?","alternateName":["No time estimate during move","How long will this take Storage Studio?","Progress bar says it's working it out","Time remaining missing in Storage Studio","Why is there no ETA yet?"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.\n\nOnce an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — \"a few seconds\", \"12 minutes\", \"1h 20m\". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See the Show progress button.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/freeing-space/what-does-working-out-how-long-that-will-take-mean"}}]},"fragment":"
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Freeing up space · Free Up Space wizard and button

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Why does the progress view say "working out how long that will take"?

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Short answer: Storage Studio can't estimate the time yet, so it says so rather than inventing a number. Once copying is steady you'll see a plain estimate like "12 minutes".

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It means Storage Studio doesn't yet have enough information to give a sensible estimate, so it says so instead of showing a number it would only have to walk back.

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Once an item is copying steadily, you get how far along it is and roughly how long is left, phrased the way a person would say it — "a few seconds", "12 minutes", "1h 20m". You don't need to watch it: moving files is a background job and carries on if you close the window. See the Show progress button.

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