Make Your Mac’s Desktop Drive-free
If you prefer not to see your attached drives on your Mac’s Desktop, here’s what to do: While in the Finder, choose Finder> Preferences. Click the General tab, and then uncheck the devices you don’t want on your Desktop.
You can choose to hide your hard drives, CDs and DVDs, connected servers, iPods, and other removable media. Your drives still appear in the sidebar in Finder windows, and if you later decide you want them back on your Desktop, just re-enable them in the Finder’s Preferences.
Jeff Gamet is a contributing editor for Design Tools Monthly, the executive summary of graphic design news. He is also the morning editor and reviews editor for The Mac Observer and iPodObserver.com, and contributing writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User. He writes the InBrief column for InDesign Magazine, and is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X,” from Peachpit Press
When Jeff isn’t writing about the graphic design world, he’s talking about it on the Design Tools Weekly podcast with co-host Jay Nelson. He also talks about Apple and the Mac world every week on The Mac Observer’s Apple Weekly Report.
Jeff studies, tests and reviews new software and technologies for the Macintosh community as well as the design and print industries. He is a former Pre-press specialist, and has nearly 25 years experience with computer technology. Jeff trains, lectures and consults on techniques for more efficiently using Mac OS X in creative environments throughout the country.
In the rare moments when he can get away from his MacBook Pro, Jeff spends his time climbing and biking in the Colorado mountains.
I could never tolerate a cluttered desktop anyway, and took it a step further by hiding the hard disks back with OS 10.4. One reason I did this was to force myself to open a new Finder window via ‘a shortcut’ versus ‘locating and double-clicking a disk icon.’ It’s a more efficient way of accessing data, especially if you have multiple hard disks in your machine. Once you get used to this, it actually makes sense.
There IS a efficient way of navigating the Mac OS and surprisingly many Mac users are not implementing them; like using a ‘three-button’ mouse for starters…