Ask Jacob
Hard Drive Icon Missing From Desktop – What Gives?
Thursday, January 15, 2009 / System Settings
Some many months ago the hard drive icon on my iMac (10.5.5) disappeared, yet my Time Machine HD icon and my iDisk icon remain. If I open Applications, my HD icon is present in the left sidebar, and I can work with it as normal. I have tried most everything I can think of in System Preferences as well as resetting PRAM, running First Aid, and running the latest version of Cocktail. I have spoken to Apple techs over the phone several times, but nothing works to restore the HD icon on my desktop. I am sure it will be a simple solution once found, but I have not stumbled upon it yet… do you have any suggestions.
BTW, whenever I run First Aid or repair permissions on Cocktail, it takes hours to perform the task; do you think there is any connection, or could it be that I am running Time Machine at the same time?
I believe this is a preference setting for Finder. It is often overlooked, but the “Finder” is an application running on your Apple Computer. The Finder application is brought to the active foreground when you click on the Desktop or the Finder icon on the Dock. Although it is an integral part of the Operating System, it is still just an application and therefore has its own preferences. The System Preferences under the Apple Menu are specific to the computer in general, the Finder preferences are found under the “Finder” menu. Under the General tab, there are four checkboxes in the “Show these items on the Desktop:” section. I would recommend marking all four checkboxes. Take a look around at the other settings in there; I think you will be surprised at all the options.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:22 am
THANKS !!! i just ran into the same thing when i received my new mac book pro. I was like… WHERE IS THE HD ICON???? haha now i feel dumb. Thanks for explaining.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Just happened to me, too, with my brand spankin’ new iMac. First, I thought my resolution was screwed up…wasn’t. Then I wondered if Mac decided a HD on the desktop ruined the aesthetics…wouldn’t be surprised if they did. But your solution rocked! Thanks.
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
here it is 2010 and i lost the harddrive icon on my desktop to when my husband removed te external drive without ejecting and I blamed it on him… poor guy.
found my “missing harddrive” thanks to you
October 31st, 2010 at 2:51 pm
all theses years & I had NO idea that was there ?!
thanks!
-p