Auto-scan on mount
Plug in. It catalogs itself.
Connect a drive and Guardian quietly records its contents, folder sizes, capacity and free space. No exports, no sessions to manage.
Guardian, an Obsessed toolFor anyone with a shelf of drives · macOS
Every drive on your shelf,
browsable offline.
Guardian catalogs each drive while it’s plugged in. Search, browse and scrub previews of everything, after it’s back on the shelf.
Download Guardian
Free. Your first drive catalogs free.
Unlocks unlimited drives.
One-time purchase · No subscription · macOS
Unlimited drives · All the Macs you use · Every future update included
Guardian for iPhone · Free on the App Store
Guardian in thirty seconds
The problem
Which drive is it on? The only way to know is plugging them in, one by one. Somewhere in that stack is the file you need.
What it does
Offline search and previews
Find a shot without mounting a thing.
Search every cataloged drive at once, then scrub video previews with the drive still on the shelf. R3D, ARW and ProRes previews are generated on your machine, for your formats.
Single-copy exposure
Know what exists in only one place.
Guardian marks footage that lives on exactly one drive. 29.6 of 41.1 TB on this shelf sits in one place, which is a risk you want to see coming.
On your iPhone
Your shelf, in your pocket.
The free iPhone app pairs with Guardian on your Mac and keeps the whole catalog on your phone. Stand at the shelf and know which drive to pick up. It syncs over your own Wi-Fi, and nothing goes through the internet.
Get it on the App Store
Local-only by design
Nothing leaves your Mac.
The catalog is a file on your machine. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. Client footage stays where it belongs.
01
Plug in
Connect any external drive. Guardian spots it and starts a Quick Scan on its own.
02
Quick Scan
Contents, folder sizes, capacity and health, cataloged in minutes. Deep Scan adds previews when you ask, or while the machine sits idle.
03
Unplug
Put the drive back on the shelf. Everything stays searchable, browsable and previewable, offline.
The maker’s own shelf, cataloged
- Drives
- 12
- Files
- 316,965
- Cataloged
- 41.1 TB
- Previews
- 33,738
Built by a working production company, for its own shelf.
FAQ
- Can't Spotlight or Finder do this?
- No. macOS doesn't index drives that aren't connected. Guardian keeps its own catalog, so search and previews work with the drive in a drawer.
- Is Guardian a backup tool?
- No. Guardian tells you what's on every drive and what exists in only one place, so you can see where you're exposed. Backing up stays your call.
- Does my footage leave my Mac?
- Never. The catalog lives on your machine. No cloud, no account, no telemetry.
- What does it cost?
- Free to download, and it catalogs your first drive free. One payment unlocks unlimited drives, yours for good. No subscription, no renewal. The price is set for your country and shown at checkout.
- Is there an iPhone app?
- Yes, and it is free. Guardian for iPhone pairs with Guardian on your Mac over your own Wi-Fi and keeps the catalog on your phone, so you can search every drive with none of them near you. It reads the catalog only: no files, no account.
- Which formats get previews?
- R3D, ARW, ProRes and everything macOS can decode. Previews are generated on your machine, tuned for footage drives.
Every drive, accounted for.
One drive free. One payment unlocks the shelf.
Download Guardian
Mac only. Apple silicon. No account.
Unlimited drives, once you need them.