Glossary

exFAT

exFAT is a drive format that both Macs and Windows PCs can use. It can't hold Mac permissions, access lists or hard links, so APFS is recommended for Storage Studio.

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exFAT is a drive format that both Macs and Windows PCs can read and write, which is why many drives come formatted with it.

It's simple by design, so it can't hold several things a Mac uses: file permissions and ownership, access lists and hard links. It also keeps no journal of changes, so pulling the drive out without ejecting it is riskier than with a Mac format.

In Storage Studio, an exFAT drive can be used, but only after you confirm a warning — APFS is strongly recommended. When a move goes to a drive that can't hold access lists, Storage Studio leaves them out rather than failing the whole move.

If the drive only ever needs to work with Macs, reformatting it as APFS (which erases it) gives you the most complete moves.

See also: What to know about exFAT drives · Drive formats · What a move keeps

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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.
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.
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,…
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.

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