best way to stop indexing external drive?

[ObsidianIce]

I just added a 1 Terabyte drive for both backup and regular file storage. I partioned the drive so I would have a volume purely for backup. Backing up to the drive was taking forever, i searched and found index is the problem. I also found a couple ways to stop indexing. I utilized the touch function, but the .metadata_never_index doesn't seem to take at all. I have since utilized the sudo mdutil function for just the backup volume and this works. However..... Will this permanently leave indexing off on this volume? The drive backs up my laptop so it's disconnected frequently. Also does anyone have a guess to why the never index function didn't work? The syntax looked to be perfect.

touch /Volumes/Obsidianice Backup/.metadata_never_index

Whenever i ran the ls function

ls -a /Volumes/Obsidianice Backup

to check it it returned

No such file or directory

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[miles01110]

Also does anyone have a guess to why the never index function didn't work? The syntax looked to be perfect.

touch /Volumes/Obsidianice Backup/.metadata_never_index

Whenever i ran the ls function

ls -a /Volumes/Obsidianice Backup

to check it it returned

No such file or directory

For names of drives with spaces, this won't work. It should be

ls -a /Volumes/Obsidianice\ Backup

 

[JediMeister]

Why don't you just go into Spotlight preferences and add the drive to the privacy tab? GUI > Terminal for some things.

 

[ObsidianIce]

For names of drives with spaces, this won't work. It should be

ls -a /Volumes/Obsidianice\ Backup

Ahhh ok, i will try that then. Thanks,



JediMeister....The privacy function doesn't work permanently. That's what I tried first. I really wanted to avoid terminal, but not as badly as I needed the drive to stop indexing.

 

[Fishrrman]

"JediMeister....The privacy function doesn't work permanently. That's what I tried first. I really wanted to avoid terminal, but not as badly as I needed the drive to stop indexing."

Just a comment here, but why doesn't Apple realize that indexing via Spotlight isn't for everybody, and that there are instances where it should be possible to disable it completely?

I would prefer a simple indexing "on/off" switch in Spotlight, similar to that in Time Machine (which I have NEVER used and NEVER will use).

Turn the entire damned process OFF.

There is also the "Spotless" application which can do this.

But I thought the concept behind Macintosh was a personal computer that gave YOU, the user, the "power to be your best"?

Give US the choice whether to use Spotlight or not.
Apple, let THE USER make that decision....

 

[miles01110]

But I thought the concept behind Macintosh was a personal computer that gave YOU, the user, the "power to be your best"?

Give US the choice whether to use Spotlight or not.
Apple, let THE USER make that decision....

Haha. Maybe in the good old days, but in recent years suggesting that Apple is about "choice" is like saying China is about democracy.