they stay, put them on right side of dock. left for app, right for hard drives and folders.
Tried that and they do stay...as folder icons. The visual difference is that the 'piece of paper?' sticking out the top is a different colour than the piece of paper sticking out of the icons for folders placed there.
A folder placed in the dock has a brown 'piece of paper' sticking out the top. For a drive, it is white .
ryck