Startup disk disappeared from desktop!

On two different Mac Pros, suddenly my boot drive has disappeared from the desktop. It used to be there, but now it's not.
Rebooting the computer doesn't fix it.
It is also missing from every Finder window's sidebar. I checked my prefs, but it doesn't show up there.
It does show up in Disk Utility. I verified the disk and repaired its permissions.
Secondary drives (drives 2-4 in the Mac Pros) show up fine.
How do I get them back?!

This was solved in a separate thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=870998&tstart=0

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Startup disk disappear from the desktop

Well, without any reason, The startup disk is disappear from the desktop.
(Just only the startup disk)
I found this 2 times before, once on my 8 cores Mac Pro, once on my iMac G5.
I couldn't do anything to fix them, so I formatted and re-install OS.
with my iMac, it ran Tiger before, there's no problem until I changed to Leopard,
After about 2 weeks under the new Leopard,then the startup disk disappear from the desktop,
it shown the hidden status in disk utility and could not mount it,
So I formatted and back to install old Tiger.
Everything's fine. that's really good Operating system.
Bad luck, about 2 months ago, My iMac G5 had some problem with motherboard and the harddisk also damaged, I send it to Apple Thailand, They fixed it and send back with installed Leopard inside my new hard disk.(well... again)
Now after a few weeks. it happen again.
Startup disk disappear from the desktop.
This problem never exist on my Mac Pro, just with the iMac G5.
(Please don't tell me to check the finder preference about the sidebar setting.
it's already set to show every items there even the iDisk)
I wondered why I don't see anyone have problem with this.
I'm really want to find the answer about this.
I asked this question to Apple Thailand's support team but they didn't have any idea.
Who's gonna answer this

I found a solution to the problem and posted it here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1858340&stqc=true
I pasted the solution below:
from a Terminal window, type:
ls -lOd /
(That's lowercase ell, lowercase ess, space, minus, lowercase ell, capital oh, lowercase dee, space, forward slash)
You should get something like this:
hostname:~ username$ ls -lOd /
drwxrwxr-t 32 root admin - 1156 Feb 8 20:35 /
Sounds like you might see something like this instead:
hostname:~ username$ ls -lOd /
drwxrwxr-t@ 32 root admin hidden 1156 Feb 8 20:35 /
(note it says "hidden" instead of "-")
To fix this, type:
sudo chflags nohidden /
and provide your admin password. You won't get any output back from the command but the icon should now appear on your desktop, and the hidden flag should go away if you repeat the 'ls -lOd /' command.
And just in case you missed it above, you've got to be sure Hard disks are turned on in Finder General Preferences under "Show these items on the Desktop"

Disks disappeared from Desktop after 10.5.4 - 10.5.8v1.1 update

Hi,
a strange think happend today after a server update from 10.5.4 to 10.5.8v1.1 with a downloaded combo installer: After the reboot 3 of 5 1 TB firewire disks disappeared from the desktop! Just gone. What makes the whole thing really tricky: they show up in the disk utilities as mounted! Repairing them doesn´t change a thing. Disk Warrior doesn´t help. What´s even more mysterious: Opening the terminal, cd to the /Volumes folder ls shows folders for all five disks. But "ls -l" produces an "Access denied" error for each of the missing disks! It requires a sudo to show the permissions of the disks! What´s more disturbing: The permissions of the disks not showing up are ending with an "+" while all the other disks have an "@". But what really knocks me of that you can mount and work with the missing disks over the network! I really need help with that.
Greetings,
Mike

Hello mibobby,
I'm seeing something similar to the problem you reported here. I my case there are 4 external hard drives connected to the Xserve 10.5.8. All drives are visible from Disk Utility, The Finder, and terminal. However, if a drive is plugged into another system, 10.5.8, or 10.6.2, the drives will not mount in the Finder. They appear in Disk Utility, but the volume appears as a blank piece of paper rather than a hard drive icon. If you navigate to the volume vial the terminal, you get an error indicating that you do not have permissions. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Did you ever get your problem resolved?
Thanks
Dean

Time Machine - backup disk disappears from desktop

My backup disk appears shortly on the desktop and then I keep getting this message:
“The disk was not ejected properly. If possible, always eject a disk before unplugging it or turning it off.
To eject a disk, select it in the Finder and choose File > Eject. The next time you connect the disk, Mac OS X will attempt to repair any damage to the information on the disk.”
How do I get to my backup disk?

If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

Internal RAID Drives Disappeared from Desktop & Finder

A few days ago, one of my two internal mirrored RAID sets no longer showed on the desktop or in the Finder Sidebar. A day later, the other internal RAID set disappeared from desktop and sidebar. The two remaining internal non-RAID drives show up as do two external drives. All internal and external hard drives still show under Disk Utility and Photoshop Bridge CS3.
I checked Finder Preferences and boxes are checked to show internal and external drives on the desktop and sidebar. I looked at the drive detail under Disk Utility and nothing looks wrong with the two RAID sets ON-LINE. I unmounted one RAID set and re-mounted without any change. I tried unchecking the two preference boxes to not show the drives and rebooted, rechecking the boxes and rebooting and nothing changed on the desktop or sidebar.
Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this?

