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Solution to show Hard Drive Icon on the desktop

OS 10.6.1

Go to Finder
Click preferences
On General Tab the first section see
"Show these items on the desktop"
Click Hard Disks

That's it.

Screenshot2009-10-25at83508AM.png
 
Same Problem

I have the same exact problem as you and it happened after I installed the newest update to the operating system. Version 10.5.8. I restarted my computer after the update and after it rebooted the hard drive was not on my desktop or my finder. I have even called apple support but they have no idea what to do.
 
Thank you!!!

Far out guys! dont worry about all that terminal console crap!

Using FileBuddy from macupdate.com
1. Enable administrator privileges
2. File -> Get Info -> Choose -> Macintosh HD (default selection)
3. Uncheck the box on the left which should be ticked as invisible
4. Do a finder search for a file named "com.apple.sidebarlists.plist" (you will need to activate the search to include hidden system files, delete this file)
5. Reboot your computer.

First, I want to thank YELLOW taking the time to go through all of this for the poster. You have helped so many! I was unable to locate the xcode file through you link so terminal continued to reply with the following quote "-bash: /Developer/Tools/GetFileInfo: cannot execute binary file"

This same thing actually happened to me about a year and a half ago and I believe I used xcode and this blog to fix it. This time, for some reason, I was not as successful. However, guy.sutton's post which is quoted above, worked easily and like a charm without having to go into terminal except to "killall Finder" I did not have to reboot by using this terminal code. Sadly, that program "FileBuddy 9.0.2" has been discontinued as a FREE app and it costs $40. If I were a little more tech savvy I may be able to follow Yellow's post and do it FREE. So until next time.. thank you guys kindly and Happy Holidays! :eek:
 
Script Fix

I read through this thread, obviously because I was experiencing the same issues, but didn't want to pay for File Buddy or Xtools to "fix" something I paid for already- a working Mac/finder. Kept searching and came across this article and it worked like a charm using the applescript option. I was also unable to view my user directory from the left pane of finder, and that was corrected just by running the script the first time on my hdd. Thanks Pink Mutant! It doesn't sound like the fix actually corrects the bug, or whatever the root cause is, but it was the easiest, most effective, solution I've found yet.

http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/invisible.html

Launch ScriptEditor and copy and paste this into the script window:

tell application "System Events"
set visible of disk "NameofDisk" to true
end tell

tell application "Finder" to quit
delay 1
tell application "Finder" to launch

Replace NameofDisk with the actual name of your disk, hit the Compile icon to make sure the script didn't acquire any errors, and then hit run. This should set the visible attribute back to visible and quit and relaunch the Finder, thus making the change available.

The same thing can happen to other drives, both internal and external. You can use the same Applescript to fix those as well, just put in the name of the drive.
 
I am having a similar problem after updating to 10.7.1. My Macintosh HD is where it should be but my external no longer appears on the desktop. It does appear in finder and all programs that utilize the external read it fine. All the correct options are selected so it should show up. It is also used for time machine back ups, however when doing a back up the time machine icon doesn't not appear either. The back up is done via a .dmg and appears as if I was doing a network backup.

I have hooked up other externals but they do not show up either.

Any tips to fix this would be great.

I know I can put an alias on the desktop but I'd rather have it appear the default way.
 
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Solution

The Solution:

I had the same problem today. My hard drive did not show up in my finder.

The solution (drum roll)...

- drag your hard drive icon into the finder window right under where it says "devices" on the left. You will see a line as an indicator once the mouse pointer is there, then let go of your mouse button.


wala!

Why Apple allows you to remove the icon? who knows?
 
i am having this problem

when i go to finder i cant see hard drive macintosh anywhere?

what do i go to get it to appear?
 
finding the icon for the hard drives on the desktop

A simply fix for me was to go to Finder, click on "view", scroll down to "arrange BY" and choose "kind"
 
What a weird problem.

I've had "invisible" icons before. (can't remember if the file name was present on the raster or not tho).

Didn't Ancient MacOS have something that "Rebuilt Icons"? I wonder if that procedure is still in place on the newer OS X versions... and i wonder if the M.I.A. icons being described are related to this at all.

It's worth a try I guess. Couldn't hurt anyway: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2344
 
We were having this problem on our video server with two drives. Randomly two drives (out of 12 drives) went invisible. These are AFP shared to all of our video team members. The drives would show up fine on their computers at the root share directory of the Xserve. However, the drives wouldn't show up on their desktop. Subsequently wouldn't show up in the Media Browser of Premiere CS6, either.

Xserve 3,1 with ESXi. 10.8.3 Server as the only VM on the server. Drives are mounted as LUN from a Dell SAN we have.

Verified that the drives were invisible (grayed out icons on Desktop) by enabling all files
Code:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
Followed by
Code:
killall Finder

Started Terminal and entered following command for each of the invisible drives:
Code:
sudo chflags nohidden /Volumes/"Name Of Drive"
Then
Code:
killall Finder

Drives show up on the desktop now! They show up on the desktop of AFP'd computers as well. And finally, show up in Premiere CS6 media browser again. Woot!
 
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