Is there a way to hide HDDs on the Desktop?

[I WAS the one]

I know how to show and hide Hard drives on Desktop. I want to show just my Main HDD and hide the others. Is that possible in Macos?

EDITED ORIGINAL to clarify a common misunderstanding here.

This is not considered EXTERNAL DRIVES on macOS because are INTERNAL drives added to a dock. They go out when I select the internal checkmark from Finder Preferences. I'ts out of line when the first thing you're for is insulting a person based on your own assumption of the situation. I'm not here for arguing, just looking for help. Thanks for understanding.

 

[MacGizmo]

1. Click on the Desktop
2. Hit Command + , (or go to the menubar Finder>Preferences...)
3. Click the General tab at the top of the small window
4. Uncheck "External disks" and any other items you don't want to show up on the Desktop
5. Close that window

 

[webbga]

I know how to show and hide Hard drives on Desktop. I want to show just my Main HDD and hide the others. Is that possible in Macos?

View attachment 2072854

I hope I am understanding your question correctly. In Finder Preferences you have the option to show the main drive, any external drives, or both. if you uncheck external drives they will go away from your desktop.

 

[Bazza1]

Its an 'all or nothing' option in Finder > Preferences as far as Apple is concerned when hiding external drives. And it's an issue that has plagued users for decades, if a Google search is anything to go by. Suggestions re: tweaking things via Terminal, but really, why its not an option is anyone's guess. Welcome to Apple.

In my case (and for many if Google is anything to go by), I'd like the ability to hide my Time Machine. I mean, I have access to using it a via menu bar icon and System Preferences, and its not as if I need quick access to it daily, so...?

Apple so centred on bells and whistles these days, functionality is often left to moulder on the sidelines.

 

[ignatius345]

Its an 'all or nothing' option in Finder > Preferences as far as Apple is concerned when hiding external drives.

Sounds like the OP just wants to hide all their external drives, which is an option in Finder's Preferences.

And it's an issue that has plagued users for decades, if a Google search is anything to go by.

Suggestions re: tweaking things via Terminal, but really, why its not an option is anyone's guess. Welcome to Apple.

In my case (and for many if Google is anything to go by), I'd like the ability to hide my Time Machine. I mean, I have access to using it a via menu bar icon and System Preferences, and its not as if I need quick access to it daily, so...?

Apple so centred on bells and whistles these days, functionality is often left to moulder on the sidelines.

Count me among the users who are not really "plagued" by this -- it's never occurred to me to want to hide specific drives.

But perhaps you could fake it to some extent by making custom icons for them that are just blank PNGs (or, if that's not allowed, maybe a PNG with one pixel in it?) You'd be left with just the name of the drive and no other visual clutter on the desktop.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try a free utility called "Semulov" to dismount/mount them from the desktop:

GitHub - kainjow/Semulov: Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar

Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar - kainjow/Semulov

github.com

(download is in the right column)

 

[MacGizmo]

Try a free utility called "Semulov" to dismount/mount them from the desktop:

GitHub - kainjow/Semulov: Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar

Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar - kainjow/Semulov

github.com

(download is in the right column)

He doesn't want to unmount the drives, just hide the icons on the desktop. But Semulov is a great utility for those who want to eject all or specific drives but tend to hide external drives from their desktop & Finder window sidebar.

 

[I WAS the one]

1. Click on the Desktop
2. Hit Command + , (or go to the menubar Finder>Preferences...)
3. Click the General tab at the top of the small window
4. Uncheck "External disks" and any other items you don't want to show up on the Desktop
5. Close that window

View attachment 2072866

Seriously? That doesn't work. I mean, I ask for a reason, you know...

 

[I WAS the one]

I hope I am understanding your question correctly. In Finder Preferences you have the option to show the main drive, any external drives, or both. if you uncheck external drives they will go away from your desktop.

They won't.

Sounds like the OP just wants to hide all their external drives, which is an option in Finder's Preferences.



Count me among the users who are not really "plagued" by this -- it's never occurred to me to want to hide specific drives.

But perhaps you could fake it to some extent by making custom icons for them that are just blank PNGs (or, if that's not allowed, maybe a PNG with one pixel in it?) You'd be left with just the name of the drive and no other visual clutter on the desktop.

It doesn't work as you think.

 

[I WAS the one]

Try a free utility called "Semulov" to dismount/mount them from the desktop:

GitHub - kainjow/Semulov: Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar

Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar - kainjow/Semulov

github.com

(download is in the right column)

Cool, but not what I'm looking for. I just want to have my HDD showing up in the desktop. Why? I have a lot (10+) external drives on Thunderbolt multiple docks (not in RAID) and just want to have a clean desktop and quick access to my main drive. That's all.

 

[I WAS the one]

Then, after using the terminal.... Apple doesn't let you touch the Time Machine...

 

[ignatius345]

Seriously? That doesn't work. I mean, I ask for a reason, you know...

Not sure what you're after here, mate. Sounds like you've come to argue. Fact is, there's a Finder preference to hide drives on the desktop and that preference does what it says. That addressed your original problem, but you're just rebutting everyone's contributions with more complaining. Good luck to you.

 

[rpmurray]

Not sure what you're after here, mate. Sounds like you've come to argue. Fact is, there's a Finder preference to hide drives on the desktop and that preference does what it says. That addressed your original problem, but you're just rebutting everyone's contributions with more complaining. Good luck to you.

