Symptom
A disk or volume whose name begins with a period is not available in the Finder. The computer starts up normally, but the disk (even if it is the startup disk) does not appear in Finder windows or on the desktop.
Solution
Mac OS X reserves names beginning with a period for system software items that are not intended to be visible in the Finder. Normally, an alert box with this message appears when you try to name a folder or file with a period as the first character:
"You cannot use a name that begins with a dot ".", because these names are reserved for the system. Please choose another name."
If you name a disk with a period as the first character, its contents remain where you saved them, but you will not be able to see the disk in the Finder. You can remedy this by renaming the disk.
Start up in Mac OS 9
If your computer is able to start up with Mac OS 9, then follow these steps to rename the disk.
1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
2. Choose View > Startup Disk.
3. Select a Mac OS 9 startup volume and click Restart. Note: If you no longer have Mac OS 9 installed on a hard disk, then use a Mac OS 9 startup CD-ROM disc if one came with the computer.
4. After Mac OS 9 has started, rename the volume so the period is no longer the first character. See technical document 50444 "Mac OS 9: How to Change the Name of a Disk" if you are unsure how to rename a disk.
5. Open the Startup Disk control panel.
6. Select the Mac OS X volume and click Restart.
If you are not able to start up in Mac OS 9
If the drive is removable (FireWire or USB or cartridge drive) and you have access to a different computer that uses Mac OS 9, connect the drive to the other computer and rename it. Otherwise, follow these steps:
If only Mac OS X is available, determine if the disk is the startup disk (the one containing the active system software used to start the computer) or another disk.
Disk is startup disk
1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
2. Type: disktool -l
3. Press Return.
4. You will see a list of available disks. You may see a line that looks like this for each volume:
***Disk Appeared ('disk0s10',Mountpoint = '/', fsType = 'hfs', volName= '.Macintosh HD')
5. Type the following: disktool -n <volume> "<newname>"
Note: Substitute the logical volume descriptor for <volume> and the name you want to use without a period as the <newname>. For example, to remove the period from the disk in the example above, the command would be: disktool -n disk0s10 "Macintosh HD"
6. Press Return
7. Choose Apple menu > Log Out.
8. Log in. The volume should now be visible
For more information about the disktool command, type "disktool" in Terminal and press Return.
Disk is not startup disk
First, you must know the pathname of the disk. You can learn how to read and write a pathname in technical document 106419: "
Mac OS: About Folders, Directories, and Pathnames".
All disks and volumes other than the startup disk are located inside a directory called volumes at the root level of the hard disk. If the name of the disk were ".Macintosh HD", then the pathname to this disk would be:
/volumes/.Macintosh HD
Revealing the invisible folder in the Finder
You can reveal an invisible disk in the Finder by using the pathname along with the Go to Folder command.
1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
2. Choose Go > Go to Folder.
3. Type: /volumes
4. Click Go.
5. Choose View > As Columns. You should now see the formerly invisible folder in the Finder window.
6. Select the disk.
7. Choose File > Get Info (or Show Info).
8. Choose Names & Extension from the pop-up menu in the Info window.
9. In the "File system name" field, type a new name that does not begin with a period.
10. Press Return and close the Info window.
11. If the folder does not appear immediately, choose Apple menu > Log Out, and then log back in.