Using FSTAB to Hide Volumes from OS X Finder

[FormerUser-400995]

Cosmetic tweaks are something I rarely revisit, however, from time to time I see people struggling with the question of hiding specific Volumes from their desktop, and Finder windows. Finder preferences don't allow hiding of a specific Volume, instead, they provide an "all-or-nothing" approach which doesn't satisfy the need.

Using the /etc/fstab file to prevent a Volume from automatically mounting at boot effectively "hides" any partition/volume. You can still mount the Volume manually.


How do I find the UUID?

The most reliable way to uniquely identify a particular Volume is by having /etc/fstab reference its UUID. To find the UUID of a Volume, start by using DISKUTIL to find its identifier (eg: disk0s3):

1. In Terminal, type: diskutil list to list all mounted Volumes.
   
2. Once you have the disk identifier (eg: disk0s3), type: diskutil info disk0s3 to display more detailed information including the UUID (if available). Substitute this example for your own disk identifier.

How do I hide a Mac or Windows Volume?

Note that (as from OS X Lion) the /etc/fstab file does not exist by default. There is a placeholder file - /etc/fstab.hd - do NOT attempt to use that file as it will be completely ignored. You will need to create /etc/fstab manually. Tou can use TextWrangler or TextEdit, but for the purposes of this example I will use Nano/Pico:

1. In Terminal, type the following to open Nano/Pico and create the new fstab file:
   

   sudo nano /etc/fstab

2. In Nano/Pico, enter one of the following (Substitute XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX for your own UUID):
   
   • For a Mac HFS+ Volume
     

     UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX none hfs rw,noauto

   • For a Windows NTFS Volume:
     

     UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX none ntfs ro,noauto

   • For a Windows FAT32 (or FAT16) Volume:
     

     UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX none msdos rw,noauto

3. Press ^X (CTRL+X) to exit Nano/Pico.
4. Press Y and ENTER when prompted to save the /etc/fstab file.
5. Reboot.

What about Windows "System Reserved"?

Note: Because DISKUTIL does not show a UUID for the Windows "System Reserved" boot volume, /etc/fstab will need to reference the Volume label instead. However, it first needs to be 'Unicode Escaped' as follows:

LABEL=System\040Reserved	none	ntfs	ro,noauto

After a reboot (if all goes well) the Volumes will now be effectively hidden from Finder, and your desktop.

Hope this helps.

 

[EkoJukeBoX]

Hi macntosh,

Thanks for this guide. Sorry to resurrect this post but I tried this on my 10.10 yosemite build in which I am running OS X from an SSD and have a seaport HDD which is partitioned with a Windows install and a few other partitions for media. Since the change I am only able to boot into Yosemite in safe mode (-x). You mentioned that since Lion, this /etc/fstab file does not exist in OS X by default; could removing the file via terminal potentially solve my kernel panic problem when booting without -x?

I would rather have a functioning build than one which ignores my Windows partition. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.Thanks.