What is dasd on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Duet Activity Scheduler: picks good moments to run background tasks like backups and indexing.
dasd is the Duet Activity Scheduler daemon. macOS has hundreds of background jobs (backups, Spotlight indexing, photo analysis, update checks) and dasd decides when each should run, taking into account things like battery, power, how busy you are and the time of day. It's normally light; if it seems busy, the jobs it starts are usually what's actually using resources.
- Category
- macOS system
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as dasd
Why is dasd using so much CPU or memory?
- Many background tasks being scheduled, for example after waking or plugging in
- Shortly after login or a macOS update
What to do
- 1Wait a few minutes
- 2Look for the background tasks that start afterwards (backupd, mds, photoanalysisd)
- 3Restart your Mac if it stays busy
Safe to quit? With care.
macOS relaunches it; background tasks may be delayed.
Related processes
- backupd (Time Machine)Runs Time Machine backups and manages your backup history.
- mdsThe Spotlight metadata server: coordinates indexing so you can search your Mac instantly.
- photoanalysisdAnalyses your photos in the background for Memories, People and searching by what's in them.
- runningboarddDecides how much priority and freedom each running app and helper gets.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library