Spotlight Problems

[russsion]

I've read extensively on several forums about Spotlight problems but there does not seem to be a definitive answer.

I am running 10.7.4 and after a reboot Spotlight works perfectly for between 5 mins and 3 weeks then simply will not find anything until I reboot. Today I have rebooted more than 5 times and it feels like I'm back with Windows! Any suggestions really welcome.

 

[GGJstudios]

I've read extensively on several forums about Spotlight problems but there does not seem to be a definitive answer.

I am running 10.7.4 and after a reboot Spotlight works perfectly for between 5 mins and 3 weeks then simply will not find anything until I reboot. Today I have rebooted more than 5 times and it feels like I'm back with Windows! Any suggestions really welcome.

Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

If that fails to index, enter the following command in Terminal:

sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/your drive name"​

 

[russsion]

Spotlight Issues

Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

If that fails to index, enter the following command in Terminal:

sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/your drive name"​

I'm trying the re-index now.

If it sheds any light on the problem when I went to add my drive to the privacy list I couldn't as I got a Privacy List Error, so I rebooted then added it. Then when trying to remove it I got the same error and had to reboot before being able to do so.


Also, how can I find the % index status?

 

[GGJstudios]

If it sheds any light on the problem when I went to add my drive to the privacy list I couldn't as I got a Privacy List Error, so I rebooted then added it. Then when trying to remove it I got the same error and had to reboot before being able to do so.

That's certainly not normal. It may be possible you have some drive problems. After the re-index finishes, you may want to launch Disk Utility and repair the disk (not the permissions, but the disk).

Also, you should have a current backup, in case your drive is failing.

Also, how can I find the % index status?

It doesn't show an indexing status percentage. If a drive is constantly active or your CPU utilization is high (possibly with increased temps and fan speed) when you're not running any major apps, you can check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon:

(not indexing)

(indexing) (pulsing dot)​

When it's indexing, you may also see increased CPU and RAM usage by the mds and mdworker processes in Activity Monitor.