Mac HD Icon on desktop no longer shows contents listed

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Level 1

5 points

Mac HD Icon on desktop no longer shows contents listed

Help ! Please excuse me if I come off sounding a bit like an idiot but I am. My 10 year old son uses my computer as well, although I can't positively say it's his fault. When I click on my Mac HD icon on my desktop, it shows nothing listed but when I click on a different folder on my desktop ( one that was used to hold only a few pictures) all the contents that should be listed under the Mac HD, show up there!( along with the few pictures). How can I move this information back under the Mac HD icon where it belongs? Not to complicate things, but I just installed a additional HD in my G4. So I asked the OWC guy, I bought it from, how to fix this problem? He suggested that I used the Apple i command on the Mac HD icon then performed a Apple X command on the icon that appears in the window form the Apple i command
Sadly this didn't fix the problem .... the Mac HD icon stayed there. If someone could please steer me in the right direction as to how to fix this, I would greatly appreciate it
Thanks in advance
Kindest regards
Ed

G4 Super Drive, Mac OS X (10.3.x), Replaced DVD/CD drive&+ Newprocs 1.42ghz &1.25g RAM+vidGrafCard +additional HD

Posted on Jan 6, 2009 10:57 PM

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Answer 1

roam

Level 6

13,637 points

Jan 6, 2009 11:07 PM in response to Crazy Ed

Hello, and welcome to Apple Discussions, Ed.

How can I move this information back under the Mac HD icon where it belongs?

Have you tried anything yet, like selecting all the contents of the folder and dragging it to the HD?

If you open the Finder, this might be easier to 'see' what this suggestion is attempting to accomplish.

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Answer 2

Crazy Ed Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 6, 2009 11:59 PM in response to roam

Hi Rosm
I was told by the the guy at OWC that you shouldn't do that, rather copy and paste it once you have apple x command it. I didnt try that because after the apple x command the Mac HD lable was still there..
Kind regards
Ed

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Answer 3

roam

Level 6

13,637 points

Jan 7, 2009 2:46 AM in response to Crazy Ed

----------

Actually, on reflection, I don't think I understand your problem. Maybe someone else can unknot your dilemma.

Message was edited by: roam

Message was edited by: roam

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Answer 4

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,410 points

Jan 7, 2009 6:04 AM in response to Crazy Ed

Is the hard drive in icon view? That may be why you're not seeing anything. But it sounds like everything got moved to the folder on the desktop.

1) Open the hard drive and change its viewing option to List view (if it's not already there). If you still don't see anything, then yes, everything has been moved into the folder on the desktop.

2) If that's the case, leave the window for the hard drive open. Open the folder on the desktop that contains all of the items and position it so you see both windows.

3) Press Command+A to select everything in the incorrect folder. Drag and drop it into the hard drive's window.

If after performing step one, you do have a list of items in the hard drive's file window, STOP! Report back what you see listed there.

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Answer 5

Jan 7, 2009 9:09 AM in response to Crazy Ed

The technician is talking about changing the icon on a folder or hard disk. This, I assume, isn't the problem.

Is your hard disk icon on the Desktop called 'Macintosh HD' or something similar (unless you renamed it)? Are you sure it's empthy? - are you in List View?

The folder which contains these contents: if you click the button in the toolbar window with the horizontal lines it will show the path to the folder: where does it say it is? It should be (hard disk)/users/(username)/Desktop.

I don't see how your son (if he did) managed to move the System folder out of the hard disk - he shouldn't have permission, and I would have thought the computer wouldn't reboot if you did that. Where is it?

If you open the folder, select everything (except the original contents) and move it back to the Hard Disk does this solve things?

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Answer 6

Jan 7, 2009 9:45 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Hi Roger,

I think you may be on the right track....but...

I was discussing this topic/problem with someone in the Lounge and they suggested it might not be a good idea to try to "move" anything "until" the OP has determined what the icon in question actually is.

It's been suggested to first establish precisely what this icon is. Additionally what are his Finder Preferences for showing hard discs, etc? Especially as he has installed a new HD and what does "Get Info" say the icon is?

Probably would be wise to determine those things first with the OP before moving anything.

Hope that helps,

littleshoulders 🙂

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Answer 7

Jan 7, 2009 10:14 AM in response to littleshoulders

Certainly it would be a good idea to do a get info on the hard disk icon (command-i) and see whether in fact it does report that it is a hard disk.

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Answer 8

jsd2

Level 5

6,245 points

Jan 7, 2009 11:29 AM in response to littleshoulders

Some further thoughts-

If the Mac HD icon is really empty, and if the "folder on the desktop" contains System, then that "folder" may really be a volume - in fact the startup volume. I'd do a GetInfo on that as well, and look under "Kind."

I'd look at Finder>Go Menu>Computer, to see all the mounted volumes and to look at their icons.

The name of the true startup volume will be listed under Apple Menu>About this Mac.

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Answer 9

Crazy Ed Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 7, 2009 6:08 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Update
First let me thank you all for you efforts
Let me say that I must admit that I couldn't have managed the contents this computer any worse than I have over the past few years . That said my New Years resolution is to clean up my act. A little history here: I had taken my G4 to the Apple Genius Bar a few years ago and they recommended that I move to Panther from OS 9.1 At the time, I had a brand new copy of OS 10.1 that was still in the box (never opened). They loaded a complementary copy of Panther 10.3.9 and told me to back up all my files ( burn copies ) then they would try to keep a copy of the old OS 9 and my files on my desktop (which they did). Now it seems I have redundant copies of a lot of folders, files etc .. that I am going to need to remove.
Below are a list of the Mac HD contents ( yes, _I made an error earlier when I stated there was nothing under my MacHD icon_ ) there are some contents under this icon, but not as many as there should be and that are in my other folder on my desktop. (that should be under the Mac HD icon)
_*Contents in misc folder on desktop (that should be under Mac HD_)*
all pictures
Desktop
Desktop (Mac OS 9)
Desktop(2)
Documents
Funny Videos
Incomplete
Library
Movies
Music
My Backup
Old Desktop Folder
Pictures
Public
Send Registration
Shared
Sites
Software on Desktop
Your Old Stuff
_Contents in Mac HD that should be there but that doesn't include the above files_ and folders
System Folder
Nikon Software
MAU 1.1.2 Update Log
Library
Late Breaking News
Documents
Desktop (Mac OS 9)
Applications (Mac OS 9)
System
Applications
Users

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Answer 10

Jan 8, 2009 1:21 AM in response to Crazy Ed

The contents you list for your Hard Disk are entirely normal. Folders such as the Documents folder which under OS9 were at root level are now kept in the Users/(username) folder to allow for different users to be able to access the computer and keep their own material private.

If you look in the folder with your short name on it (your Home Folder, also represented by the house icon in the Dock) which lives inside the Users folder you will find these folders. For example, there will be a Documents folder; you can move the contents of the Documents folder in the folder on your desktop into this, but you should not move the folder itself. The same applies with Movies and so on: you should examine the contents and move what you need into the equivalent folder in your Home Folder but not move the folder itself (unless there is no folder of that name in the Home Folder).

The Library folder should be approached with caution: you should check what is in the version on your desktop but you should not move anything into the other Library folders unless you are sure you need it.

There are two Library folders, one at root level in the hard disk, for all users, and one in your Home Folder for the individual user - it contains support files for applications, preferences, and so on. On the whole you don't need to tamper with it.

OSX differs from OS9 in a number of significant ways and it would be in your interest to read up on it to familiarize yourself with the differences. David Pogue's 'Missing Manual' books are a good place to go.

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