How to Customize Icons for Hard Disks on Your Mac

macOS Operating Systems are considered to be highly efficient and powerful. What is even more appreciated is that macOS also provides great flexibility in personalization. For example, it allows you to change folder color or icon on Mac as well as allows you to change drive icons on Mac. 

If you are bored with the design of the default disk icons and wish to give your Mac a different look, this article will tell you how to change hard drive icon on Mac. Another benefit of doing so is that you can easily tell apart different storage devices, which brings great convenience.

This guide applies to all macOS versions.

Why replace the default drive icons on Mac?

In macOS, the built-in icons offer some basic details about the objects they represent. Even though the majority of modern Macs and portable hard drives employ flash storage, the macOS default drive icon depicts a hard disk for recognized hard disk devices.

Additionally, Apple uses the same symbol for similar folders, disks, and files. Unless you pay attention to the names you set under those icons, it's difficult to notice the differences. You can create a visual code that informs you exactly what is on a disk by replacing the standard disk icons with your own images or icons.

If you frequently switch between hard drives, giving each one a unique symbol may also make it easier for you to remember which disk is currently connected to your Mac.

Perhaps you simply dislike the default Mac icon because it doesn't match your wallpaper from an aesthetic standpoint. 

Thankfully, You can quickly alter the drive icons with a few clicks for whatever purpose.

What is your reason for changing the Mac drive icon?

How to customize Mac drive icons

Before proceeding to the steps for changing drive icons on Mac, make sure you've already obtained some custom icons for replacement. Look for transparent PNG files with square icons that are 512 by 512 pixels (or larger).

Step 1: Open up the PNG image in Apple's Preview app. You can double-click the icon to open or right-click on it and select Open With Preview.

Step 2: In the top menu bar, click Edit and then Select All. You will now observe marching ants crawling around the image boundaries. Check if the right area is selected.

Step 3: Click Copy from the Edit menu or press Command + C on the keyboard to save the image information to the clipboard.

Step 4: Right-click the drive icon that you want to change from your Mac desktop. Then, from the popup menu, select Get Info, or press Command + I on the keyboard.

Step 5: Click the default icon in the top-left corner of the Info window. You can tell it's selected from the blue frame.

Step 6: Press Command + V on the Mac keyboard to paste the preferred icon to the original icon.

It is easy to change the drive icon on Mac, right? Let other people how easy it is too. 

How to restore to the default disk icon on Mac

What if you would like to cancel the customization of your hard disk icons on your Mac? It is easy to restore the icons to the default icon in macOS.

Step 1: Right-click the target drive icon and select Get Info.

Step 2: Select the icon image and hit the Delete button on your keyboard.

Now you can check if the hard drive icon becomes the icon you prefer on your Mac's desktop.

Conclusion

This article walks you through the simple steps to change a drive icon on Mac. With that method, you can also change the icons for folders, files, and apps. Different icons help you to identify the disk you look for, which saves you a lot of time.  Also, unique icons enlighten your mood every time you open them.

FAQ About Changing Drive Icons on Mac