Don't copy item, but do keep existing during SmartUpdate?

[dnanian]

At present, there's no way to do that. However, by using a little shell script, you can copy an appropriate icon to the drive.

The basic technique is to use the "Site Customization Script". Write a small shell script -- one of the parameters is the destination volume name. In a folder in your home directory, or somewhere fixed, place the icon you want with a name like "my-volume-name.VolumeIcon.icns".

Then, when the script runs, use the name of the volume to copy the appropriate .VolumeIcon.icns into place. This'll run after the Smart Update, and will "fix" the icon to the one you want.

(Site Customization Scripts are described, in some detail, in the User's Guide.)