The Recycle Vault

The Recycle Vault is Storage Studio's own recoverable bin. When Storage Studio removes something for you — a duplicate copy, an app you uninstall, files cleared to free space in an emergency — it goes into the vault instead of being deleted, and stays recoverable for about six months. It's separate from your Mac's own Trash, and from Restore Points, which undo moves rather than removals.

Open it from the More menu → Recycle Vault…. You can also ask Tuhi to open it.

What goes into it

• Duplicate copies you remove in the Duplicates window, including those removed through Smart Care.
• Apps you uninstall, with their leftover files. (An item that needs your administrator password to remove goes to your Mac's Trash instead.)
• Files removed by Emergency Space and by clearing temporary files.
• Files you clear from Storage Studio's own footprint.

Each item in the list says how it was removed — for example Duplicate cleanup, App uninstall or Free Up Space.

Not everything goes through the vault. App caches cleared by Free Up Space aren't kept, because apps rebuild their caches. Duplicate copies removed from a cloud account go to that provider's own Trash, or are removed for good where the provider has none. And when you delete something yourself in Data Parking, the confirmation tells you plainly that it doesn't go to your Trash or the Recycle Vault.

Where it's kept

Your removed files rest on your external drive; your Mac keeps only the list of what's recoverable. That's the point: if removed files stayed on your Mac, clearing them wouldn't free any space.

%% caption: Where a removed file goes
flowchart TD
  A[Storage Studio removes something for you] --> B{External drive connected?}
  B -->|Yes| C[It rests in the vault on the drive]
  B -->|No| D{Room in the holding area on your Mac?}
  D -->|Yes| E[It is held on your Mac for now]
  E --> F[Moved to the drive automatically when you reconnect it]
  D -->|No| G{Have you set up an external drive?}
  G -->|Yes| H[It goes to your Mac's Trash instead]
  G -->|No| I[Nothing is removed - you are asked to connect a drive]

When the drive isn't connected, removed files wait in a holding area on your Mac, and move to the drive on their own once you plug it in. The holding area has a size limit — 5 GB to begin with — so it can never fill your Mac. It's also not used when your Mac is already short of space. If it can't be used, removals go to your Mac's Trash instead; if you've never set up an external drive, Storage Studio stops and removes nothing rather than risk filling your disk.

Why an external drive matters. Without one, the vault can only hold things on your Mac. The window shows No external drive — restore is at risk, and you'll see a critical notice, Restore needs an external SSD, until you set one up. See Setting up your drive.

The window

The list shows everything recoverable, newest first. Each row shows the item's name, the folder it came from, how it was removed, when, how many days are left, and its size. A v2, v3 … badge means the same file was removed more than once. needs drive means its contents are on your external drive, which isn't connected.

Select one or more items and use:

• Restore — puts them back where they came from.
• The button next to Restore ("Restore the selected items to a folder you choose") — puts them in a folder you pick.
• Undo last removal — restores everything from the most recent removal in one step.
• The trash button — removes them permanently (see below).

The magnifying glass on a row reveals the recoverable copy in Finder. Step by step: Restoring something from the Recycle Vault.

How long things are kept

Items are kept for about six months (183 days), then cleared automatically. Storage Studio checks once a day. Items held on your Mac waiting for the drive are never cleared by this check.

The vault's settings — the button at the top of the window — let you choose:

If the vault grows beyond its share of the drive, the oldest items on the drive are cleared to make room, even if they haven't reached six months. If you might need something back, restore it rather than relying on the full six months. The settings also include Where it's kept, which tells you the same thing in plain words and can show the vault in Finder.

Deleting something for good

Select items and click the trash button. Because this is the last copy, you're asked to type Delete, and the button reads Delete permanently. It isn't sent to the Trash, and there's nothing left to restore afterwards. A large selection is erased one item at a time, showing how far it has got.

See also: How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible · How Storage Studio deletes things · The Trash and the space it holds