Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

After clean reinstall, can't see startup drive in desktop

Jul 10, 2014 12:59PM PDT

I ran into a problem that ended up requiring the tech at the Genius Bar to do a clean reinstall of the System (OS 10.9.2). I am not able to migrate my software over from the Time Machine backup because that re-creates the problem. So I have to re-insall all my software from scratch. Kinda labor intensive.

The immediate problem is that the iMac's hard drive, the startup drive, does not appear on the desktop, nor in a Finder window. This is apparently not unusual as it happened while the tech was working on things at the Apple Store (we wiped & reinstalled several times.) It is, however, inconvenient.

The tech did something simple and the drive appeared on the desktop. I do not remember what it was, and have looked through all the Finder menus and System Preferences items. Any help here?

Discussion is locked

erwarzeski has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
Don't you hate it when this happens?
Jul 10, 2014 9:44PM PDT

Go to the Finder menu bar and choose Finder > Preferences.
Now put a check mark in the Hard disks, External disks, CDs, DVDs and iPods check boxes.

Should solve the problem

P

- Collapse -
Thank you!
Jul 10, 2014 11:39PM PDT
Happy Thanks, that fixed it. I knew it was simple, and that the solution was staring me in the face. (Why they would not have the startup disk just show up, as it has on every Mac and Mac system I've used since 1986 -- Mac+ with a gigantic 20 MB external hard drive -- is a mystery.)
After the whole fiasco of having Maverick slow my computer to a crawl, calling Apple, backing up, erasing, migrating and reinstalling multiple times over a week under the tutelage of 6 different Apple Senior Advisors, and finally having to take it in to the Genius bar, I was apparently too brain-fried to see it.

<span id="INSERTION_MARKER">I appreciate your quick response.
- Collapse -
(NT) You're welcome
Jul 11, 2014 7:45AM PDT