--- title: "Battery and power" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/battery-and-power category: "Performance & battery" tags: ["battery", "performance", "background", "backups"] summary: "On battery, Storage Studio does less in the background and saves its heaviest work for when you're plugged in. It eases off further in Low Power Mode or when the battery runs low, and it only keeps your Mac awake for a backup when that's safe for the battery." updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:46.000Z --- # Battery and power On battery, Storage Studio does less in the background and saves its heaviest work for when you're plugged in. It eases off further in Low Power Mode or when the battery runs low, and it only keeps your Mac awake for a backup when that's safe for the battery. On battery, Storage Studio does less in the background and saves its heaviest work — such as reading your whole disk for duplicates — for when your Mac is plugged in. It eases off further when Low Power Mode is on or the battery runs low, and anything that waits picks up again by itself once conditions improve. Things you start yourself still run. ## How it changes on battery ```mermaid %% caption: How Storage Studio adjusts to your Mac's power flowchart TD A[Storage Studio checks power] --> B{Plugged in?} B -->|Yes| C[Normal background pace] B -->|No| D[Background work slows down] D --> E{Low Power Mode on?} E -->|Yes| F[Animations off and background work cut back further] E -->|No| G{Battery below 20 percent?} F --> G G -->|Yes| H[Switches to Light mode] G -->|No| I[Stays in its current mode] ``` *Flowchart — How Storage Studio adjusts to your Mac's power. Outline:* - Storage Studio checks power - leads to Plugged in? - Plugged in? - Yes: leads to Normal background pace - No: leads to Background work slows down - Background work slows down - leads to Low Power Mode on? - Low Power Mode on? - Yes: leads to Animations off and background work cut back further - No: leads to Battery below 20 percent? - Animations off and background work cut back further - leads to Battery below 20 percent? - Battery below 20 percent? - Yes: leads to Switches to Light mode - No: leads to Stays in its current mode - **On battery,** background work is given a smaller share of your Mac than when it's plugged in, and less again when the battery is below 20% or Low Power Mode is on. - **Below 20% on battery,** Automatic [performance mode](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/performance-modes) switches to **Light**, with the note "Low battery — saving power". - **Low Power Mode** keeps Storage Studio fully usable but switches off its animations and slows its background work further. - **Rich** mode, which gives background work more room, is only ever chosen automatically when your Mac is plugged in. ## What waits for power | Task | On battery | In Low Power Mode | |---|---|---| | Background duplicate scan of this Mac | Waits until you're plugged in | Waits | | Background duplicate check of a cloud account | Runs, unless the battery is below 40% | Waits | | Automatic backups | Run, unless you've ticked **The Mac is plugged in** | Run, unless you've ticked it | | Deep analysis of your cloud accounts in the Storage Profile | Runs | Waits | When a duplicate scan is waiting, the Duplicates window says so — for example "Waiting until you're on power." or "Waiting — Low Power Mode is on." See [Background duplicate scans](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/background-duplicate-scans). ## Backups and sleep Each backup can be limited to times when **The Mac is plugged in**, under **Only when** in its schedule. It's off unless you tick it. While a backup is held for this reason it says "Waiting for power — you asked for backups to run only when plugged in." You can always press **Back up now** — the conditions only hold the automatic runs. While a backup is running, Storage Studio stops your Mac from going to sleep through inactivity — but only when it's plugged in, has no battery, or the battery is above 30%. Below that, it lets your Mac sleep as normal and the backup carries on later. It can't keep a laptop awake with the lid closed on battery. More in [Backup speed, battery and the network](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-speed-and-power). ## Heat Power and heat go together. When your Mac is warming up, Automatic switches to **Light** ("Mac is warming up — effects paused"); when it's very hot, Storage Studio pauses its background work altogether until it cools down. Background duplicate scans also wait while your Mac is running hot. ## Quiet Hours If you use [Quiet Hours](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/quiet-hours) in its **Smart (recommended)** mode, you can also set **Pause when battery drops below** a percentage — 30% to begin with. It only applies on battery power. See also: [Why Storage Studio works slowly on purpose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-lazy-background-utility) · [Is Storage Studio slowing my Mac down?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-slowing-my-mac) · [During meetings, calls and presentations](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/during-meetings-and-calls) ## What links here - [Background duplicate scans](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/background-duplicate-scans) - [Backup schedules and triggers](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-schedules) - [Backup speed, battery and the network](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/backup-speed-and-power) - [During meetings, calls and presentations](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/during-meetings-and-calls) - [Is Storage Studio slowing my Mac down?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-slowing-my-mac) - [Performance modes](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/performance-modes) - [Why Storage Studio works slowly on purpose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-lazy-background-utility)