Farewell to the Macintosh HD Icon: 2000–2025

Apple has introduced a significant visual change in its latest developer beta build of macOS 26 Tahoe. The iconic Macintosh HD hard drive icon, long portrayed as a classic spinning hard drive, has been retired in favor of a design that mimics a solid-state drive (SSD). While the actual SSDs in today's Macs don't resemble the icon, this update underscores Apple's transition from traditional hard drives to SSDs over the years.

For many years, the Macintosh HD icon was a fixture on macOS desktops. However, in more recent installations, it became less visible as internal disks were no longer displayed by default. Apple's transition to SSDs as the main boot media in new Macs began long ago, making the update to the icon a logical step forward, even if it comes many years after Apple's hardware adoption of SSDs.

The original hard drive icon made its debut in 2000 with Mac OS X, receiving few changes over the years, except for a Retina upgrade in 2012 and a slight redesign in 2014 with Mac OS X Yosemite, which softened its metallic look. Despite these updates, the icon remained a nostalgic piece for many users through several macOS versions, including the Apple Silicon-era Big Sur redesign and the initial versions of macOS 26 Tahoe.

Alongside the Macintosh HD icon, Apple has overhauled other disk icons in macOS 26 Tahoe's latest beta, with changes to icons for external drives, network shares, and removable disk images. Disk Utility and Installer apps also exhibit the new SSD-inspired icon design, marking a comprehensive visual update across macOS's core elements.

It's worth noting that Apple's embrace of SSDs began in 2008 with the first MacBook Air. Over the next decade, SSDs became typical in Retina Macs, with options for desktops to include a hybrid Fusion Drive. With the end of Intel iMacs, Apple ceased shipping computers with traditional spinning hard drives altogether.

Though the latest design change may seem trivial—since neither the old nor the new icon resemble modern SSDs—it represents a significant shift in the era of Apple computing. So, here's to the Macintosh HD hard drive icon: a piece of Mac's digital history that continues to spin in our memories.