--- title: "Restore Points" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/restore-points category: "Safety & undo" tags: ["restore points", "undo", "safety", "external drive"] summary: "Restore Points record each batch of folders and apps Storage Studio moves, plus its own records and settings, so you can roll a batch back or put Storage Studio's settings back. Your files are never copied into a restore point." updated: 2026-10-01T05:37:09.000Z --- # Restore Points Restore Points record each batch of folders and apps Storage Studio moves, plus its own records and settings, so you can roll a batch back or put Storage Studio's settings back. Your files are never copied into a restore point. **Restore Points** keep a record of every batch of moves Storage Studio makes, so you can put a batch back where it came from with **Roll Back Last Batch**. Each restore point also keeps a copy of Storage Studio's own records and settings. **Your files are never copied into a restore point** — it records what moved where, which is why it takes up very little space. Open it from the **More** menu → **Restore Points…**. ## What a restore point records - **The moves in a batch** — for every folder or app, where it was and where it went. - **Storage Studio's own records and settings** — what it has moved, and your Rules — shown under **Settings & configuration**. None of your files or your apps' settings are here. Restore points are made **automatically** while the **On** switch at the top of the window is on: moves made close together are grouped into one batch, and the batch is closed a few seconds after the last move settles. You can also click **Create Restore Point** at any time to save a checkpoint of everything currently on your external drive. Restore points are kept **on your external drive**. When it isn't connected the window says **Connect your drive to see restore points**. ## Rolling back ```mermaid %% caption: What happens when you roll back a batch flowchart TD A[Roll Back Last Batch] --> B[A preview lists anything that will be skipped] B --> C{You click Roll back} C --> D[Take the next item, newest first] D --> E{Is something new at its original spot?} E -->|Yes| F[Skip it and say why] E -->|No| G[Copy it back to this Mac] G --> H{Did the copy check out?} H -->|Yes| I[Remove the copy on the external drive] H -->|No| J[Leave both where they are] F --> K{More items?} I --> K J --> K K -->|Yes| D K -->|No| L[Done - a summary says what came back] ``` *Flowchart — What happens when you roll back a batch. Outline:* - Roll Back Last Batch - leads to A preview lists anything that will be skipped - A preview lists anything that will be skipped - leads to You click Roll back - You click Roll back - leads to Take the next item, newest first - Take the next item, newest first - leads to Is something new at its original spot? - Is something new at its original spot? - Yes: leads to Skip it and say why - No: leads to Copy it back to this Mac - Skip it and say why - leads to More items? - Copy it back to this Mac - leads to Did the copy check out? - Did the copy check out? - Yes: leads to Remove the copy on the external drive - No: leads to Leave both where they are - Remove the copy on the external drive - leads to More items? - Leave both where they are - leads to More items? - More items? - Yes: leads to Take the next item, newest first - No: leads to Done - a summary says what came back 1. Click **Roll Back Last Batch** — or, for an earlier batch, **Roll back to here** on its row. That rolls back only that one batch, not everything after it. 2. Read the **Roll back this batch?** sheet. Anything that can't be returned safely is listed under **These will be skipped to avoid overwriting anything:**. 3. Click **Roll back**. Each item is copied back first; the copy on your drive is only cleaned up after that. Folders are queued as move-backs, so they may take a little while to arrive — the summary says they're on their way. In the main window's **More** menu, **Undo Last Batch…** does the same for the most recent batch. ## When an item is skipped Rolling back never overwrites anything. An item is skipped, with a reason, when for example: - there's something at the original location now; - the moved copy is no longer on your external drive; - it was moved to a different drive from the one connected now; - it was an offloaded app — restore it from the Apps window's **Offloaded** tab instead (see [Offloading and restoring an app](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/offloading-an-app)). Everything else in the batch still goes back. A row's badge shows its state: **Can roll back**, **Rolled back**, **Partly rolled back**, **Needs attention**, **Failed** or **Set aside**. ## Restoring Storage Studio's settings Click **Restore settings** under a restore point's **Settings & configuration** to put Storage Studio's records and settings back as they were then. You type **Replace** and click **Replace with this restore point**. Your current records and settings are copied aside first, so you can step back. It never touches your files, your apps or their settings. ## How long they're kept Storage Studio keeps the last 50 batches and up to 30 days, within a size limit on your drive of between 5 GB and 25 GB depending on free space. The five most recent restore points, and anything less than a day old, are always kept. Older ones tidy themselves away. ## What restore points don't do - They can't bring back deleted files — that's the [Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/recycle-vault). - Cache clear-ups can't be undone; apps rebuild their caches. - They aren't a backup of your files. For that, see [Data Backup](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-backup). See also: [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe) · [Moving a folder back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-a-folder-back) · [The Moves log](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-moves-log) ## What links here - [Backing up Storage Studio's own settings](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/self-backup-of-settings) - [How Storage Studio keeps every change reversible](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-storage-studio-keeps-you-safe) - [How Storage Studio protects your settings on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/your-settings-are-encrypted) - [Local snapshots](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/local-snapshots) - [Pausing or stopping everything](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/pausing-and-stopping) - [Restoring something from the Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/restoring-from-the-recycle-vault) - [Reviewing, stopping and checking a clear-up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/reviewing-a-clear-up) - [Self-healing](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/self-healing) - [Smart Care](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/smart-care) - [The Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/recycle-vault)