New MacBookPro, but want old school functionality of managing files manually on hard drive

just to explain the new restricted access to some things on your hard drive: the OS and all system files are now in read only volume for security - no one has access to it (which is good). You can still file things away - just don’t drag them to the hard drive. Instead, just put an alias of your User folder (or even the Documents folder which is inside your User folder) in the dock. That way you still have easy access to the folder and you can avoid the hard drive itself. And you can create folders inside your Documents folder so you can arrange it any way you want.

I’ve managed my files using the Documents folder for many years. And, I have had an alias to the folder parked in my dock for easy one click access. Apple did not really change that - you were always supposed to use that. The reason: it is just too easy to inadvertently get into a systems folder while using the actual hard drive icon. So, having an alias of the Documents folder in the dock makes it a one click access and the content winds up on your hard drive.

You know that "Hard Drive" is just an icon. You've never been putting files on the "Hard Drive", they've always been on that drive already. You can make an alias of your Documents folder, put it on the Desktop and change the icon for the folder to a HD. Look the same...

You can set the Finder icon in the dock to open whatever folder on the hard drive you'd like:

Files on your desktop are already on the HD. The desktop is on the HD.

Your files are stored in your User account. There are a number of folders created there by default, but you can create as many as you like. The desktop is in your User folder. Storing files outside the User folder is a security risk.

EDIT: I misunderstood the question. Yer_Man has the best advice here - all of your data should be stored inside your user account folder, ideally inside one of the default folders included in your user account (such as Desktop or Documents). You can create additional folders in your user account folder, or inside the default folders included in your user account.

Carole315 wrote:

I seemingly have no control over where my files are being stored. I can even do this in a Windows machine, why would Apple abandon this funtionality.

You have control over where your files are stored. You just shouldn't mix any of your files in with Apple's files. On Windows, you probably shouldn't store your personal files in "C:\Windows\System32". That would cause lots of problems. It's no different on the Mac.

There are ways to create your own folders directly at the hard drive level, but it is a little tricky. It is much easier to just keep your files in "Documents". That's what it's for.