Renaming the hard drive

[psionpete]

I recently bought my iMac and the seller had initialised the hard drive and given it a name of $$$$. The iMac is working perfectly but is it possible to rename the hard drive to a more meaningful name? (The OS is Snow Leopard by the way).

I suspect it is, but I am new to OS X and I don't want to find that I have done something which will cause problems to other installed software.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I recently bought my iMac and the seller had initialised the hard drive and given it a name of $$$$. The iMac is working perfectly but is it possible to rename the hard drive to a more meaningful name? (The OS is Snow Leopard by the way).

I suspect it is, but I am new to OS X and I don't want to find that I have done something which will cause problems to other installed software.

Yes it is, and no doing this won't break anything. To rename a disk in Mac OS X:

1. Go to Computer view in Finder (Go menu -> Computer)
2. Select the disk to be renamed
3. Get Info on it (File menu -> Get Info)
4. Expand the Name section
5. Change the name to whatever you want
6. Press Tab once done, so that the change takes effect
7. Close the Get Info window

 

[sammich]

Or you can rename it like any other file in Finder by selecting the item, then pressing enter/return, typing your desired name, then pressing enter/return again.

 

[psionpete]

Thanks so much both of you. I am sooo impressed with this forum. My queries are answered almost before I have asked them.

 

[eowl]

Or you can rename it like any other file in Finder by selecting the item, then pressing enter/return, typing your desired name, then pressing enter/return again.

Wish I knew this a while back, i've been constantly going into Get Info to change file names!

cheers

 

[k9tucker]

When I try this the original name is ghosted in an does not allow me to change it....

 

[simsaladimbamba]

When I try this the original name is ghosted in an does not allow me to change it....

What Format does the HDD use?

 

[isephmusic]

i want to rename my boot camp drive as well but its grayed out

 

[wrldwzrd89]

i want to rename my boot camp drive as well but its grayed out

You must do that in Windows.

 

[@mosphericBurn]

Yes it is, and no doing this won't break anything. To rename a disk in Mac OS X:

1. Go to Computer view in Finder (Go menu -> Computer)
2. Select the disk to be renamed
3. Get Info on it (File menu -> Get Info)
4. Expand the Name section
5. Change the name to whatever you want
6. Press Tab once done, so that the change takes effect
7. Close the Get Info window

Or you can rename it like any other file in Finder by selecting the item, then pressing enter/return, typing your desired name, then pressing enter/return again.

Both of these methods allow you to rename a partition but not the actual hard disk. Is there a way to rename the hard disk itself?
See IMG

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Both of these methods allow you to rename a partition but not the actual hard disk. Is there a way to rename the hard disk itself?
See IMG

That name might be changeable, but if it is I don't know how. I suspect it is done with the Terminal.

 

[Weaselboy]

Both of these methods allow you to rename a partition but not the actual hard disk. Is there a way to rename the hard disk itself?
See IMG

You can do it from Terminal with the diskutil command. Give this a look.

Make sure you backup first. One wrong move with that command and you are toast.

 

[@mosphericBurn]

You can do it from Terminal with the diskutil command. Give this a look.

Make sure you backup first. One wrong move with that command and you are toast.

Thanks @wrldwzrd89 and @Weaselboy.
The last entry in the thread you provided the link for seems logically sound. I think that would work; and I knew Terminal would be involved.

Update: After a little more digging, I'm finding a decent amount of discrepancies between the methods some users have been using under -sudo in Terminal. Didn't want to risk it.

However, I did a full back up and then wiped the partition and loaded a fresh install of the OS. This worked to restore the factory name of the physical drive. So if anyone has this issue again and isn't comfortable in Terminal, here's a fix:

• Back up your system, because you WILL lose everything by following this procedure.
• Start in Recovery Mode (hold cmd+d on startup until apple logo shows)
• Use Disk Utility to format the hard drive (make sure you choose a format option that is NOT case-sensitive as some OSX apps, particularly cross-platform app's like Steam will not install on a case-sensitive drive.
• Exit Disk Utility and return to main menu
• Select Install OSX

 

[afteryouwho]

OK. Now it's 2018 and I am doing something wrong or something has changed in 10.13.2.
I just recently bought a new iMac migrating from an older minimac.
Configuring my new iMac, I named my new computer "mimac" which is confusing as my old name was "mimini".
I would like to change it and have tried all the suggestions (except using the terminal which after years of Apple I have never understood how THAT works).
When I go into info, the name and extension is greyed out and I can't change it. And I can't understand why. It seems like a pretty easy thing to do.
Any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?
Thanks.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

IIRC you can rename disks using disk utility without using the terminal... or not?

 

[vanzandtj]

IIRC you can rename disks using disk utility without using the terminal... or not?

Yes. In the "view" drop-down list (top left corner of the Disk Utility window), click on "Show All Devices". Select the partition you want to rename by clicking on it. Then click again while holding down the Control key. This brings up a local menu, where "Rename" is one of the options.