How do I change the desktop Icon for an external hard drive?  I have gone to "Get Info" and tried dragging and dropping  several formats of pictures and the icon changes to the generic image of that file type.

how can I change the desktop icon for an external hard drive.  Using LaCies and Dimple hard drives.

One of the things I've found with OS X (at least with Snow Leopard, which is my first excursion into OS X), is that all too often the thumbnail displayed on a file, whether a file created or one downloaded, is a false thumbnail. That is, when you do a Get Info on the file the icon in the upper left is the generic icon for that file type, rather than the thumbnail displayed in Finder. Makes it a bit difficult to copy.
Apparently Finder uses Preview in the background to generate the displayed thumbnail without actually creating one.
What I've resorted to doing, particularly with graphic images, is to process them with GraphicConverter - I have its prefs set to automatially add thumbnails and previews. With an individual file this means opening it in GC and doing a Save As. However, a much easier and faster way is when there are two or more such files; I put them in a common folder and drop the folder onto GC. GC then opens them in a catalog view, in the process adding real thumbnails and previews to each automatically. Doesn't take long to do several hundred files that way.

Similar Messages

  • Moving Garageband Music Files to MyBook for Mac External Hard Drive on OSX 10.5.8  I'm a musician and need to make space on my mac hd. Is it safe to move music files there and delete them on the mac? Thanks!

    use a MyBook for Mac external hard drive.
    I need space on garageband or the entire hard drive, since I am getting the "need space on the hard drive" messages.
    It's scary to move my precious music files!
    How should I move them to the external and feel safe about doing so?
    Or are there other methods besides the obvious, clearing caches, deleting the trash and downloads, etc., that are recommended?
    I am doing music now and producers are waiting for the new vocals!
    Help!
    Thanks!

    The process is as simple as just copying your Garageband project to the external drive and deleting from the macs hard drive. But before you delete anything you really need to back them up to someplace else also. Having just one copy is not safe. Get another external drive, DVDs or even flash drives, you absolutely need anything important in more then one place.

  • I want to use the Thunderbolt connection for an external hard drive

    I want to use the Thunderbolt connection for an external hard drive - so what port would I use on the MacBook Pro 13" for the display monitor.  Thank you!

    This is not the forum for MacBook Pro owners.
    You just need to reformat the drive in Disk Utility and erase the drive and have  Mac HFS.
    If you did need to use NTFS then you would not want -3G but Paragon NTFS for OS X x. 10.0
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    First though make sure you have backups of your system. TimeMachine being used now?
    http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-TimeMachine-drive.html
    http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine/
    Maybe cleanout some files you don't need.
    Install a larger notebook hard drive even.
    http://www.macsales.com/firewire has a lot of choice in Mac compatible drives and enclosures so you don't need to worry about Fantom not working at some point.
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/mac_os_x_v10.6_snow_leopard

  • What is the best external hard drive (USB 2.0) to get for my Mac?

    Here is a question from your "average user"
    I'm looking for an external hard drive for my iMac (Mac OS X 10.7.2 - only 4 GB). I was looking at 1Tb. We have a new baby so I'd like to protect my pictures, video, and scrapbooking files in addition to using it for back up.
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    * Would storing my photos/videos on an ehd help my computer run faster?
    *Should I just store my video on DVD's? Does that make more sense?
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    *Any suggestions on brands? or websites to look at?

    Firstly, congratulations on the new baby!
    For ease I am going to pretend that your questions were numbered!
    1. Yes, you will have two identical copies, one on your hard drive and one on your external. Of course, you should really back up your entire hard drive.
    2. No, see above!
    3. You can do, but Lion does not include iDVD so you will have to buy iLife 11 while it is still available. Consider a 2TB external drive (the cost difference is small) and keep them there as well.
    4. Yes - see above!
    5. Look here (if you are the US):  http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MAU4S7W20T64/
      Highly recommended by experienced users here, and I am about to get one, despite the additional $40 in postage!
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  • I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? One I back everthing up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC?

    I am not much of a computer technician. I bought a time capsule thinking I could use this for an external hard drive and keep my MAC hard drive free. Was I mistaken? Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??

    Once I back everything up on the TC, can I delete everything off of my MAC and then use my TC as my hard drive??
    TC was designed to backup your Mac. The TC literature is pretty clear about this:
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    But.....if you move all of your data to the TC from your Mac....you only have one version of that data now, and it is on the TC.
    Have you thought about what will happen when....not if....the TC has a problem?  Since the only version of your important data was on the TC, and the TC has failed......you lose all of your data.....because you have no backup.
    A much better plan would be to add a USB or FireWire hard drive and connect it directly to your Mac. Move the data on your Mac over to the hard drive.
    Then, the TC will backup both your Mac and the hard drive.  So, you have original data on on one drive and backups on another drive.
    That would be a minimum backup plan. Most of us have more than one set of backups.

