Indexing Hard Drive

[0388279]

Hello All,

I would like to re-index my the drive on my late 2013 rMBP. I am operating under OS X 10.11.1.

The procedure that I have seen to do this is Select Spotlight, Privacy. Then with the "plus" button add the Macintosh Hard Drive. After adding, the hard drive, select, then immediately select delete.

I do this and nothing happens. What is the correct procedure for re-indexing the hard drive?

Cheers,

Donald Barar

 

[CoastalOR]

The way I would do it is to initiate the index using the Terminal app by entering:

sudo mdutil -E /

Then, if desired, monitor the process by checking for processes with MDS in the name with the Activity Monitor app.

 

[Sun Baked]

Hello All,

I would like to re-index my the drive on my late 2013 rMBP. I am operating under OS X 10.11.1.

The procedure that I have seen to do this is Select Spotlight, Privacy. Then with the "plus" button add the Macintosh Hard Drive. After adding, the hard drive, select, then immediately select delete.

I do this and nothing happens. What is the correct procedure for re-indexing the hard drive?

Cheers,

Donald Barar

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/os-x-e...luetooth-connectivity-spotlight-issues-482463

If none of the above is working out, the database may have been corrupted and it will need a re-indexing. If you open up the Terminal app, the mdutil -Ea command will delete the current index. The mdutil -ai off command will turn Spotlight off. To turn Spotlight back on and have it create a new index automatically, input mdutil -ai on.

 

[0388279]

Thank you Costal OR and Sun Baked. I will give these suggestions a try.

Cheers,

Donald Barar

 

[0388279]

Gentlemen:

I followed Sun Baked suggestions and deleted the current index, turn-off Spotlight and then turn Spotlight on again. Again, not sure if I re-indexed the drive. Did I accomplish anything? The following information came back in terminal:


MacBook-Pro:~ Don$ mdutil -ai on

/:

Error: unable to perform operation. Try as root. (-1)

Indexing enabled.

/.MobileBackups:

2015-11-26 18:14:53.490 mdutil[769:34347] Metadata.framework [Error]: mdsCopyStoreAttributes failed: (8) (os/kern) no access

Error: invalid operation.

2015-11-26 18:14:53.490 mdutil[769:34347] Metadata.framework [Error]: mdsCopyStoreAttributes failed: (8) (os/kern) no access

No index.

/Volumes/AdobeCameraRaw-9.3-CC-mul-AdobeUpdate:

Indexing enabled.

/Volumes/AdobeCameraRaw-9.3-CC-mul-AdobeUpdate 1:

Indexing enabled.

/Volumes/Installer:

Indexing enabled.

/Volumes/Lightroom-6.3.0-Update:

Indexing enabled.

 

[0388279]

Duplicate

 

[Weaselboy]

Did I accomplish anything?

It probably reindexed the first time when you dragged the volume in that Privacy pane and you just did not realize it. If you open Spotlight while it is in the middle of reindexing then start to type something you will see a thin, blue progress bar just under where you typed.

 

[0388279]

Hi Weaselboy,

I do not get that at all. I am never able to pick up any thin blue line or any other indication that the drive is re-indexing.

Also, when I look at information on the Hard Drive it reports 200 GB available and but About This Mac, Storage reports 109 GB available.

My impression is that the drive has not been indexed.

Donald Barar

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi Weaselboy,

I do not get that at all. I am never able to pick up any thin blue line or any other indication that the drive is re-indexing.

Also, when I look at information on the Hard Drive it reports 200 GB available and but About This Mac, Storage reports 109 GB available.

My impression is that the drive has not been indexed.

Donald Barar

You need to look right after your tell it to reindex, either by dragging in and out of the privacy pane or the "sudo mdutil -E /" Terminal command. If you enter the Terminal command you should be asked for your password then after entering it it will say "Indexing enabled", then the reindex starts. At that time if you start typing something in the Spotlight window you should see that blue indexing line I posted in the screenshot.

Also, while the reindex is occurring if you open Activity Monitor and look in the CPU tab, you should see mdsstores chewing up a bunch of CPU cycles doing the reindex and this is also normal.

The size mismatch is normal and not because of any Spotlight index issue. That size mismatch is because you have Time Machine turned on and the hidden files is uses for local snapshots is included in that graphic but not shown in Finder.

If you run this Terminal command it will show how much space is being used by those local snapshots. If you want you can briefly turn Time Machine off then back on and that hidden local snapshots space will be zeroed out.

sudo du -hs /.MobileBackups

Why do you think the drive has not been indexed? Is it just this space issue? If you open Spotlight and type in something to search, does it work?

As an aside, it looks like you have a bunch of DMG files mounted there from app updates? Just might click each of those and eject.