--- title: "Switching to a new drive: Transfer Drive and Backup Drive" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/transfer-drive-and-backup-drive category: "External drives" tags: ["external drive", "backups", "data parking"] summary: "Transfer to a New Drive copies everything Storage Studio keeps on your drive to another drive, checks the copy, then switches over so your moved folders and apps use the new one. Back Up to Another Drive makes the same checked copy but keeps using the current drive. The old drive is never changed." updated: 2026-10-01T05:34:28.000Z --- # Switching to a new drive: Transfer Drive and Backup Drive Transfer to a New Drive copies everything Storage Studio keeps on your drive to another drive, checks the copy, then switches over so your moved folders and apps use the new one. Back Up to Another Drive makes the same checked copy but keeps using the current drive. The old drive is never changed. Outgrown your drive, or want a spare copy of it? Storage Studio can copy everything it keeps on your external drive — every moved folder and app — to another external drive and check the copy. - **Transfer to a New Drive…** copies, checks, and then **switches over**: your relocated folders and moved apps now point to the new drive. - **Back Up to Another Drive…** copies and checks, and **keeps using the current drive**. The other drive holds a complete spare copy. In both cases the current drive is never written to or deleted from. After a transfer it still holds a full copy. ## Step by step 1. Plug in both drives. 2. From the **More** menu, choose **Transfer to a New Drive…** or **Back Up to Another Drive…**. The **Transfer Drive** or **Backup Drive** window lists the other external drives. 3. Select the drive to copy to. Storage Studio checks it and shows: - **This drive looks good.**, **This drive can be used, with cautions.** or **This drive can't be used.**, with reasons; - its speed, from a quick read and write test; - **Needs about** so many GB, and how much is free on that drive. 4. Click **Transfer…** or **Back Up…**. If the drive had cautions or is slow, you're asked **Continue anyway?** first, with **Transfer Anyway** or **Back Up Anyway**. 5. Watch the progress: how much is **Copied**, the **Speed** and the **Time left**. Then the copy is checked. 6. For a transfer, Storage Studio then switches over, updating every relocated folder and moved app to use the new drive. If any moved apps live in a folder macOS protects, such as Applications, you're asked for your password once. 7. Done. A transfer says **Now using the new drive**; a backup says **Backup complete** and offers **Reveal Backup in Finder**. ```mermaid %% caption: Transfer to a new drive compared with backing up to another drive flowchart TD A[Pick the other drive] --> B[Checks - format, space, speed] B --> C[Copy everything Storage Studio keeps on the current drive] C --> D[Check the copy matches] D -->|Does not match| X[Stop - current drive unchanged] D -->|Matches, Backup| E[Backup complete - keep using the current drive] D -->|Matches, Transfer| F[Re-point moved folders and apps to the new drive] F --> G[Now using the new drive - old drive still has a full copy] ``` *Flowchart — Transfer to a new drive compared with backing up to another drive. Outline:* - Pick the other drive - leads to Checks - format, space, speed - Checks - format, space, speed - leads to Copy everything Storage Studio keeps on the current drive - Copy everything Storage Studio keeps on the current drive - leads to Check the copy matches - Check the copy matches - Does not match: leads to Stop - current drive unchanged - Matches, Backup: leads to Backup complete - keep using the current drive - Matches, Transfer: leads to Re-point moved folders and apps to the new drive - Re-point moved folders and apps to the new drive - leads to Now using the new drive - old drive still has a full copy ## What the new drive needs - It must be **external** — your Mac's own disk isn't offered. - It must **not already have a Storage Studio folder for this Mac**. If it does, it's refused with that reason — choose a different drive. Drives that Storage Studio has set up before are marked **Already set up** in the list. - It needs **enough free space** for everything on the current drive, with a small margin. - Its format is checked the same way as when you set up a drive — see [Drive formats](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-formats). ## While it runs - **Pause**, **Resume** and **Cancel** are at the bottom of the window. - The copy **keeps going if you close the window or Storage Studio**, and continues if a drive is unplugged and plugged back in — it shows **Waiting for the drive…** in the meantime. - **The switch only happens after the copy has been checked.** If anything doesn't match, it stops with **The copy couldn't be verified. Your current drive is unchanged.** - If the switch itself can't finish, Storage Studio says so — your old drive still has everything, and you keep using it. ## After a transfer Your relocated folders and moved apps open from the new drive. The old drive still holds the full copy; keep it until you're happy everything works, then reuse it as you like. ## What's kept The copy keeps each file's contents, name, modified date and permissions, Finder tags and other extended attributes, hard links and shortcuts. It is accepted only after every file's contents have been compared with the original. A few details that a folder move keeps — such as access lists and Finder's **Locked** flag — aren't part of this copy; compare [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps). See also: [Choosing an external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/choosing-an-external-drive), [Setting up your drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/setting-up-your-drive), [Data Backup](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/data-backup) for versioned backups of your Mac's folders. - **How do I move apps to an external drive on a Mac and still launch them?** Dragging an app to another drive can break it, because macOS expects it in /Applications. Storage Studio relocates the app to your external drive and leaves a shortcut in place, so it still launches normally from Launchpad, Spotlight, and the Dock — and you can move it back in one click. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I use an external SSD as extra storage on a MacBook?** Plug in a USB-C or Thunderbolt SSD and let Storage Studio pair it with your internal drive as one workspace. It moves big folders, libraries, and apps to the SSD with a shortcut left behind, so your MacBook behaves like it has a much bigger disk — fast enough to work directly off the external drive. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Can I move my Photos or Final Cut library to an external drive?** Yes — large Photos, Final Cut, and iMovie libraries are common space hogs. Storage Studio relocates them to an external drive while keeping them usable, leaving a shortcut so your apps still find them. Moving a folder to your fast drive keeps its files' modified and created dates, permissions,… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Will moving files to another drive break my apps or Spotlight?** Not the way Storage Studio does it. It leaves a shortcut (symlink) at the original location, so apps, Finder, and Spotlight resolve everything as if it never moved — and the move is fully reversible. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) ## What links here - [Choosing an external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/choosing-an-external-drive) - [Drive formats: APFS, Mac OS Extended and exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-formats) - [Setting up your drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/setting-up-your-drive) - [The drive isn't recognised as set up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-says-not-set-up) - [Using your licence on a new Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-to-a-new-mac) - [What to know about exFAT drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/exfat-drives) - [When your drive is disconnected](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/when-your-drive-is-disconnected)