← User manual

Install & first launch

Storage Studio unifies your Mac, external drives, cloud accounts, and devices into one intelligent, collaborative space — you move, sync, share, and reclaim storage, and everything is reversible. An on-device assistant, Tuhi, guides you, and Bridge and Collab Sync connect your storage across your own devices. Freeing up space is one capability, not the whole picture. All your storage. One studio.

It's distributed as a single notarised app for Macs with Apple silicon — there is no installer wizard, no kernel extension, and no hidden background process you can't stop.

1. Download the DMG

Grab the latest build from storagestudio.us/download/latest.dmg. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later); Intel Macs can keep using version 4.17.1, the last version for Intel.

The download is roughly 40 MB. It contains a single application bundle, signed and notarised by Apple. Your browser may flag the download briefly while Gatekeeper verifies the signature — that's expected.

2. Drag to /Applications

Open the DMG. Drag Storage Studio.app into the /Applications shortcut shown alongside it. Eject the DMG once the copy completes.

There is no admin password prompt at this stage. You can keep the app in ~/Applications instead if your environment doesn't allow writing to /Applications — both work.

3. Grant Full Disk Access

The first time you launch Storage Studio, macOS will ask for Full Disk Access. This is required so the app can:

  • See files outside the Documents folder (otherwise it cannot tier

anything useful)

  • Move applications between drives
  • Read health information from external fast drives

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access, flip the switch next to Storage Studio, then return to the app. Storage Studio picks up the change on its own within a couple of seconds — no relaunch needed.

You can skip it, and you'll be asked again if it's ever needed. Skipping isn't a once-and-for-all decision. Whenever your Mac actually refuses Storage Studio a file — while it's measuring your disk, moving a folder, or clearing something — a notice appears in the bell, and opening it explains what was blocked and what got left out as a result. It's a notice you can dismiss, never a window that takes over your screen, and a run that hits hundreds of blocked folders raises one notice rather than hundreds.

Storage Studio tells three situations apart:

  • Never granted — the plain ask above.
  • Granted, and your Mac has stopped honouring it. This genuinely

happens: your Mac ties the permission to the exact copy of the app it was granted to, so updating or repairing Storage Studio can quietly drop it. You're told that's what happened rather than being told you never granted it, and switching it off and back on in the list restores it.

  • It can't tell. If your Mac doesn't answer in time, Storage Studio

assumes the answer is no and says the permission couldn't be confirmed. It never treats "I don't know" as a yes, and it never holds up the app waiting for an answer that may not come.

It also only offers this remedy where it would help. A few folders belong to another app and are off-limits to everything, permanently — those are reported as refused rather than sending you to System Settings to change a setting that wouldn't change the outcome.

4. Register and start your free trial

Before the setup below, a one-time screen starts your free trial. There's no credit card and nothing to pay — just a few basic details to get going: your full name, your email address, and your country (picked from a list).

Then you verify your email: we send a one-time code to the address you entered, you type it back in, and your free trial begins. You'll need an internet connection for this step, since the code arrives by email.

These details are used only to set up and support your trial, to send that verification code, and to email a couple of friendly reminders so your trial never lapses by surprise — no spam, and nothing sold on. Your files never leave your Mac; only these basic registration details are sent, to start the trial. If this Mac has already used a trial, there's nothing to fill in — the app says you're all set and continues.

5. Run the setup wizard

The four-step wizard:

  1. Detect drives. Lists every connected volume and lets you pick

your external fast drive (or any second volume).

  1. Pair folders. Pick a folder on your internal SSD and a matching

one on the external drive.

  1. Check readiness. Confirms everything Storage Studio needs is in

place. The transfer engine is built in and ships inside the app, so there's nothing for you to install.

  1. Preview. Shows exactly what the first move would do before doing

it. Confirm and you're ready to go — your free trial is already running from the registration step above.

If anything fails, the wizard explains what's missing and offers a single retry rather than burying the error in logs.

Updating is automatic

You don't have to download and re-drag anything to update. If Storage Studio is running and you mount a newer installer disk image — one that's genuinely more recent and verified by Apple — the app updates itself in place and relaunches on the new version right away. No "quit first, then drag to Applications" dance.

This only ever happens for a real, Apple-notarised build that's newer than what you're on; an older or unverified disk image is ignored, so mounting a stale copy can't downgrade or replace your app. The free SS Bridge companion app updates the same way.