Well our invisible drives problem is resolved but it's not the solution that I'd hoped for.
We visited the Genius Bar at a local Apple store and they denied any knowledge of problems with invisible drives in Macs and discounted my reports from Mac forums.
I went home and ordered a new 1tb Seagate drive. When it arrived, I installed it in bay 2, copied each invisible drive to the new drive one-at-a-time, broke my two sets of internal mirrored drives, erased all the affected drives and reloaded them. Now all drives are visible on the Desktop and Finder again.
I'm hoping that the disappearing drive problem doesn't surface again but view this as an unresolved Apple issue. Now I can look at other mass storage options for future growth.

WD My Book backup drive disappeared from desktop running Lion

WD My Book backup drive disappeared from desktop running Lion !0.7.5. Disk Utility recognized the drive and has repaired it, but it still does not show up on desktop or Time Machine. My Book also appears to hold zero data now (I've had it running backups for a couple of years). What's the problem? How to remedy?

I tried this but it did not help. I did confirm that the external drive is working by connecting it to another IMac computer running Mavericks. Not sure if the recent update to Yosemite that supposedly fixed issues with time machine has messed this up or not. Trying to work with WD as well to see which side the issues is on. I remember a similar issue with Mavericks was updated making time machine unusable with the external drive.

How to move Startup Disk clone from one external drive to another?

I thought this would be a question easily answered on the WWW and easily found via search engines, but so far no luck, hence this question.
Prior to upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion I followed some very good instructions from Tom Nelson on ask.com (http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/diskbackup.htm) related to using Disk Utility to clone my internal Macintosh HD drive to an external hard drive, making it a bootable drive. I cloned to a very nice LaCie external FW drive that had far more room than that needed for the clone. This drive booted just fine as a startup disk, so mission accomplished:   I have now a bootable clone of my Lion system prior to upgrading to Mountain Lion.
The upgrade to Mountain Lion went well, and now, before I put any additional apps or much additional data on the original internal Macintosh HD drive, I want to use Disk Utility again to clone the drive so I'll have a snapshot of the system right after the upgrade to Mountain Lion.
Questions:
Is there any way to use the same LaCie drive that now holds the Lion startup disk clone to hold the yet-to-be-done Mountain Lion startup disk clone?
If not, how can I move the Lion startup disk clone from the oversized LaCie external drive to a drive more the size of the Lion clone (approx 140G)?   The LaCie drive is far too roomy and nice to have sitting gathering dust for only 140G to be used in an emergency restore.
Thanks in advance for your advice.

Good info Csound1, and thanks.
So my final question (I think): How does one move/copy a startup disk clone from one external drive to another, and still have it bootable on the new external drive?   I'm still considering freeing this LaCie drive up for more dynamic storage and getting another drive for the bootable startup disk clones IF I can move this Lion startup disk clone to a new external drive.
I guess the summary question is:   how does one clone a startup disk clone? As I think about this, and recall the Disk Utility screens, couldn't I simply select the Lion clone on the LaCie FW external drive and do the same operation I did with the original internal Lion drive? Basically the same steps as before but this time the source is the LaCie FW external and the destination is a new external drive?
Thanks again; wonderful forum here with very smart people.

IPod disappears from desktop; appears in iTunes, but is not functional

Is it possible to fix this without restoring my iPod?
Order of events:
1. I connect iPod to MacBook Pro
2. iPod appears on desktop (and finder)
3. iTunes freezes for a minute or two
4. Error message appears: "iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPod" "click Restore"
5. When I click ok: *iPod disappears from desktop/finder*
6. Only then does the iPod show up in iTunes, and *the only option iTunes gives is to Restore*
When the iPod appears +on the desktop, it has the name I gave it+.
But when it appears +in iTunes, it's just called "iPod."+ (Despite showing the correct serial number.)
Why does this happen? Can I fix it without restoring?

Update:
When I try to use the iPod now, it says "*no music*"—despite the fact that it also shows *90GB in use*.
(It's been a long time since I sync'd it, so I'm trying not to lose the data about tracks played, etc.)
Message was edited by: R.y.a.n.

Why is my music that i downloaded from disk disappearing from my libarary

why is my music that i downloaded from disk disappearing from my libarary? I now i own the songs but thy are gone
<Email Edited By Host>

If you have recently bought this music the solution is usually to delete the tracks from iTunes and re-download them from your purchase history.

Microsoft word disappeared from desktop

Microsoft word disappeared from desktop. Can I just load it off of DVD that was used originally to load it on the imac? Do I need to remove microsoft office first (other office items are still there)?

If it's the Dock that's missing the icon, you've not really lost anything. Open Applications > Microsoft Office and find the Word app:
Click and hold on its icon and drag it to where you want it in the Dock to restore it.

Disks disappear from my desktop even though they haven't been ejected

This started happening a couple of days ago... Randomly, whatever CD is in the drive will disappear from my desktop even though I haven't ejected the CD. The only way I've been able to get it to reappear is by ejecting the CD and then re-inserting it.
Solution?

