--- title: "Performance modes" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/performance-modes category: "Performance & battery" tags: ["performance", "battery", "background"] summary: "A performance mode sets how much of your Mac's spare capacity Storage Studio may use and how lively its windows are. Automatic, the default, adjusts by itself — easing off when your Mac is busy, warm or low on battery, and pausing background work under heavy load." updated: 2026-10-01T05:36:44.000Z --- # Performance modes A performance mode sets how much of your Mac's spare capacity Storage Studio may use and how lively its windows are. Automatic, the default, adjusts by itself — easing off when your Mac is busy, warm or low on battery, and pausing background work under heavy load. A **performance mode** sets how much of your Mac's spare capacity Storage Studio may use for its background work, and how lively its windows are. The default, **Automatic**, adjusts by itself from moment to moment: it eases off when your Mac is busy, warm or low on battery, and pauses background work altogether under heavy load. You can also pick a mode yourself. ## Where to change it Open the **More** menu → **Storage Profile…**. The current mode is shown as a small menu in the window's header — for example **Auto · Good**. Hover it to see why Storage Studio chose that mode; click it to pick another. ## The modes | Mode in the menu | What it means | Share of your Mac's free capacity background work may use | |---|---|---| | Automatic — adapts to your Mac | The default. Chooses Rich, Good, Light or Survival for you | Depends on the mode it picks | | Extreme — fastest, uses more | Background work finishes sooner; uses more of your Mac | Up to 90% | | Rich — full visual effects | Full effects and live graphs | Up to 50% | | Good — balanced everyday default | Full features, gentler background work | Up to 30% | | Light — gentle on resources | Animations and effects off, background work runs gently | Up to 12% | | Minimum — core only | Background services stop; only core storage work runs | Up to 8% | There's one more mode you never choose: **Survival**. Storage Studio enters it on its own when your Mac is under heavy load, pauses its background work, and leaves it again by itself. The share is always of what's **free** at that moment, not of your whole Mac — so when you're busy, Storage Studio uses very little. See [Why Storage Studio works slowly on purpose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-lazy-background-utility). ## How Automatic decides Automatic looks again about once a minute, and straight away when your Mac's temperature changes or you switch Low Power Mode on or off. The first match wins: ```mermaid %% caption: How Automatic chooses a mode flowchart TD A[Automatic checks your Mac] --> B{Very hot, or almost no processor time free?} B -->|Yes| S[Survival - background work paused] B -->|No| C{Warming up, Reduce Motion on, or battery below 20 percent?} C -->|Yes| L[Light] C -->|No| D{Mac busy, with less than a fifth of its processor free?} D -->|Yes| L D -->|No| E{Plugged in, not in Low Power Mode, a high-end Mac and mostly idle?} E -->|Yes| R[Rich] E -->|No| G[Good] ``` *Flowchart — How Automatic chooses a mode. Outline:* - Automatic checks your Mac - leads to Very hot, or almost no processor time free? - Very hot, or almost no processor time free? - Yes: leads to Survival - background work paused - No: leads to Warming up, Reduce Motion on, or battery below 20 percent? - Warming up, Reduce Motion on, or battery below 20 percent? - Yes: leads to Light - No: leads to Mac busy, with less than a fifth of its processor free? - Mac busy, with less than a fifth of its processor free? - Yes: leads to Light - No: leads to Plugged in, not in Low Power Mode, a high-end Mac and mostly idle? - Plugged in, not in Low Power Mode, a high-end Mac and mostly idle? - Yes: leads to Rich - No: leads to Good - **Rich** is only chosen on a plugged-in Mac with at least 10 processor cores and 16 GB of memory, while it's mostly idle. - **Low Power Mode** doesn't force Light. Storage Studio stays on Good, with its animations switched off and background work cut back further. - Because a short burst of activity can tip Automatic into Survival, it can stay there for about a minute after things calm down, until the next check. ## What pauses | | Light | Survival (automatic) | Minimum (your choice) | |---|---|---|---| | Animations and visual effects | Off | Off | Off | | Storage Profile charts | Shown | Paused | Paused | | Rules that move files automatically | Gentle | Paused | Paused | | Scheduled transfers and automatic backups | Gentle | Paused | Paused | | Background duplicate scans | Gentle | Paused | Paused | | Junk Yard clipboard capture and edge curtain | Running | Running | Paused | | Bridge device sharing | Running | Running | Stopped | In Survival and Minimum the Storage Profile shows "Charts are paused in this power-saving mode." Things you start yourself still run in every mode — for example **Back up now** or **Scan now** in the Duplicates window. Because Minimum also stops Junk Yard capture and Bridge, choose it only when you want Storage Studio kept to its core work; switch back to **Automatic — adapts to your Mac** to resume everything. ## Being told about it Storage Studio adds a short note to its notifications so a quiet app doesn't look stuck: - **Storage Studio paused itself** — in Survival. It resumes automatically when things settle. - **Running light to stay out of your way** — when effects are off, with the reason, such as "Low battery — saving power". - **Performance: Automatic · Good** (or whichever mode) — the rest of the time. See also: [Battery and power](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/battery-and-power) · [Is Storage Studio slowing my Mac down?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-slowing-my-mac) · [Your Storage Profile](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-profile) · [Background Activity and Job Insights](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/background-activity) ## 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) - [Battery and power](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/battery-and-power) - [Clipboard capture, pins and how long items last](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/clipboard-capture) - [During meetings, calls and presentations](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/during-meetings-and-calls) - [Everything looks stuck](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/everything-looks-stuck) - [Is Storage Studio slowing my Mac down?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-slowing-my-mac) - [Junk Yard shortcuts](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/junk-yard-shortcuts) - [Keep opened files on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/keep-opened-files-on-this-mac) - [Opening the Junk Yard from the screen edge](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/opening-the-junk-yard) - [Pausing or stopping everything](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/pausing-and-stopping) - [Quiet Hours](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/quiet-hours) - [Scheduling a transfer](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/transfer-schedules) - [The Junk Yard won't open or stops capturing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-junk-yard-wont-open) - [Why Storage Studio works slowly on purpose](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/a-lazy-background-utility)