--- title: "Moving folders safely" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-folders-safely category: "Data Parking & moving folders" tags: ["data parking", "external drive", "free up space", "moving folders"] summary: "Data Parking moves folders between your Mac and your external drive or a cloud account. The original is never removed until the copy has finished and been checked, and a finished move can be reverted." updated: 2026-10-01T05:32:30.000Z --- # Moving folders safely Data Parking moves folders between your Mac and your external drive or a cloud account. The original is never removed until the copy has finished and been checked, and a finished move can be reverted. **Data Parking** is the hands-on way to move folders off your Mac's built-in disk — to your external drive or to a cloud account. Choose **Data Parking…** from the **More** menu to open it. It's a two-pane window: your Mac on the left, the destination on the right, and the controls in the middle. ## The three moves Once both panes show folders with the same name, click **Pair** and the move buttons switch on. - **Move** — the destination ends up matching what you moved. If something with the same name is already there, it is replaced. The original is removed after the copy is checked. - **Merge** — combines what you moved into the matching folder on the other side. Anything that is only at the destination is kept; files with the same name are updated from what you're moving. The original is removed afterwards. - **Relocate** — moves the contents to your drive but leaves the folder where it was, with each file replaced by a **shortcut** to its new home. Apps that read the folder still find everything where they expect it. If a **Move** or **Relocate** would replace something already at the destination, Storage Studio stops and asks first. It names what will be replaced, says how many files that is, and asks you to type **Replace** to confirm — because what gets replaced isn't kept anywhere. [Move, Merge or Relocate](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/move-merge-or-relocate) helps you choose. ```mermaid %% caption: What happens when you move a folder in Data Parking flowchart TD A[Tick folders on one side] --> B[Pair the two panes] B --> C{Which action?} C -->|Move or Merge| D[Copy to the other side] C -->|Relocate| D D --> E{Does the copy check out?} E -->|No| F[The move stops and the original stays where it was] E -->|Yes, Move or Merge| G[The original is removed] E -->|Yes, Relocate| H[Each original file becomes a shortcut] ``` *Flowchart — What happens when you move a folder in Data Parking. Outline:* - Tick folders on one side - leads to Pair the two panes - Pair the two panes - leads to Which action? - Which action? - Move or Merge: leads to Copy to the other side - Relocate: leads to Copy to the other side - Copy to the other side - leads to Does the copy check out? - Does the copy check out? - No: leads to The move stops and the original stays where it was - Yes, Move or Merge: leads to The original is removed - Yes, Relocate: leads to Each original file becomes a shortcut ## Why it's safe - **The original is never removed until the copy has finished and been checked.** The gear button sets how carefully each copy is checked: **Fast (stat compare)** is the default, **Thorough (content hash)** reads every byte, and **Off (trust the copier)** still checks sizes before anything is removed. See [How copies are checked](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-copies-are-checked). - **Folders you're still working in are held back.** By default a folder with a file changed in the last 12 hours isn't moved, so a half-saved project doesn't get copied mid-write. See [When an app is holding a folder open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/when-an-app-holds-a-folder-open). - **Pause or cancel at any time.** Your originals aren't touched until the final step, so stopping part-way is safe. - **If the drive is unplugged while a folder is moving onto it**, the move waits and carries on when the same drive comes back. - **A finished move can be undone.** The move history lists completed moves with a **Revert** button, as long as the drive is connected and nothing new has been put at the original spot. See [The Moves log](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-moves-log) and [Moving a folder back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-a-folder-back). ## What a move keeps A move between your built-in disk and your external drive keeps each file's contents and name, its created and modified dates, its permissions, its Finder tags and other extended attributes, and Finder's **Locked** and hidden flags. Hard links and sparse files stay as they are, and shortcuts stay shortcuts. Custom access lists are kept when the drive can hold them. File ownership isn't carried over — external drives normally ignore it. The full list is in [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps). Moves to a cloud account keep what that provider supports — see [Parking a folder in a cloud account](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/parking-a-folder-in-a-cloud-account). See also: [A tour of the Data Parking window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-data-parking-window), [The shortcut left behind after a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-shortcut-left-behind), [Data Transfers](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-transfers) for copies and syncs you want to schedule. More answers: https://storagestudio.us/faq ## What links here - [A folder move failed or was cancelled](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-move-failed) - [A tour of the Data Parking window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-data-parking-window) - [Copy, Move, Sync or Two-way sync](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/copy-move-sync-or-two-way-sync) - [Data Transfers](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-transfers) - [Developer caches and build folders](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/developer-storage) - [Extended attributes](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-extended-attributes) - [Files that change while they're being transferred](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/files-that-change-during-a-transfer) - [Free Up Space](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/free-up-space) - [Freeing up space: the options](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/freeing-up-space-overview) - [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe) - [How copies are checked: Fast, Thorough or Off](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-copies-are-checked) - [Move, Merge or Relocate: which to choose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/move-merge-or-relocate) - [Moves or transfers say a component is missing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/engine-missing) - [Moving a folder back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-a-folder-back) - [Moving with Storage Studio versus dragging in Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-dragging-in-finder) - [Parking a folder in a cloud account](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/parking-a-folder-in-a-cloud-account) - [Pausing or stopping everything](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/pausing-and-stopping) - [Rules: moving folders automatically](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/rules-and-automatic-moves) - [The Moves log](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-moves-log) - [The drive was unplugged during a move](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-unplugged-during-a-move) - [Uninstalling Storage Studio](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/uninstalling-storage-studio) - [What Storage Studio does](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-storage-studio-does) - [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) - [When an app is holding a folder open](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/when-an-app-holds-a-folder-open) - [Where to start: pick your goal](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/where-to-start)