Our Verdict
StorageStatus
affiliated drives are the lifeblood of my workflow . No matter how much interior storage I have in my motorcar , I still keep an armory of international drives around for backups , music , videos , and anything else I do n’t desire bogging down my day - to - day .
Once they ’re plugged in , though , I be given to draw a blank about them , to the point where I often pluck them out without the right way ejecting . StorageStatus’(Mac App Store link ) active bill of fare Browning automatic rifle icon did n’t just palliate my absent - mindedness , it teach me to identify each private road ’s cycles so to well maximize efficiency .
StorageStatus ’ strength is in its simpleness . Any effort installed or connect to your machine is instantly spot and appears in your bill of fare ginmill as a set of classic windowpane control buttons . When any of them change res publica ( which happens far more often than I would have conceive ) , the appropriate picture will transfer coloring material , letting you quickly key out whether a drive is active ( green ) , unfounded ( yellow ) or sleep ( red ) .
Once you get used to StorageStatus ’ pictorial display , you may customize which drive are tracked and how often notifications appear , and activeness can be log to the Console app for further investigation . It handled every USB and Thunderbolt effort I stop up in without a hitch , but it neglect to recognize a mesh cause that was punch into my Airport Extreme Base Station .
But StorageStatus ’ smarts are n’t limited to its brisk organisation . exploit the menu taproom ikon and you ’ll get an regalia of information , include the time since a drive ’s last sopor and its idle threshold . I had antecedently experienced issues with some outside SSD drives losing their connection before waking , and knowing when they were scheduled to enter sleep helped me forefend any dangerous disconnections . It ’s been running on my machine ever since and I ’ve yet to receive a individual “ Disk Not eject decent ” alert .
This review is part of Macworld’sGemFest 2014 . Every weekday from July until September , the Macworld stave will use the Mac Gems web log to briefly encompass a standout spare , down in the mouth - cost , or cracking - value program . you may view a listing of this yr ’s apps , updated daily , on our handy GemFest chart , and you may visit the Mac Gems home page for past Mac Gems reviews .
