external hard drive

I have not devoted extensive effort into determining the reason Macs will retain or forget the position of an external hard disk icon on the Desktop, but all I can tell you is that some of them stay put, and some of them don't.

If there is a way to get them to stay where you put them I don't know what it might be.

I and others had the same issue with Sonoma. No issues with prior OS. What I did was to move them where I want then right click on screen, sort by and pick snap to grid. Then they may move again. Turn off snap to grid, reposition and try the click to grid again. I did this several times now my drive icons stay put.

The grid is not visible, but it's there nonetheless.

Also, since you appear to use the external disk every day, why do you unplug it every day? It may be that if you leave it connected and it's 'on & available' at the time your Mac boots, your disk icon may remain in place.

That's what I do. I have 3 external disks attached to my Mac. They are connected all the time. Once I placed their icons in the upper right corner of the screen (my preferred location) they have never moved.

frank_the_snake_master_01 wrote:

Where? If I shut down at night does that mess up the load if my drive inside my iMac?

Please explain your question in more detail. I don't understand its relationship to my previous post.

Rt click on desktop, choose "sort by" then select "snap to grid"