diff --git a/src/main/java/Controller.java b/src/main/java/Controller.java
index 28264de..f8b6505 100644
--- a/src/main/java/Controller.java
+++ b/src/main/java/Controller.java
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 import java.util.ResourceBundle;
 
 public class Controller{
-    private TreeItem<IronFile> root = new TreeItem<>();
-    private final Image hddIcon = new Image("/main/resources/icons/hdd.png");
     @FXML private MenuItem fileOpen;
     @FXML private MenuItem fileNew;
     @FXML private MenuItem fileTag;
@@ -31,9 +29,10 @@ public class Controller{
     @FXML private ResourceBundle resources;
 
     @FXML private void initialize() {
-        //createTree();
-        FolderViewManager manager = new FolderViewManager(root, dirTree);
-        IronFile homeDir = new IronFile(System.getProperty("user.home"));
+        FolderViewManager manager = new FolderViewManager(dirTree); // 2 statements in 1 line is best
+//        IronFile[] hardDrives = IronFile.listRoots(); // an array of hard drives
+//        manager.setRootDirectory(hardDrives);
+        IronFile homeDir = new IronFile(System.getProperty("user.home")); // use this for specific directory
         manager.setRootDirectory(homeDir);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/FolderViewManager.java b/src/main/java/FolderViewManager.java
index 885643c..a8c43c9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/FolderViewManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/FolderViewManager.java
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@
 import javafx.scene.Scene;
 import javafx.scene.control.TreeItem;
 import javafx.scene.control.TreeView;
+import javafx.scene.image.Image;
+import javafx.scene.image.ImageView;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes;
+import java.util.EnumSet;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 /**
@@ -21,37 +24,63 @@
     @author Brian Patino
  */
 public class FolderViewManager {
-    private TreeView<IronFile> view;
-    private TreeItem<IronFile> root;
+    private final Image hddIcon = new Image("/main/resources/icons/hdd.png");
     private int NEST_COUNT = 0; //tracks number of nested calls when searching through files, TEMPORARY
+    private IronFileVisitor ironVisitor;
+    private TreeView<IronFile> view;
 
-    public FolderViewManager(TreeItem<IronFile> root, TreeView<IronFile> dirTree) {
-        this.root = root;
-        this.view = dirTree;
+    public FolderViewManager(TreeView<IronFile> dirTree) {
+        ironVisitor = new IronFileVisitor();
+        ironVisitor.setRoot(new TreeItem<>());
+        view = dirTree;
     }
 
+    /**
+    * Original method to set a specified directory as root.
+    * */
     public void setRootDirectory(IronFile file) {
-        root = new TreeItem<>(file);
-        view.setRoot(root);
-        createCellsFromRoot(file, root);
+        ironVisitor.setRoot(new TreeItem<>(file));
+//        createCellsFromRoot(file, root);
+        createTree(new TreeItem<>(file));
+    }
+    /**
+     * Overloaded method to set multiple hard drives as root.
+     * */
+    public void setRootDirectory(IronFile[] hardDrives) {
+        for (IronFile hdd : hardDrives) { // loop through all hard drives
+            TreeItem<IronFile> hddTreeItem = new TreeItem<>(hdd);
+            hddTreeItem.setGraphic(new ImageView(hddIcon));
+            createTree(hddTreeItem);
+//            createCellsFromRoot(hdd, parentTreeItem);
+//            ironVisitor.getRoot().getChildren().add(parentTreeItem); // set hdd to root
+        }
     }
 
     private void createCellsFromRoot(File rootFile, TreeItem<IronFile> rootNode) {
         NEST_COUNT++;
-        if(NEST_COUNT > 1000) { //fixed value, TEMPORARY optimization
-            return;
-        }
-
-        for(IronFile file : IronFile.convertFiles(rootFile.listFiles())) {
-            if(!file.getName().startsWith(".")) { //don't show system files that start with dot (ex: .filename .pythonfile)
-                TreeItem<IronFile> fileNode = new TreeItem<>(file);
-                rootNode.getChildren().add(fileNode);
-                if (file.isDirectory()) {
-                    createCellsFromRoot(file, fileNode);
+        if(NEST_COUNT <= 6000) { //fixed value, TEMPORARY optimization
+            for(IronFile file : IronFile.convertFiles(rootFile.listFiles())) {
+                if(!file.getName().startsWith(".") && !file.getName().startsWith("$")) { //don't show system files that start with dot (ex: .filename .pythonfile)
+                    TreeItem<IronFile> fileNode = new TreeItem<>(file);
+                    rootNode.getChildren().add(fileNode);
+                    if (file.isDirectory()) {
+                        createCellsFromRoot(file, fileNode);
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
     }
+
+    private void createTree(TreeItem<IronFile> rootItem) {
+        Path pathDir = Paths.get(rootItem.getValue().getAbsolutePath()); // get the path of the TreeItem
+        try {
+            Files.walkFileTree(pathDir, EnumSet.of(FileVisitOption.FOLLOW_LINKS), 2, ironVisitor);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+        view.setRoot(ironVisitor.getRoot()); // set multiple hard drives as root
+        view.setShowRoot(false); // do not show blank
+    }
     /**
      * Set the child of a given parent TreeItem
      *
diff --git a/src/main/java/IronFileVisitor.java b/src/main/java/IronFileVisitor.java
index b8bbd0d..ddc9222 100644
--- a/src/main/java/IronFileVisitor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/IronFileVisitor.java
@@ -22,10 +22,13 @@
  @author Brian Patino
  */
 public class IronFileVisitor extends SimpleFileVisitor<Path>{
-
+    private TreeItem<IronFile> root;
     @Override
-    public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException {
-//        System.out.printf("Visiting file %s\n", file);
+    public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path pathFile, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException {
+        IronFile current = new IronFile(pathFile.toFile());
+//        System.out.println(current.getAbsolutePath());
+//        root.getChildren().add(new TreeItem<>(new IronFile(current.getAbsolutePath())));
+        System.out.printf("Visiting file %s\n", pathFile);
         return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
     }
     /**
@@ -39,7 +42,22 @@ public FileVisitResult visitFileFailed(Path file, IOException e) throws IOExcept
     }
     @Override
     public FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(Path dir, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException {
-//        System.out.printf("About to visit directory %s\n", dir);
-        return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
+        IronFile currentFile = new IronFile(dir.toAbsolutePath().toString());
+        if (currentFile.getName().startsWith(".")) {
+            System.out.printf("Skipped directory: %s\n", dir.getFileName());
+            return FileVisitResult.SKIP_SUBTREE;
+        } else {
+            System.out.printf("About to visit directory: %s\n", dir.getFileName());
+            root.getChildren().add(new TreeItem<>(currentFile));
+            return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public TreeItem<IronFile> getRoot() {
+        return root;
+    }
+
+    public void setRoot(TreeItem<IronFile> root) {
+        this.root = root;
     }
 }