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To change a disk or external-drive icon on your Mac, copy an image, open the mounted volume’s Get Info window, select the small icon at the top, and paste. To restore the original icon, select that same small icon and choose Edit > Cut.
Choose and copy an image for the drive
You can use an image you already have or, if your drive maker supplies an icon file, use that artwork. Apple’s instructions describe copying an image from Preview; Western Digital documents the same approach for its G-DRIVE and G-Technology products.
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Open the image in Preview. For a manufacturer-supplied icon, open that icon file instead.
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Choose Edit > Copy in Preview. With a supplied drive icon, Western Digital’s instructions likewise say to open and copy the icon.
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Apple’s instructions for changing the look of files and folders and Western Digital’s drive-icon instructions, updated February 25, 2026 describe these workflows.
Apply the custom icon to a mounted disk
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In Finder or on the desktop, select the mounted drive or volume you want to customize.
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Choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I.
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In the Info window, click the small icon at the upper-left, beside the item name.
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Choose Edit > Paste, or press Command-V. The copied image should become the item’s icon.
Be careful to select the small icon near the title bar, not the larger preview image lower in the Info window. Apple notes that selecting the large image can make the Paste command unavailable.
Restore the original disk icon
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Select the drive or volume, then open File > Get Info (or press Command-I).
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Click the small icon at the upper-left of the Info window.
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Choose Edit > Cut. This removes the custom icon and restores the original appearance.
Apple documents this reset method for file and folder icons; Western Digital documents the custom-icon workflow for its drives.
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If the icon does not change or Paste is unavailable
Paste is unavailable
Check which image you selected in Get Info. Click the small icon at the top near the item name, rather than the larger preview image below it, then try Edit > Paste again. Apple specifically identifies selecting the large preview as a reason Paste may not be available.
The desktop still shows the old icon
First check whether the icon appears changed in the drive’s Get Info window. If it does but the desktop has not refreshed, ejecting and reconnecting the volume or restarting the Mac may help refresh the display. Macworld reported on September 16, 2025, that a restart was sometimes needed for custom icons to appear in its macOS Tahoe observations; this is a possible refresh issue, not a required or universal step.
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Custom-icon persistence is not established for every combination of filesystem, volume permissions, macOS version, and device. If an icon disappears after ejecting or reconnecting a particular volume, reapply it and check the drive maker’s guidance for that model rather than assuming the same behavior applies to all disks.
Change desktop icon size without changing the artwork
If your goal is to make disks easier to see or arrange, use Finder’s desktop layout controls instead of replacing a drive’s artwork. Click the desktop, choose View > Show View Options, and adjust the available icon size, grid spacing, or text size. These settings change how desktop items are displayed; they do not assign a different icon to an individual disk. Apple describes these controls in its Mac desktop icon layout guide.
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