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flowrider

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
7,318
2,998
This question has been asked by a few members, myself included, the the Catalina forum. No one has volunteered an answer.

I have been used to changing my HD and now SSD Icons using the cut & paste method. That is no longer working in Catalina. Is there another solution? Personalized Icons make identifying storage much easier than generic ones.

Lou
 

astrorider

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2008
595
131
I was able to copy and paste one icon (the Network icon) to my Mac's internal SSD in the normal way (Get Info, select the icon in the upper-left, Copy, and then do the same on the SSD but Paste). Or are you referring to something else?
 

DanielSun

macrumors newbie
Jan 5, 2020
9
6
I have same issue, cannot change the drive icon on my 2012 Mac Mini running Catalina. I can live with the default Mac OS drive icon. But able to do it on my 2019 MBP so its not a Catalina issue. I'm thinking its a permission related issue since I swapped out the hard drive on the Mini for an SSD and may have locked myself out of some admin privileges?
 

crjackson2134

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2013
4,846
1,957
Charlotte, NC
Just for grins... Have you tried this with SIP disabled?

After SIP is disabled, You may even need..
Code:
sudo mount -uw /
 
Last edited:

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
Was able to change drive icon of MBP16,1 internal SSD in Catalina. Used the “Get Info” and copy/paste from one to the other. Didn’t work immediately, but eventually did. Will try again in the AM to see if anything strange in 10.15.3 that prevents.
 
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crjackson2134

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2013
4,846
1,957
Charlotte, NC
Was able to change drive icon of MBP16,1 internal SSD in Catalina. Used the “Get Info” and copy/paste from one to the other. Didn’t work immediately, but eventually did. Will try again in the AM to see if anything strange in 10.15.3 that prevents.

I haven’t tried it at all on Catalina, and only have a lowly MP51. It Was just a wild swing on my part.
 

flowrider

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
7,318
2,998
When I try it, it doesn't change the Icon, but the Preview View in the Get Info box shows the pasted icon, but not the drive itself. On my old 5,1 cMP running Mojave it worked just fine. And the drives I moved over from my old Mac are sill showing the pasted icons. The drive I am trying to change is one I erased in Catalina.

Lou
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
Just making sure - have you unlocked in the bottom right of "Get Info" window?

Have you tried with an .icns file yet? Just drag that file into the icon area in "Get Info". Sometimes the process of just dragging an .icns file will "unlock" whatever the hold is, then you can use copy/paste again.
 

davidec

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2008
429
456
Doesn't work for me either. Haven't tried disabling SIP and re-enabling. Not that bothered but will watch this thread with interest.
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
What are your T2 settings configured to?

On MBP16,1 with 10.15.3 (19D76) just reformatted two (empty) drives as APFS and HFS+. Easily able to change the icon on both via copy/paste. System drive icon is already changed as well.

Can you create a new folder on your desktop just to see if that icon can even be changed?
 

JesterJJZ

macrumors 68020
Jul 21, 2004
2,461
823
Works for me. But I've always had to go to the edit tab and click on copy/paste. Using keyboard shortcuts sometimes wouldn't work for some reason.
 

bxs

macrumors 65816
Oct 20, 2007
1,151
529
Seattle, WA
This question has been asked by a few members, myself included, the the Catalina forum. No one has volunteered an answer.

I have been used to changing my HD and now SSD Icons using the cut & paste method. That is no longer working in Catalina. Is there another solution? Personalized Icons make identifying storage much easier than generic ones.

Lou
Works perfectly for me.... with no issues.
 

flowrider

macrumors 604
Original poster
Nov 23, 2012
7,318
2,998
Well, today I cloned my StartUp disk to my BackUp disk using SuperDuper. I first erased the target disk using Disk Utility. When MT, the copy/paste procedure worked and the drive icon changed. However, as soon as the cloning started the icon changed back to the generic icon and when completed, I could not change the icon.

Lou
 
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