Hi, I use Disctop:- http://mac.brothersoft.com/disctop-pro.html
I too have had this disappearing CD syndrome,,If it really worries you try the SMC route.
It could be a faulty CD Drive unit -> Call AppleHelp & ask their advice...L

After cleaning keyboard, everything disappeared from desktop

After cleaning the keyboard, everything has disappeared from my desktop, including the hard drive disk image. I heard a "clunk" like the sound of something being sent to the Trash, but it's not there.
I know the files still exist, because when I open a finder window all the screen shots I had on the desktop are still listed under "Desktop". But they aren't visible on the desktop itself. But the hard drive disk image isn't anywhere to be seen, although it's also visible in a Finder window!
I've now moved all the files into a folder inside "Documents" (yes, I know they should have been there all along).

Sorry, everyone, I restarted and the hard drive is back on the desktop.

IPod appears in iTunes, but disappears from Desktop

Just recently, whenever I plug my 3G 20GB iPod into my dock connect via Firewire to my iMac, it launches iTunes as normal, appears on the Deskop, syncs with iTunes and then disappears from the Desktop.
Then if I eject my iPod from iTunes and leave it connected to my dock to charge, and later relaunch iTunes it freezes and takes a force quit and a log out to get things working again.
I tried resetting and resyncing the iPod last week and have also trashed the iTunes prefs, but nothing seems to have worked as yet.
Any ideas?
iMac G5 20" 2.1GHz iSight, 1.5GB RAM, 250GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.8) Power Mac G5 Dual 2.3GHz, 2.5GB RAM, 160GB HD

The first part of your description sounds normal when using Auto updating and having disk mode DIS-abled. Mine shows up in iTunes when connected, then I eject it from iTunes and it does not appear on my desk top.
Try going into the iPod setting in iTunes and enabling disk mode and see if that works any better. You will have to manually eject the iPod from the desk top though, before unplugging it.
Patrick

Invisible Startup Disk Icon on Desktop and Finder

Today suddenly I found that my Startup disk icon was gone from the desktop and from the Finder. I did some searching and found the following solution that may be useful for someone else:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4932292#post4932292
I pasted the solution below:
from a Terminal window, type:
ls -lOd /
(That's lowercase ell, lowercase ess, space, minus, lowercase ell, capital oh, lowercase dee, space, forward slash)
You should get something like this:
hostname:~ username$ ls -lOd /
drwxrwxr-t 32 root admin - 1156 Feb 8 20:35 /
Sounds like you might see something like this instead:
hostname:~ username$ ls -lOd /
drwxrwxr-t@ 32 root admin hidden 1156 Feb 8 20:35 /
(note it says "hidden" instead of "-")
To fix this, type:
sudo chflags nohidden /
and provide your admin password. You won't get any output back from the command but the icon should now appear on your desktop, and the hidden flag should go away if you repeat the 'ls -lOd /' command.
And just in case you missed it above, you've got to be sure Hard disks are turned on in Finder General Preferences under "Show these items on the Desktop"

A few days after trying the solution in my previous post, I realized that the Startup disk icon was still missing from Devices in the Finder's sidebar.
So, following some advice from other forums, I went and deleted com.apple.finder.plist and com.apple.sidebarlists.plist from homedirectory/library/preferences. Then did a control-option-click on Finder in the Dock and chose "relaunch".
So this completed the fix. Coincidentally this also fixed a "freeze" issue that I was having.

Dreamweaver CS4 (Mac OS X) window disappears from desktop

this is actually not a Dreamweaver-specific problem, because it applies to all Adobe CS4 products. But it is most irritating with Dreamweaver, because users often need to look at Dreamweaver windows at the same time as other applications (such as a web browser)
Since CS4 (and maybe also CS3) but not the older versions, opened Dreamweaver window(s) disappear from the desktop whenever another application is activated or selected. This makes it extremely difficult to view both Dreamweaver code/windows, and any other application unless that other application's window is first positioned in such a way that you can see it, but don't need to click on it, then you click on the Dreamweaver application.
This does not happen with any other non-Adobe application - the whole point of having large screens, multiple windows and multiple processors is to be able to do more at the same time.
Even without explicitly leaving Dreamweaver, this is a problem, because, if I perform a file comparison between the local and remote file, the opendiff application will be launched; the Dreamweaver file window is still on the desktop for that time. But, the moment I close the opendiff window, all Dreamweaver windows disappear. I have to go to the dock and click on the icon to bring back the window.
You can imagine how annoying and time consuming this is if you're performing a number of file comparisons, as I have to do often.
I therefore prefer to use my old version which did not behave this way.
I could not find any setting in preferences to change this behavior. Is there a chance this will be fixed someday?

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Your Desktop is just a folder, but it's not like any other folder on your HD. The more "crap" you keep on it, the slower your system will run, because Windows Explorer (not the browser - the one that opens and manages all of your windows) interacts with it ALL THE TIME so the more stuff it has to go through to run DW, or Photoshop or Windows Media Player or whatever, the bigger the drag on WIndows. The same for Mac OS X and FInder.
Put your site(s) in their own folder in your documents where the most active folder on your HD doesn't have to constantly update with every letter you type in a page.

Startup disk disappeared from desktop!

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