Location of Macintosh HD

fielker · Apr 6, 2015

My Macintosh HD icon is usually top left on my screen, but after last night's power cut it disappeared. I've tried to drag it from "This Mac" but it won't move.

bobtomay · Apr 6, 2015

Open Finder - Preferences - General tab - Make sure Hard Disks is checked.

If it is checked - uncheck it - close Preferences - reopen Preferences and check it.

fielker · Apr 7, 2015

Thanks. didn't know it was as simple as that!

Now how do I remove the icon with my name on it from the desktop?

harryb2448 · Apr 7, 2015

What is in the folder/icon? Saved items after the outage or a copy of the HD?

fielker · Apr 7, 2015

Empty folders labelled Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, Sites; aliases, labelled Backup, Groups, Library, Software, Web, whose originals cannot be found. Why do I need this? Is it all right to trash it?

gsahli · Apr 11, 2015

fielker said:
Empty folders labelled Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, Sites; aliases, labelled Backup, Groups, Library, Software, Web, whose originals cannot be found. Why do I need this? Is it all right to trash it?

I think we need more details before you delete -
Is that icon named Exactly the same as your current username?
(ie, did you have a different (2nd) username on that computer before?)
Do you still have those folders under your current username - with all your files still in them?
Is your Mac HD a Fusion drive or an SSD?

fielker · Apr 13, 2015

I assume "fielker" is my only user name.

There is another folder labelled "fielker" pictured as a house in my User folder, and it contains folders Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Dropbox, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, most of which have items in them.

Not sure what type my HD is. I have an iMac 10.7.5.

gsahli · Apr 13, 2015

So you mean you have two identical user folders fielker?
Something doesn't add up - which is why I was asking.
Did you use Migration Assistant after already setting up your user on a new OS X install?
The folder with the house icon is your user folder. Are there two?

pm-r · Apr 13, 2015

I strongly suggest the OP get's hold of a good experienced Apple tech who can get things sorted out and without deleting any needed user data etc.

Shouldn't take long and would probably be well worth the cost.

It sounds like there might have been some mucking around going on and Mac OS X does not usually like that, especially regarding some files and folders.

bobtomay · Apr 14, 2015

Since you should have a bootable backup anyway...

Grab SuperDuper! or CCC and create a bootable back up onto an external drive.

Boot to the external backup, delete the folder on the desktop and empty the trash.

Re-boot to the external drive again - does everything work and function properly and still have all your data?

fielker · Apr 15, 2015

Thanks for all your suggestions, but this is getting too technical for me!

Since all the alias folders in the "fielker" folder cannot find their originals, and since the only item in the other folders is an MP3 file which I have elsewhere, I cannot see that deleting the folder will do any harm, but if there is any risk, then I many as well just leave it on my desktop.