Startup icon disappeared from dektop

[BrianL74]

I have lost my hard drive icon fromt he desktop of my iBook Mac OS 10.4.5

It shows in Disk Utility and Finder preferences have everything selected.

Please help.!.!

[barhar]

You may have a corrupted 'com.apple.finder.plist' file.

To rename / delete the 'com.apple.finder.plist' file ...
01. Select 'Finder's 'Go, Go to Folder' menu item ('Command <shift> G'). If no folder window's currently exist - a new 'Go to Folder' search window will appear; otherwise, a sheet will drop down from the front most folder window - stating 'Go to the folder:'.
02. Enter ...

~/Library/Preferences/

... and ciick on the 'Go' button.
03. Locate and, rename the 'com.apple.finder.plist' file (to 'com.apple.finder.plist_', or something else) or drag the 'com.apple.finder.plist' file to the 'Desktop' or 'Dock' based 'Trash can'.
04. Press and keep pressed the '<option>' key as you click on the 'Dock' based 'Finder' icon, a sub-menu list will appear.
05. With the '<option>' key still pressed, select the 'Relaunch' menu item. You can now release the '<option>' key.

If the 'com.apple.finder.plist' file was the problem, the 'Desktop' items icons should now reappear.

[BrianL74]

Thanks for the tip.


However, this didn't work.

What I have so far:
1. Repaired permissions
2. Re-set P-RAM
3. Repaired disk with disk utility using install DVD
4. Relaunched Finder using above instructions


I can locate the hard disk in Spotlight but cannot drag it back to the Sidebar or the Desktop.

[ex2bot]

Wow. Weird.

Try this: Click on the desktop and then click View (menu)> Show View Options. Try messing around with those settings to see if it returns.

If your drive isn't showing up, I wonder if that could be a mounting problem. The drive structure _may_ possibly be damaged.

What happens when you restart the machine?

Click on the desktop and press Apple-N. Does your hard drive show up in that window? Well, I guess that depends on how you've set your Finder preferences. Go to Finder> Preferences and set new Finder windows to open Computer.

Possible temporary hack: If your hard drive shows up in the new window, click on it and press Apple-L to make an alias. Drag the alias onto your desktop. Does that work?

If it turns out to be a damaged filesystem, you may need a disk repair program such as Diskwarrior or Tech Tool Pro. They are more powerful than OS X's repair utility.

Doug

[ra3ndy]

[Edit: Sorry, didn't read the first post correctly.]

How is your desktop laid out? To you keep it organized with the "Sort by..." option in Finder's View Options (Cmnd+J)? I ask, because I've known people to play a trick by dragging the hard drive as far off the screen as possible, making it seem like it's disappeared.

[dalemeyn]

Shot in the dark: Have you unplugged the data line and 110VAC to the HD, and plugged them back in? This can work wonders. I had that problem with an Iomega HD which had the troublesome Prolific chipset in the enclosure electronics of the HD. If unplugging and replugging works, it's probably just something like that, and will crop up now and then until the thing dies a natural death. Good luck. Dale.

[BrianL74]

I've tried all these things. When choosing Apple-N, I see only the 'Network' icon.

It's not an issue of the icon being off the desktop or a loose connection. I am able to access the hard drive through any other means. I have put an alias on the desktop as a work around.

Interestingly enough, I have logged in as different users to find that the Hard Disk icon does not exist there either. I even logged in as 'Root', with no success.

It shows in Disk Utility and can be found in Spotlight. However, it just won't show up on the desktop or in the Sidebar.



This is driving me crazy!

It simply disappeared fromt he dexktop and sidebar!>!

Thanks though!

[Satcomer]

Download the 10.4.6 Combo update and run that. If that doesn't work, backup immediately because it could be sign of the hard drive running south.