(If you don't want to take risk about registry then Back up Your Registry before editing it.)
If you want change the boring icon of your hard drive to some other icon of your own choice, then here are ways to do so.
☛ The First & Simple Option using the Registry. but Its more simple than below two options.
Click on the Start button and select Run. Type in 'regedit' and press OK. Look for the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
In the right pane right-click on an empty space and select 'New->Key'. Name the new key 'DriveIcons'. Now create another new key and name it 'C' or the letter of the drive you are changing. Now, create one last key and name it 'DefaultIcon'. And finally, right click on the 'Default' key in the right pane and select 'Modify'. Insert the full path with icon name (e.g. D:\Pictures\Icons\heart.ico ). Immediately icon will get change, if not Restart your computer and your hard drive icon should now be changed..
[ C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshearts.exe - path of Heart Icon (actually its .exe) already there in your system, i put this on ma friend's PC n it WORKS !! ]
☛ The Second Option is to create an .inf file, but its little-bit difficult.
First you must find the icon you want to use then the icon's index number. To find the index number, right-click on any shortcut on your Desktop (except for folders) and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'Change Icon' button then click on the 'Browse' button and look for the icon you want to use. Now count all of the icons with the first icon being number zero. Count each row from top to bottom then work your way to the right counting each row. The number you end at will be your index number. Now click on the 'Cancel' button twice to exit the windows so you actually change the icon for that shortcut. Now open Notepad and copy these lines into it:
[autorun]
ICON=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL,23
Change 'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL' to where your icon is located and change '23' to your icon's index number. Now save the file as 'autorun.inf' to the 'C:\' folder. Restart your computer and your hard drive icon should now be changed.
☛ The Third Option also requires using the Registry, but its little-bit difficult than first option.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
In the right pane right-click on an empty space and select 'New->Key'. Name the new key 'DriveIcons'. Now create another new key and name it 'C' or the letter of the drive you are changing. Now, create one last key and name it 'DefaultIcon'. And finally, right click on the 'Default' key in the right pane and select 'Modify'. Insert the full path and name where your icon is located followed by a comma then the icon's index number (no spaces). Restart your computer and your hard drive icon should now be changed.