I believe there is a way to safely shut off all desktop items, as opposed to just specific icons. I don't remember how to do that, but I believe it is their.
The helpful part: If you get all of the icons shut off, you can go to the toolbar, right click, select "Toolbars". You can then select Other for the toolbar. This will give you the ability to add "My Computer" as a toolbar item.
Its not exactly putting the drives on the desktop, but it will give you quick easy access to all of your drives without having to open a window to get to them.