  • HT201250 How do I restore photos from Time Machine?  All of my photos have been imported within iPhoto and therefore are exported to Time Machine via an iPhoto file.  I can't figure out how to break individual photo files out of the iPhoto file.  Any idea

    How do I restore photos from Time Machine?  All of my photos have been imported within iPhoto and therefore are exported to Time Machine via an iPhoto file.  I can't figure out how to break individual photo files out of the iPhoto file.  Any ideas?

    You might post this query on the iPhoto forum and perhaps someone there can provide an answer.
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    Not tidy but it seems it will work.
    Ciao.

  • I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died.  Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive.  How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

    I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died.  Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive.  How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

    This is a tricky one.
    Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
    Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
    Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....."  You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
    It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
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  • I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am warned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects   How do I point iMovie to events in my external  hard drive so I can pl

    I have copied videos onto an external hard drive. to free memory on my macbook. When I try to delete these I am woarned that I will not be able to use this video in existing projects
    How do I point iMovie to events in my external  hard drive so I can play projects which use them?
    MacBook, iMovie 9.0.4

    Hi
    You can do this - by not doing it the way You describe as it will not work.
    a. the external hard disk - MUST BE - Mac OS extended (hfs) formatted -
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    (move them back and see if iMovie remembers them - then do move as described above)
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  • How do i transfer my iphoto events to an external hard drive and have the pictures remain within their original events?

    How do i transfer my iphoto events to an external hard drive and have the pictures remain within their original events? Every time i try it splits up all of my pictures one by one. You'd think you'd be able to just drag and drop the event, but no such luck. Help!!

    What version of iPhtoo do you have?
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    And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
    LN

  • How come my mac isnt showing my external hard drive after installing os x maverick? and how to i fix that??

    how come my mac isnt showing my external hard drive after installing os x maverick? and how to i fix that??

    How do you mean it isn't showing the external drive?  If you mean on the desktop, click Finder on the menu bar, Preferences, General and check the boxes for Show these items on the desktop - make sure hard drives is checked.
    If you mean it is not showing in Finder or Disk Utility, make sure it is turned on, reboot and see if that mounts it so it shows up.

  • How do i make a seperate itunes library for an external hard drive?

    my brother bought an external hard drive to have his own itunes library. We attemted to download the program into the ex. hard drive. but what it did was transfer all my music to the ex. hard drive. So we undid it, and now its back on my computer. So what can i do to have a seperate library for the external hard drive?
      Windows XP  

    Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu, provide ~/Music/ as the path, drag the entire iTunes library to the external drive, and if desired, then to the iMac's internal one. If you put it in a different location than the default, launch iTunes with the Option key held down and point it there.
    If the library contains rented movies, those won't play on a different computer.
    (110641)

  • HT201269 I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive.  I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help ple

    I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive.  I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help please

    Sorry, but this does not seem to be an iPad question. I'd therefore suggest you ask in the iTunes for Mac forum.
    Regards.

  • When i run Time Machine to back up my computer onto an external hard drive, i have no way of knowing when the back up process has been completed. I don't know when it is safe to disconnect the external hard drive - which is store in a separate location.

    When i run Time Machine to back up my computer on to an external hard drive, i have no way of knowing when the back up process has been completed.  This is necessary to know because i don't leave my external hard drive connected to the computer.  I routinely disconnect it after backing up the hard drive, and then i store the external hard drive in a different location from the computer.  So, knowing when the back up process has been completed would be a very helpful thing to have the computer specify. 

    Just enable Time Machine's menu extra (System Preferences -> Time Machine -> Show Time Machine in menu bar.
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  • How to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

    how to transfer data from macbook pro to an external hard drive, im using (WD 1TB 3.0) ???. I cannot copy anything from my mac to it not a single file.

    ok - since you'll be sharing it with a PC - connect it to your windows pc - then format from there - instead of NTFS format - choose exFAT.
    or, you can read the link below on how to do it in dos mode.
    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/how-can-i-forma t-external-drive-in-exfat-not-in/0f6bf19a-19d6-4470-ae05-53ddf26bb476?msgId=1860 eae3-3488-4eea-8326-f87b89d9851b
    once you've formatted it - you can now use it in both your macbook and windows computer.

  • How do I use my Time Machine as an external hard drive to just dump files no longer needed on my computer?

    How Do I use my time machine as an external hard drive?

    Time Machine is software that allows a Mac to backup to a Time Capsule or other hard drive, so I think you are asking about the Time Capsule here, correct?
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