Performance & battery · Staying light on your Mac
Does Storage Studio's background disk activity slow down my own apps?
Short answer: No. Storage Studio's background disk reading is low priority, so macOS gives your apps the disk first, and full scans of this Mac only run when it's idle, plugged in and cool.
No. When Storage Studio reads your disk in the background — measuring folders, profiling your storage, scanning for duplicates — that reading is marked as low priority, so macOS hands the disk to your own apps first whenever both want it at the same moment.
On top of that, the heaviest disk job, a full duplicate scan of this Mac, only runs when the Mac is idle, plugged in and cool, because reading the whole disk genuinely competes with your work.
Moves and backups you start yourself are different: they're real copying work you asked for, and they run until they finish. See Does Storage Studio slow down my Mac?