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amstel78 Author

Level 1

108 points

Finder refresh issues and Time Machine drive icon

I've noticed that after rebooting my Mac Pro, the icon for my internal Time Machine drive won't change from the generic icon to the TM icon automatically. It used to do so before Yosemite, so this problem began after upgrading to Yosemite, and so far has carried over to El Capitan.

What I've observed is the following:

When a scheduled Time Machine backup occurs, the drive's icon will change in the Finder, but not on the desktop. Viewing the drive's info also shows the correct Time Machine icon. In order for the icon to change on the desktop, I have to restart the finder. So, my assumption is that the finder isn't automatically refreshing itself. FWIW, folder icons also don't refresh after batch copying a lot of files and folders from one drive to another.

I've trashed the Finder preference file and rebooted but that hasn't resolved the issue. This issue isn't that troublesome, but it is annoying that I can't seem to resolve it.

Any thoughts?

2008 Mac Pro 2.8 GHz 8 core, Mac OS X (10.6.1), Also have a G4 MDD 1.25DP

Posted on Oct 18, 2015 1:19 PM

Top-ranking reply

gfs2008

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Oct 28, 2015 5:00 AM

I had this problem and it was solved this way:

(BTW, I was using the time machine as a non-administrator account.)

Click once on the orange time machine disk icon and enter Command-I, (or right click) and select "Get info" on the drop down menu on the Time Machine HD

On the info window that opens, scroll to the bottom--- You'll see the read-write permissions for that drive. Unlock the padlock if necessary with your admin username and password and then click the + to add YOUR user name to the list or users of this drive. Make sure you select "read-write" option for your user name. Click the padlock, and your disk should change to the blue time machine and work properly.

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39 replies

Oct 29, 2015 5:16 AM in response to amstel78

Yep, same here.

gfs2008

Level 1

14 points

Oct 31, 2015 4:19 PM in response to gfs2008

One more thing. A finder refresh seems to work after making these changes. Option-click on the Finder icon in the dock and select "Relaunch".

gfs2008

Level 1

14 points

Nov 6, 2015 5:05 PM in response to R C-R

That did work for me too. Thank you. Hopefully it won't revert back after several restarts.

Nov 8, 2015 2:38 AM in response to R C-R

Simply using Force Quit/relaunch finder always changes the icon for me. I found this the easiest way to placate my OCD 😕

Dec 10, 2015 5:28 PM in response to amstel78

Just updated to OS X 10.11.2. Issue still persists.

Feb 8, 2016 11:43 AM in response to The Dark Knight

Problem persists with 10.11.3

Finder Refresh will change the icon

Genex17

Level 1

18 points

Feb 20, 2016 12:48 AM in response to R C-R

Just curious. It is annoying to get the generic icon for TM, but it does not affect TM's backup functions. Is that correct?

Gene

Feb 25, 2016 11:33 AM in response to Genex17

Yes, that's correct at least in my case. Some users had other issues with hourly backups not working automatically, but I think that was related to other issues.

Apr 9, 2016 7:52 PM in response to amstel78

If i'm reading this latest reply correctly, it's just a round about way to copy and paste an icon. It doesn't fix the dynamic feature of the Time Machine Icon (ie. change when a backup is complete).

Finder refresh issues and Time Machine drive icon