Not quite. The option in Finder Preferences hides all drives. The OP wants to hide all external drives but still see his internal.

OP, have you tried checking the Removable Media checkbox? All externals are considered to be removable by the OS, whereas the internal is not. What version of macOS are you using? I'm on Monterey and it does have an External disks checkbox, so my Finder Preferences appear to be different from yours.

 

[ignatius345]

Not quite. The option in Finder Preferences hides all drives. The OP wants to hide all external drives but still see his internal.

Not true. There are several options to toggle visibility of different drives on the desktop.

Leave "Hard drives" checked and your boot drive will show. Uncheck "External disks" and then external drives are not shown.

 

[Grumpus]

Not quite. The option in Finder Preferences hides all drives. The OP wants to hide all external drives but still see his internal.

OP, have you tried checking the Removable Media checkbox? All externals are considered to be removable by the OS, whereas the internal is not. What version of macOS are you using? I'm on Monterey and it does have an External disks checkbox, so my Finder Preferences appear to be different from yours.

All of the drives highlighted in the OP's screenshot are externals, and he was given the correct answer by @MacGizmo in the very first reply in this thread. Another way to hide drives, both internal and external, would be to install the Xcode command line tools by running xcode-select --install in a terminal window, and then running

sudo SetFile -a V /Volumes/Drivename killall Finder

where Drivename is (obviously) the mounted name of the drive to be hidden. Replace the uppercase V with a lowercase v to make the drive visible again. See the SETFILE(1) man page for details.

 

[rpmurray]

Not true. There are several options to toggle visibility of different drives on the desktop.
View attachment 2081077
Leave "Hard drives" checked and your boot drive will show. Uncheck "External disks" and then external drives are not shown.

It seems you failed to look at the attachment that the OP included. The options there are:

Maybe these are on Ventura?

 

[Grumpus]

It seems you failed to look at the attachment that the OP included. The options there are:

View attachment 2081094

Maybe these are on Ventura?

Those aren't the Finder preferences.

 

[ignatius345]

It seems you failed to look at the attachment that the OP included. The options there are:

View attachment 2081094

I'm not sure what that is, but it's not from the Mac Finder. Maybe he should check the documentation for whatever random piece of software that's a screenshot from.

As I said, the Mac Finder offers options to selectively hide or show categories of mounted drives.

 

[capuzino]

If Finder's Preferences doesn't work the way you like, you could just

1. Hide all the drives from desktop using Finder's Preferences
2. Create Aliases for the internal drive(s):
2.1 Use Finder to go to your computer (the view where you see all the drives)
2.2 While holding CMD + ALT/OPTION drag the drives you want to your desktop

 

[MacGizmo]

Seriously? That doesn't work. I mean, I ask for a reason, you know...

It does work. You didn't read the instructions correctly because you're not even in the right preference window. But the tone of your response has lead me to the conclusion that you're obviously smarter than me and would rather solve it yourself, so have at it.

 

[I WAS the one]

Not quite. The option in Finder Preferences hides all drives. The OP wants to hide all external drives but still see his internal.

OP, have you tried checking the Removable Media checkbox? All externals are considered to be removable by the OS, whereas the internal is not. What version of macOS are you using? I'm on Monterey and it does have an External disks checkbox, so my Finder Preferences appear to be different from yours.

Thanks!

 

[I WAS the one]

Thanks!

I was able to do it with terminal. But the Time machine drive can't be removed. So, I put all them back when Disk Utilty couldn't unmount them for repair. So, there's no way of doing this succesfully.

For people that want to try this with terminal these are the codes:

to hide the HDDs type this:

chflags hidden /Volumes/[YOUR HD NAME HERE]


killall Finder

For getting them back:

chflags nohidden /Volumes/[YOUR HD NAME]


killall Finder

Works good. It can not hide the Time Machine HD.

 

[I WAS the one]

All of the drives highlighted in the OP's screenshot are externals, and he was given the correct answer by @MacGizmo in the very first reply in this thread. Another way to hide drives, both internal and external, would be to install the Xcode command line tools by running xcode-select --install in a terminal window, and then running

sudo SetFile -a V /Volumes/Drivename killall Finder

where Drivename is (obviously) the mounted name of the drive to be hidden. Replace the uppercase V with a lowercase v to make the drive visible again. See the SETFILE(1) man page for details.

I founded a different command without installing anything.

chflags hidden /Volumes/[NAME OF HD]


killall Finder


/-- unhidden --/


chflags nohidden /Volumes/[NAME OF HD]


killall Finder

 

[TimmuJapan]

If Finder's Preferences doesn't work the way you like, you could just

1. Hide all the drives from desktop using Finder's Preferences
2. Create Aliases for the internal drive(s):
2.1 Use Finder to go to your computer (the view where you see all the drives)
2.2 While holding CMD + ALT/OPTION drag the drives you want to your desktop

create aliases for the drives you want to show on your desktop.

you do this by right clicking on the drive and select “make alias “

then use finder preferences to hide all drives.

very easy.

@capuzino ’s solution is the same as mine, but my way to do it is slightly different.

 

[bogdanw]

How I read this thread

This is not considered EXTERNAL DRIVES on macOS because are INTERNAL drives added to a dock.