Moving with Storage Studio versus dragging in Finder

You can always drag a folder to your external drive in Finder, and for a one-off copy that's perfect. Storage Studio's Data Parking is built for a different job: freeing space on your Mac without breaking anything that expects the folder to be where it was.

What Finder does

Drag a folder to a different drive and Finder copies it — the original stays, so no space is freed. Hold Command while dragging and Finder moves it instead: it copies, then removes the original. Either way, nothing is left in the old place, so apps that look for the folder there won't find it.

What Data Parking adds

• A checked copy first. The original is removed only after the copy has been checked — by size, dates and permissions by default, or byte by byte if you choose Thorough.
• A shortcut left behind. Relocate keeps the folders where they were and leaves a shortcut for each file, so apps keep working. See Move, Merge or Relocate.
• A guard against busy folders. By default it won't start a move if files in the folder changed very recently, and it tells you when an app is holding the folder open.
• Safe to stop. Pausing or cancelling never loses data, because originals aren't touched until the end.
• A way back. The Moves log lists each move, and a finished move can be reverted. See Moving a folder back.
• The details kept. Contents, names, created and modified dates, permissions, Finder tags and other extended attributes, the Locked and hidden flags, hard links, sparse files and shortcuts — plus access lists where the drive can hold them. File ownership isn't kept. See What a move keeps.

%% caption: Two ways to get a folder onto your drive
flowchart TD
  A[A folder on your Mac] --> B{How do you move it?}
  B -->|Drag in Finder| C[Copied to the drive]
  C --> D[Original stays unless you hold Command]
  B -->|Relocate in Data Parking| E[Copied to the drive]
  E --> F{Does the copy check out?}
  F -->|No| G[Original stays exactly as it was]
  F -->|Yes| H[Shortcuts replace the original files]
  H --> I[Listed in the Moves log, ready to revert]

Using both

Use Finder for quick copies you'll manage yourself. Use Data Parking when the aim is space on your Mac and the folder needs to keep working from its old place.

See also: Moving folders safely · A tour of the Data Parking window · The Moves log