{"id":"troubleshooting.uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup","url":"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup","category":{"id":"troubleshooting","title":"Troubleshooting & messages"},"subcategory":{"id":"app-behaviour","title":"Storage Studio itself"},"question":"Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive?","alt_questions":["some relocations don't have backups those stay on the external drive","uninstall revert relocated folders missing","copy them back manually any time","uninstall left folders on drive"],"short_answer":"A few relocations have no kept copy to restore from, so they stay on the external drive. Nothing is lost — copy them back from the drive in Finder whenever you like.","answer_markdown":"When reverting, the Uninstall wizard puts relocated folders back using the copies Storage Studio kept for each one. A few relocations don't have such a copy, so the wizard leaves those folders on your external drive rather than guess.\n\nNothing is lost. Open the drive in Finder and copy those folders back to your Mac by hand whenever you like.","answer_html":"<p>When reverting, the Uninstall wizard puts relocated folders back using the copies Storage Studio kept for each one. A few relocations don&#39;t have such a copy, so the wizard leaves those folders on your external drive rather than guess.</p>\n<p>Nothing is lost. Open the drive in Finder and copy those folders back to your Mac by hand whenever you like.</p>","answer_text":"When reverting, the Uninstall wizard puts relocated folders back using the copies Storage Studio kept for each one. A few relocations don't have such a copy, so the wizard leaves those folders on your external drive rather than guess.\n\nNothing is lost. Open the drive in Finder and copy those folders back to your Mac by hand whenever you like.","tags":["uninstall","revert","external drive"],"related":[{"id":"troubleshooting.uninstall-nothing-to-revert","question":"Why does the Uninstall wizard say \"Nothing to revert\"?","url":"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-nothing-to-revert"},{"id":"troubleshooting.wont-delete-cloud-backups-on-reset","question":"Why won't Storage Studio delete my backups stored with a cloud provider when I reset or uninstall?","url":"/faq/troubleshooting/wont-delete-cloud-backups-on-reset"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"A few relocations have no kept copy to restore from, so they stay on the external drive. Nothing is lost — copy them back from the drive in Finder whenever you like.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"Troubleshooting & messages","path":"/faq/troubleshooting/"},{"name":"Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive?","path":"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive?","alternateName":["some relocations don't have backups those stay on the external drive","uninstall revert relocated folders missing","copy them back manually any time","uninstall left folders on drive"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"When reverting, the Uninstall wizard puts relocated folders back using the copies Storage Studio kept for each one. A few relocations don't have such a copy, so the wizard leaves those folders on your external drive rather than guess.\n\nNothing is lost. Open the drive in Finder and copy those folders back to your Mac by hand whenever you like.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup"}}]},"fragment":"<div class=\"wrap fl-wrap\"><div class=\"fl-layout\"><aside class=\"fl-side\" aria-label=\"FAQ topics\"><details open><summary>All topics</summary><ul class=\"fl-tree\"><li><a href=\"/faq/getting-started/\">Getting started</a> <span>70</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/freeing-space/\">Freeing up space</a> <span>182</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/moving-folders/\">Moving folders</a> <span>144</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/apps/\">Apps</a> <span>146</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/external-drives/\">External drives</a> <span>169</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/finder-location/\">Finding things in Finder</a> <span>70</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/cloud-accounts/\">Cloud accounts</a> <span>158</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/icloud/\">iCloud &amp; iCloud Photos</a> <span>168</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/data-transfers/\">Data Transfers</a> <span>119</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/backups/\">Backups &amp; 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alternatives</a> <span>75</span></li><li><a href=\"/faq/mac-storage-basics/\">Mac storage basics</a> <span>315</span></li></ul></details></aside><div class=\"fl-main\"><nav class=\"fl-crumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><ol><li><a href=\"/\">Home</a></li><li><a href=\"/faq/\">FAQ</a></li><li><a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/\">Troubleshooting &amp; messages</a></li><li aria-current=\"page\">Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive?</li></ol></nav>\n<form class=\"fl-search\" action=\"/faq/search\" method=\"get\" role=\"search\" data-fl-search>\n<label class=\"fl-visually-hidden\" for=\"fl-q\">Search the FAQ</label>\n<input id=\"fl-q\" type=\"search\" name=\"q\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"Search 2,816 questions…\" autocomplete=\"off\" spellcheck=\"false\">\n<button type=\"submit\">Search</button>\n<div class=\"fl-suggest\" role=\"listbox\" hidden></div>\n</form>\n<article class=\"fl-entry\">\n<p class=\"eyebrow fl-eyebrow\"><a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/\">Troubleshooting &amp; messages</a> · <a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/#app-behaviour\">Storage Studio itself</a></p>\n<h1>Why does Uninstall say some relocations stay on the external drive?</h1>\n<p class=\"fl-short\"><strong>Short answer:</strong> A few relocations have no kept copy to restore from, so they stay on the external drive. Nothing is lost — copy them back from the drive in Finder whenever you like.</p>\n<div class=\"fl-answer\"><p>When reverting, the Uninstall wizard puts relocated folders back using the copies Storage Studio kept for each one. A few relocations don&#39;t have such a copy, so the wizard leaves those folders on your external drive rather than guess.</p>\n<p>Nothing is lost. Open the drive in Finder and copy those folders back to your Mac by hand whenever you like.</p></div>\n\n<p class=\"fl-meta\">Last reviewed <time datetime=\"2026-10-01\">October 1, 2026</time></p>\n\n<section class=\"fl-related\"><h2>Related questions</h2><ul><li><a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-nothing-to-revert\">Why does the Uninstall wizard say &quot;Nothing to revert&quot;?</a></li><li><a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/wont-delete-cloud-backups-on-reset\">Why won&#39;t Storage Studio delete my backups stored with a cloud provider when I reset or uninstall?</a></li></ul></section>\n<p class=\"fl-formats\">Also available as <a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup.md\">Markdown</a> and <a href=\"/faq/troubleshooting/uninstall-some-relocations-have-no-backup.json\">JSON</a>.</p>\n</article></div></div></div>"}