where is my hard drive icon

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Level 1

13 points

where is my hard drive icon

I don't see and can't find my hard drive icon. I want to browse to /System/Library/filesystems/ to delete a file, but the only otions I see in my finder window are favorites? Thx! Stephen

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 22, 2012 8:03 PM

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Answer 1

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leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

183,708 points

Mar 22, 2012 9:33 PM in response to roundart

roundart wrote:

I don't see and can't find my hard drive icon. I want to browse to /System/Library/filesystems/ to delete a file, but the only otions I see in my finder window are favorites? Thx! Stephen

First caveat, not a good idea to be messing with system files unless you know what you are doing.

Several ways to get to your HD:

Finder>Preferences>General>Show Hard disk

Finder side bar> Devices- if not visible click to show.

If no Devices showing>>Finder >Preferences>Sidebar>Devices>

Finder>Go>Go to Folder> (your ex) /System/Library/filesystems/

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Answer 2

roundart Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 22, 2012 10:17 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you, I much appreciate the response and the cautioniary warning! I was having some trouble with NTFS write permissions. I am new to 10.7.3, but am pretty familiar with the guts of the OS. I have used BSD, Ubuntu and other linux variants, just unfamiliar with 10.7 hiding the hard drive. The "If no Devices showing>>Finder >Preferences>Sidebar>Devices>" comment was exactly what I needed. Thank you so much!

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Answer 3

pclavett

Level 1

0 points

Jul 27, 2012 2:44 AM in response to leroydouglas

Had the same question and you have answered it perfectly...did not want to fiddle with the system files but just wanted to see the items. Thank you so much for the insight into these settings that I absolutely had no notion of !!! You probably saved me hours of frustrations !!! Take care !

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Answer 4

Jun 27, 2013 9:31 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks leroydouglas, you solved it for me too

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Answer 5

Bman2912

Level 1

11 points

Nov 24, 2013 4:07 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you leroydouglas - this worked like a charm.

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Answer 6

Jun 29, 2014 1:16 PM in response to roundart

Whew! So glad this worked. I deleted my /library/preferences because iPhoto is giving me fits and when machine booted back up = no hard drive on desk. Was freaking out. The Finder trick worked.

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Answer 7

Jul 30, 2014 9:07 AM in response to leroydouglas

I am having no luck seeing the HD on my apple. This is my first apple since an Apple II eons ago. I tried to follow your directions but I do not see a preferences tab. If you mean the cog, it does not offer those options. It shows as devices my external drives but not my internal one.

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Answer 8

lucye23

Level 1

0 points

Aug 20, 2014 3:05 PM in response to NiallMac44

Go to the preferences under the finder menu and you will see the options (open finder, in the menu bar Finder -> Preferences)

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Answer 9

Oct 8, 2016 3:05 AM in response to leroydouglas

v helpful, thanks

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Answer 10

Nov 30, 2016 2:48 PM in response to leroydouglas

Hi. I'm having the same trouble as above. My Main HD is not showing one the desktop. I am currently using my Back Up HD on my macbook pro to run my computer (MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011). When I go to the Disk Utility, I only see my Back Up HD. My Main HD is not showing. I did the System/Library/filesystems/ tip but still no luck in getting my Main Hard Drive to show in Disk Utility.

FWIW, I just updated my OS to 10.11.3 on my main drive.

Thoughts on how to get my Main HD to show in DU?

Thanks...Stan

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