I partitioned an external Firewire 500GB hard drive into two 250GB 
volumes:  WD-1 and WD-2.  I connected it to an Intel iMac that was 
running 10.4.11.  I performed a daily backup of the internal 250GB hard 
drive to WD-1 using SuperDuper!.  I used WD-2 for general storage of 
stuff that is not too important.

From time to time, I would boot from WD-1 so that I could run 
DiskWarrior on the internal hard drive.  The WD-1 hard drive icon would 
be located in the top right corner of the desktop, like the Macintosh HD 
was when I booted from it.  Then, when I rebooted from the internal HD, 
Macintosh HD would be located in the upper right hand corner of the 
desktop, with WD-1 right beneath it, and WD-2 right beneath WD-1.

I installed 10.6 a couple of weeks ago.  Installation went very smooth.  
I have enjoyed SL very much.  However, I couldn't boot from the external 
WD-1 hard drive.  I visited the Western Digital website, downloaded and 
installed the latest driver, and now the Mac boots from the external 
WD-1 hard drive.  However, the Macintosh HD icon is located in the top 
right hand corner of the desktop.  WD-1 is located underneath it, then 
WD-2 under WD-1.  I tried rebooting several times by selecting WD-1 in 
System Preferences --> Startup Disk, and also by pressing the Option key 
and then selected WD-1.  Either way, the Macintosh HD icon appears at 
the top, then WD-1 beneath it.

I have verified that WD-1 is, in fact, the boot volume by clicking on GO 
--> Applications and then verifying that the folder path does trace back 
to WD-1, not Macintosh HD.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Does anyone know of a 
Knowledgebase article that addresses it?  I can't find one.  Does anyone 
know of a solution?

Thank you.

-- 


Kurt Todoroff

     Markets, not mandates and mob rule.
     Consent, not coercion.

In article <kurt.r.todoroff-26E068.15150720122009@nntp.aioe.org>, Kurt
R. Todoroff <kurt.r.todoroff@comcast.net> wrote:

> However, the Macintosh HD icon is located in the top 
> right hand corner of the desktop.  WD-1 is located underneath it, then 
> WD-2 under WD-1.  I tried rebooting several times by selecting WD-1 in 
> System Preferences --> Startup Disk, and also by pressing the Option key 
> and then selected WD-1.  Either way, the Macintosh HD icon appears at 
> the top, then WD-1 beneath it.

in leopard and later, the hard drive position is wherever it last was
and that means the top right corner is not necessarily the boot drive.
if you boot off another disk, whatever drive was last in the top corner
will still be there. that means it's not immediately obvious which
drive is the boot volume.

> I have verified that WD-1 is, in fact, the boot volume by clicking on GO 
> --> Applications and then verifying that the folder path does trace back 
> to WD-1, not Macintosh HD.

go to the apple menu and pick about this mac and it will tell you which
drive was the startup drive.

> Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Does anyone know of a 
> Knowledgebase article that addresses it?  I can't find one.  Does anyone 
> know of a solution?

there is no solution, other than perhaps writing an applescript to
identify the boot volume and rearrange the icons appropriately. 

however, a better option is send nasty mail to apple for eliminating
something so fundamentally useful. it may not solve anything but at
least they'll realize that they fucked up on this one.

In article <201220091533299567%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> In article <kurt.r.todoroff-26E068.15150720122009@nntp.aioe.org>, Kurt
> R. Todoroff <kurt.r.todoroff@comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> > However, the Macintosh HD icon is located in the top 
> > right hand corner of the desktop.  WD-1 is located underneath it, then 
> > WD-2 under WD-1.  I tried rebooting several times by selecting WD-1 in 
> > System Preferences --> Startup Disk, and also by pressing the Option key 
> > and then selected WD-1.  Either way, the Macintosh HD icon appears at 
> > the top, then WD-1 beneath it.
> 
> in leopard and later, the hard drive position is wherever it last was
> and that means the top right corner is not necessarily the boot drive.
> if you boot off another disk, whatever drive was last in the top corner
> will still be there. that means it's not immediately obvious which
> drive is the boot volume.
> 
> > I have verified that WD-1 is, in fact, the boot volume by clicking on GO 
> > --> Applications and then verifying that the folder path does trace back 
> > to WD-1, not Macintosh HD.
> 
> go to the apple menu and pick about this mac and it will tell you which
> drive was the startup drive.
> 
> > Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Does anyone know of a 
> > Knowledgebase article that addresses it?  I can't find one.  Does anyone 
> > know of a solution?
> 
> there is no solution, other than perhaps writing an applescript to
> identify the boot volume and rearrange the icons appropriately. 
> 
> however, a better option is send nasty mail to apple for eliminating
> something so fundamentally useful. it may not solve anything but at
> least they'll realize that they fucked up on this one.

Hi Nospam,

Thank you for the prompt reply and for the information.  I may just send 
a suggestion to Apple.  It won't be a nasty one.

Headaches, stomach aches, and disappointments are a part of life.  No 
need for revenge and reprisal.  Civility trumps a victimhood response 
every time.  I couldn't have a beer with that fellow who wanted to take 
down the AT&T network two days ago because he didn't like their proposed 
policy.

Again, thank you for assisting me.

Best wishes.

-- 


Kurt Todoroff

     Markets, not mandates and mob rule.
     Consent, not coercion.

In article <kurt.r.todoroff-2D2E73.15485720122009@nntp.aioe.org>, Kurt
R. Todoroff <kurt.r.todoroff@comcast.net> wrote:

> Headaches, stomach aches, and disappointments are a part of life.  No 
> need for revenge and reprisal.  Civility trumps a victimhood response 
> every time. 

i'm not advocating revenge, just telling apple that it was a very
stupid change for absolutely no reason, and one that confuses users,
potentially causing them to modify the wrong hard drive.

were users actually requesting that there be no obvious way to
determine which drive was the boot volume?? i doubt it.

they changed the behaviour of the itunes zoom button and people
complained, so they changed it back. unfortunately, i don't expect this
will be reversed any time soon but you never know.