Mysteriously moving volume (Macintosh) icon

R

rubicon

Registered
I'm running OS X 10.3.5. Does anyone know why, and how to stop, the Macintosh disk volume icon from randomly moving around?

After a reboot or a display resolution change, the icon will randomly move elsewhere. The space it takes on the desktop is wide open - it's not as if the other icons fill in the "empty" space.

This is behavior fitting for Windows - not the Mac!

TIA for the help.
 
How often do you change display resolutions? That kind of behavior has always caused strange icon placement for me -- which is why I keep my monitor on one resolution.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
How often do you change display resolutions? That kind of behavior has always caused strange icon placement for me -- which is why I keep my monitor on one resolution.
Click to expand...
I don't change it on purpose - it does it when I move between my KVM switch and using the laptop untethered.

It's very strange why only the disk volume icon is that one that moves at random. None of the other icons do. I don't have the desktop icons set to auto-arrange, but that might keep it in place.

Very odd.
 
I'm running 10.6.8, and my problem is related. I'm needing to run my MacBook from a clone of its harddisk, something I've done successfully other times recently, by restarting while depressing option, and designating the clone [on an external hard disk] as the start up. The problem is that I cannot confirm that the clone is the boot disk. I've always found the boot disk icon on the top right corner of the desktop, but MacIntosh HD still occupies that position, and likewise the Mac HD is at the top of the list of devices on the top left, with the ext clone below it. There are some indirect indications that the clone is the boot disk [the most direct is that Sys Prefs>Startup disk sez it is], but I am uncertain, and need to be confident, that the clone is good, as I'm preparing to reformat the MacI HD, before cloning back the clone onto it. Why is Finder not positioning the clone's icon as it used to if the clone is running the computer??
 
The Finder does not "force", or pin the boot volume to the upper right corner, and has not done so for probably 10 years.
If there is no space available in the top right corner (when you have other icons/files/folders etc in that area), the Finder will simply choose an open spot for the drive icon. If you move the drive icon to a different location on the desktop, the Finder will usually continue to show that icon in that same location, at reboot.
In Snow Leopard, the quickest way to be certain which is the current boot drive, is to go to the Apple menu/About this Mac. The "Startup Disk" line will show you the name of the boot volume.
 
gherrick said:
The problem is that I cannot confirm that the clone is the boot disk.
Click to expand...
One sure way to "confirm" would be to unmount and disconnect the external drive, if your system continues to run normally you'll know you were not booted from your clone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top