How can I simulate "My Computer" on a Mac OS X System?

Hey Dave is there anyway we can have the "Computer" icon show up on the desktop, and the Hardsisks mounted within this folder. Much like Windows? Coz I have too many partitions (3 Harddisks with almost 5-6 partitions on each disks)

Dave's Answer:

This is a really great question and the solution is easier than you may think. The first step is to make sure that all your hard disks and partitions show up on the Desktop (at least for the duration of creating your Mac version of My Computer). You can do that by following the steps detailed here: Move the hard disk icon onto the Dock.

Once they all show up on the Desktop, simply create a new folder on your desktop called My Computer by using File --> New Folder or pressing Cmd-Shift-N for the keyboard shortcut. Open up the folder, then you should see something like this:

Now you simply want to drag all of your hard disk icons from your Desktop into that folder, like so:

Dragging hard disk icons into a folder in Mac OS X

Now when you open up the folder, like magic, there are aliases for each of your hard disks:

Final step: go back into the Finder and turn off all those pesky Desktop icons by selecting Finder --> Preferences... and clicking on the General tab:

That's all there is to it. You now have a folder on your desktop called "My Compute" that will let you have quick access to the dozens of different drives and partitions you've installed, without having them all clutter up your desktop.

Note: I wanted to demonstrate the Mac's slick "Smart Folder" capability to solve this, but it has a bug in the selector Type Volume that it doesn't choose partitions that are foreign file system formats (e.g., "Boot Camp"). Hopefully that'll be fixed or they'll add a "Device" type because then you really could have a dynamic My Computer that would expand or contract based on what devices and volumes you had mounted at that moment, including CDs, DVDs, iPods, digital cameras, etc.

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help , Windows PC Help (Article 7280, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: compatibility, mac os x, windows xp
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Reader Comments To Date: 13

Mike said, on March 24, 2007 4:46 AM:

I thought the point of getting a Mac was to try and get away from what the Windows PC offers. By having everything available on your desktop you avoid the extra step of having to open a window to see what's going on. To each their own!

Also, check out http://www.switchingtomac.com/

aptmunich said, on March 24, 2007 11:17 AM:

Why the workaround? OS X has this view built-in:

Go to your harddrive and press command+arrow up to navigate to 'Your Computer'.

(Alternatively show your harddrive in Finder, right-click the title of the finder window and select the enclosing folder).

Now you'll see all mounted volumes in one pretty window.
Drag an Alias to your desktop and you have "My Computer".

Matt Deatherage said, on March 24, 2007 6:09 PM:

aptmunich means to Command-click in the title bar of a hard drive window to pop up to the "Computer" level, then to click on the "Computer" icon in the title bar and command-option drag it to someplace.

Alas, it doesn't work - you can't make an alias of the "Computer" object because you can't copy it to various places. But that hardly seems an obstacle - from anywhere in Finder, press Command-Shift-C and you'll get a "Computer" window. If you have a frontmost window, it changes to that view; if you have no window, Finder opens one.

It's been there since Mac OS X was released six years ago today, and is even in the menu bar ("Go > Computer"), so you can change the keyboard shortcut to whatever you want. It will also magically include ALL volumes this way, including network and removable volumes, not just whatever disks you had handy when you made the alias Dave recommends.

Abbie Gonzalez said, on April 2, 2007 11:11 AM:

Yes, I always wanted a way to go into my computer by going into my computer. :)
I never really liked the Computer metaphor, and prefer the disks on my desktop. It is a bit quicker. I do wish windows offered this as an option like MacOS does... Well, it does, but... well, just try _mounting_ the C: drive to a folder on the Desktop, and then searching for something... fun!

Dara said, on April 2, 2007 12:55 PM:

DUDE!!! Just go to Finder Menu --> Preferences --> Sidebar and check off the little mark to show the Computer. Wala.. any finder window has a direct link to "My" Computer.

Remember -- Apple invented the GUI!!!!!!!!

Dave Taylor said, on April 2, 2007 3:44 PM:

Dara, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it's inaccurate to say that Apple invented any sort of GUI, actually. It was an evolution with contributions from many parties, including Stanford Research Institute (now just "SRI"), Xerox PARC (notably the Alto and Star) and many others. :-)

Dara said, on April 2, 2007 7:42 PM:

whatever...

the point is still the same. Apple was the first to use GUI as their main interface -- and like a box of Kleenex other systems don't think that far out of the box. It amazes me when PC switchers try to make their Mac more PC like -- only to create complicated hacks for items that are readily available and have been around on the for a while in the Mac.

Dustin Tantum said, on April 9, 2007 1:21 PM:

It seems to me that the simplest way to create a My Computer type of folder that also will "magically include ALL volumes", is to just make an alias of the /Volumes folder and name it "My Computer". Done.

RH said, on May 21, 2007 5:31 AM:

man... try to learn how the mac works... You don't need the "My Computer" hack.

IT Rush said, on August 3, 2011 7:35 AM:

Agree, anyway.. can we just talk about mac? haha..

subir said, on August 21, 2011 9:13 AM:

I purchased one Imac computer then uploaded windows but at present there is no apple computer in my pc please help me to get back the apple machintosh in my pc

joe said, on December 15, 2012 1:49 PM:

need info in how be able to instaal icon on my computer face please respond thanks,joe

xyz said, on January 24, 2013 8:45 PM:

Is mountain lion OS better than win 7 ultimate ? And like my computer in win could we have same in Mac book

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How can I simulate "My Computer" on a Mac OS X System?

Reader Comments To Date: 13

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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