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Catalina - Change SSD Icon

Trying to change the icon for an external SSD back-up disk - tried many on-line suggestions - think I've found the problem.


Did copy & paste the JPG icon (from OWC) to the Get Info SSD icon - new icon appears in the Preview window but not in the top right corner.


Disk Utility confirms the change:


But the old icon remains on the Desktop


Opening the Data volume of the APFS drive shows the old icon


I assume that the Data Volume is displayed on the Desktop.


Is there a way to change this?


Thanks!


…John 

Mac Pro, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 8, 2021 8:14 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 12, 2021 6:46 AM

Solved!

Connected the SSD Back-up drive to my MBP running High Sierra (Still think this was the best OS ever!)

Get Info for the ICNS icon & for the SSD Back-up - copied & pasted the icon

Immediate switch

Did the same with my Time Machine BU HDD

Ejected the SSD & HDD - Re-connected to my Mac Pro

The top corner of my desktop now looks like I wanted!


21 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 12, 2021 6:46 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Solved!

Connected the SSD Back-up drive to my MBP running High Sierra (Still think this was the best OS ever!)

Get Info for the ICNS icon & for the SSD Back-up - copied & pasted the icon

Immediate switch

Did the same with my Time Machine BU HDD

Ejected the SSD & HDD - Re-connected to my Mac Pro

The top corner of my desktop now looks like I wanted!


Jan 10, 2021 12:27 PM in response to John Bonn

In order for it to work, I believe the image must be a Mac icon. I use this simple app from the App Store.


Image2Icon


It does have some in-app purchases, but you can always use it for free when you're simply translating an image type (.jpg, .tif, .png) to an .ico file.


Once you have your JPEG converted to a proper Mac icon, you'll be able to paste it into the top left corner of the drive's info details.


Small detail. Since it's currently a JPEG, that white space would normally still be there when it's an .ico image. But, Image2Icon has a button just for that:



Click that, and it automatically finds the first color on the outside edge. It then makes that color transparent.



From there, click the Export button and choose ICNS. Now you can drop it into Get Info.



Bootable drives usually require you to enter your admin password before it will allow the new icon to be placed.


I'm in Big Sur at the moment, and it wouldn't let me place the icon into a Catalina partition's info. Not even if I told it to ignore permissions on the volume. And the really odd part of that is if I'm in Catalina, the drive already has a custom icon that doesn't appear in Big Sur. Haven't taken the time to figure how to assign one in Big Sur.

Jan 10, 2021 1:35 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanx for the comprehensive instructions...did not work for me

Catalina 10.15.7

Dropped the jpg onto the app & removed the background


Clicked on Export & ICNS - File appeared on my Desktop


Clicked on Get Info for the drive I wished to change - dragged the ICNS icon to the icon in the top left - it appeared in the Preview window but not in the upper left


Opened the Disk in Disk Utility & the new image appeared for the Main Volume but not the Data Volume



The Desktop Image did not change


Not a real problem but yet another fun Apple feature seems to have left us!



Jan 11, 2021 6:28 AM in response to John Bonn

Hmm, after doing a bit of testing just now I'm guessing (and this is strictly a guess) that a recent security update to Catalina screwed something up.


Normally, all you need to do to remove a custom icon is highlight it in Get Info and press the Delete/Backspace key. This works instantly on any non-startup drive, but not for the Catalina drive while I'm booted to it.


I tried unlocking Get Info. No help. I tried adding myself (admin) to the list of permissions. The OS said I'm not allowed to do that. Pasting in a new icon in Catalina requires me to enter my admin password before it will perform such a simple, completely benign operation. Big Sur lets me do it without question.


While Catalina does allow me to paste/replace one icon over another, I still can't remove any custom icon back down to the system default. No message, nothing. Just the alert sound I have assigned in the System Preferences. This is no issue at all in Big Sur. I can paste and remove at will, as you're supposed to be able to. It's just an icon fer cryin' out loud.


That all said, the icon I pasted into Catalina's drive (while booted to it) did work as expected. It was placed and immediately appeared on the desktop.



Wish I could be more help, but I can't determine why it's not working on your end. Mostly because I can't replicate the issue here to work on it.

Jan 8, 2021 11:30 AM in response to John Bonn

John, I understand your issue. I will try to help. I have had the same issue. As near as I can tell, in order to change the icon it was (for me) necessary to actually restart my compute from the external drive, which does have an operating system on it. Then I followed the standard process to paste the new icon. When I restarted the computer from my other drive I had to repeat the process, then it took. If you don't have an OS on the external drive, I am not sure what will work. Since Catalina, this has been very difficult to do.

Jan 8, 2021 1:03 PM in response to Ronasara

Sounds like a weekend process...Thanks!


Just to be sure:

After restarting from the Ext Drive, you changed the icon on the Ext Drive (Copied the new icon & pasted into the Get Info box)

You then restarted from your Internal Drive

You repeated that copy & paste process & it worked - did this occur without another restart?

Congrats on figuring out how to do this...I suspect that the problem is present because of the switch to APFS & 2 volumes for each drive.

Jan 10, 2021 2:21 PM in response to John Bonn

Catalina isn't as heavily protected as Big Sur. But yes, that happens at times. If you restart the Mac, the icon you pasted in will likely appear.


I have an external SSD split into four partitions. Most of the time Catalina shows the four custom icons I've given them when the volumes mount. But every so often, one or two of them (usually one) will show the generic gold icon you're currently seeing. No rhyme or reason as to when it happens.

Jan 10, 2021 5:02 PM in response to John Bonn

Not sure if custom icons are part of the user cache. But it's easy to find out if clearing them will fix it.


Restart and immediately hold down the Command+Shift keys. Keep holding them until the OS asks for your admin password. This screen will always come up in a Safe Mode startup even if you normally have your account set to login automatically.


Once at the desktop, restart normally.


Among a few other things, booting into Safe Mode clears the cache data for the account you log into. If the cache was causing the problem, the icon may now appear.

Jan 10, 2021 5:32 PM in response to Kurt Lang

No luck..booted into safe mode (Restart + Shift) & then restarted normally

Still the same

Repeated the copy & paste routine - no better

Looked at your suggestion & booted into safe mode with Restart-Command-Shift - same result.


The image appears in the Preview box but not in the upper left corner or on the Desktop.

And once again, Disk Utility confirms the new icon for the Main Volume but not the Data Volume.


Life was so simple in the old days of High Sierra, El Capitan & Mavericks 🥴

Catalina - Change SSD Icon

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