When your drive is disconnected

Unplugging your external drive never loses anything — but while it's away, whatever Storage Studio moved onto it is out of reach. Storage Studio shows that the drive is missing, holds back work that needs it, and picks up again when the same drive returns.

How you can tell

• The menu bar icon shows a red dot.
• In the Advanced view's popover, the header reads External drive disconnected.
• The Home screen shows Connect an external drive to do more, and the drive's space shows Not connected.
• In Data Parking, the destination menu shows the drive as NVMe — not connected.
• If the drive disappears while Storage Studio is running, it tries to mount it again and sends a notification if it's still missing. Another notification tells you when the drive is back.

What works and what waits

Relocated folders keep their shortcuts, but the files those shortcuts point to are on the drive — see The shortcut left behind after a move. Moved apps behave the same way; an app may also show its own update prompt because it can't reach its files. See Moved apps when the drive is disconnected.

%% caption: What happens when the drive goes away and comes back
flowchart TD
  A[Drive unplugged] --> B[Red dot and Not connected]
  B --> C[Moves in progress wait]
  B --> D[Automatic moves are skipped]
  B --> E[Relocated files and moved apps cannot open]
  C --> F{Same drive plugged back in?}
  D --> F
  E --> F
  F -->|Yes| G[Moves continue, files and apps open again]
  F -->|A different drive| H[Waiting moves are not continued on it]

Moves that were running

A folder move onto the drive stops copying when the drive disappears and shows Waiting for drive. Nothing is removed from your Mac — the original is only removed after a finished, checked copy. When the same drive is plugged back in, the move continues on its own. Storage Studio recognises the drive itself, not just its name, so it won't continue a move onto a different drive that happens to have the same name.

A move back from the drive can't wait like that, because its source has gone. It stops, the copy on the drive is left as it was, and you can start it again once the drive is back. See The drive was unplugged during a move.

A Transfer to a New Drive or Back Up to Another Drive copy also waits and continues when its drives are back — see Switching to a new drive.

When you plug it back in

Relocated folders and moved apps work again straight away. If you ejected the drive from Storage Studio, automatic actions were paused at the time; the Home screen shows Automatic actions are paused with a Resume button. See Ejecting your drive safely.

If the drive is plugged in but Storage Studio still doesn't see it, try Remount Drive in the More menu, or see The drive says "not set up".

See also: Checking your drive's health and setup, The menu bar icon and popover.