Moved apps when the drive is disconnected

A moved app lives on your external drive, with only a shortcut left on your Mac. While the drive is unplugged, that shortcut has nothing to point at, so the app can't open. Nothing is lost or damaged: connect the drive again and the app opens exactly as before.

What you'll see

• In the Dock, Launchpad or Finder, macOS can't open the app, because the app it points to isn't there right now.
• On the All Apps grid, the app still appears as a moved app, so you know where it is.
• On the Moved tab, the app's icon changes to a drive with a question mark. Hovering over it says "Reconnect your fast drive to use …". Open, Move back and Offload are greyed out until the drive is back.
• On the Offloaded tab, each app says Reconnect your fast drive to restore, and Restore and Remove are greyed out.
• On the Internal tab, Move and Offload are greyed out, because there's nowhere to put the app.

%% caption: Opening a moved app with the drive connected and disconnected
flowchart TD
  A[You open a moved app] --> B{Is the external drive connected?}
  B -->|Yes| C[The shortcut leads to the app on the drive and it opens]
  B -->|No| D[macOS can't find the app]
  D --> E[Connect the drive]
  E --> C

Storage Studio doesn't panic

Storage Studio tells the difference between a drive that's simply unplugged and an app that's really missing. With the drive disconnected it raises no alarms and changes nothing. It checks your moved apps again when the drive comes back.

If the drive is connected but a moved app's files are gone from it, that's a different situation. See Missing moved apps: hide, recover or remove.

Apps that start at login or update themselves

• Apps with a background item. Some apps register a helper that starts when you log in. If the drive isn't connected yet at that moment, the helper can't start. That's one of the reasons such apps get the Override badge before they're moved. See App safety levels.
• Apps that update themselves. While the drive is away, the app can't run, so it can't update itself either. Some apps replace themselves in place when they update. For those, keep the drive connected while an update runs. Storage Studio also keeps a safety copy of such apps on the drive. See Apps that update or reinstall themselves.

If you use an app away from your drive

If you often need an app when the drive isn't with you, bring it back to your Mac with Move back while the drive is connected. You can move it out again later.

Before you unplug the drive, it's worth quitting any moved apps first. See Ejecting your drive safely.

See also: When your drive is disconnected · A moved app won't open · Moving an app to your external drive