--- title: "A moved app won't open" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-moved-app-wont-open category: "Troubleshooting" tags: ["troubleshooting", "apps", "external drive"] summary: "An app you moved to your external drive runs from that drive, so it won't open while the drive is disconnected. Reconnect the drive, check the Apps window for a reinstalled or missing app, or move the app back to your Mac." updated: 2026-10-01T05:41:17.000Z --- # A moved app won't open An app you moved to your external drive runs from that drive, so it won't open while the drive is disconnected. Reconnect the drive, check the Apps window for a reinstalled or missing app, or move the app back to your Mac. An app you've moved runs from your external drive, with a shortcut left in Applications. If the drive isn't connected, the shortcut has nothing to open — plug the drive back in and the app opens as normal. If the drive is connected and the app still won't open, the **Apps** window shows whether the app was reinstalled by its maker or is missing from the drive, and lets you move it back to your Mac. ## Likely causes - **The drive is disconnected or asleep.** On the **Moved** tab the app's icon is replaced by a drive with a question mark — "Reconnect your fast drive to use …" — and its **Open** and **Move back** buttons are greyed out. - **The app updated or reinstalled itself.** Some installers put a fresh copy back on your Mac instead of updating the moved one. You'll get a notification, "… was reinstalled", and the app shows an amber **Reinstalled by vendor** label on the **Moved** tab. - **The app is missing from the drive.** The Apps window says "An app you moved is missing from your fast drive." - **The app needs a permission it didn't have before.** After a reinstall, a notification may say "… needs permission review". ```mermaid %% caption: Working out why a moved app won't open flowchart TD A[A moved app won't open] --> B{Is the external drive connected?} B -->|No| C[Plug it in and open the app again] B -->|Yes| D[Open the Apps window, Moved tab] D --> E{What does the app show?} E -->|Reinstalled by vendor| F[Quit the app - Storage Studio moves it again] E -->|Missing from your fast drive| G[Click Review and restore a copy] E -->|Nothing unusual| H[Click Move back to run it from your Mac] ``` *Flowchart — Working out why a moved app won't open. Outline:* - A moved app won't open - leads to Is the external drive connected? - Is the external drive connected? - No: leads to Plug it in and open the app again - Yes: leads to Open the Apps window, Moved tab - Open the Apps window, Moved tab - leads to What does the app show? - What does the app show? - Reinstalled by vendor: leads to Quit the app - Storage Studio moves it again - Missing from your fast drive: leads to Click Review and restore a copy - Nothing unusual: leads to Click Move back to run it from your Mac ## How to fix it 1. **Connect the drive.** Plug in your external drive and wait for it to appear in Finder, then open the app again. If the drive is plugged in but not showing, try **Remount Drive** in the **More** menu. 2. **If the app was reinstalled**, there's nothing to undo. "Storage Studio will move it to NVMe again." It waits until the app isn't running, so quit the app when you can. If the new version asks for permissions the old one didn't, the notification asks you to "Open Storage Studio to review and approve" — Storage Studio won't move it again until you have. 3. **If the app is missing from the drive**, click **Review…** on the notice in the Apps window. Storage Studio "looks for another copy before anything is removed". If it finds one, use **Restore…**; if it doesn't, **Search again**, or **Remove link…** to tidy up the leftover shortcut. 4. **Move it back.** On the **Moved** tab, click **Move back** next to the app. It's copied back into your Applications folder and runs from your Mac again. Your drive must be connected. 5. If you'd rather an app didn't depend on the drive at all, keep it on your Mac. Apps that update themselves often are good candidates — see [Apps that update or reinstall themselves](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/apps-that-update-or-reinstall-themselves). See also: [Moved apps when the drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moved-apps-when-the-drive-is-offline) · [Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/missing-moved-apps) · [Moving an app to your external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-an-app) · [The Apps window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-apps-window) · [Something's not working: start here](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/troubleshooting-start-here) - **How do I move apps to an external drive on a Mac and still launch them?** Dragging an app to another drive can break it, because macOS expects it in /Applications. Storage Studio relocates the app to your external drive and leaves a shortcut in place, so it still launches normally from Launchpad, Spotlight, and the Dock — and you can move it back in one click. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I use an external SSD as extra storage on a MacBook?** Plug in a USB-C or Thunderbolt SSD and let Storage Studio pair it with your internal drive as one workspace. It moves big folders, libraries, and apps to the SSD with a shortcut left behind, so your MacBook behaves like it has a much bigger disk — fast enough to work directly off the external drive. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Can I move my Photos or Final Cut library to an external drive?** Yes — large Photos, Final Cut, and iMovie libraries are common space hogs. Storage Studio relocates them to an external drive while keeping them usable, leaving a shortcut so your apps still find them. Moving a folder to your fast drive keeps its files' modified and created dates, permissions,… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Will moving files to another drive break my apps or Spotlight?** Not the way Storage Studio does it. It leaves a shortcut (symlink) at the original location, so apps, Finder, and Spotlight resolve everything as if it never moved — and the move is fully reversible. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) ## What links here - [Apps that update or reinstall themselves](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/apps-that-update-or-reinstall-themselves) - [Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/missing-moved-apps) - [Moved apps when the drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moved-apps-when-the-drive-is-offline) - [Moving an app to your external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-an-app) - [Something's not working: start here](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/troubleshooting-start-here)