Spotlight search doesn't work on Time Machine after Lion

I've got a new (couple of months old) iMac that came with Snow Leopard.  Since updating to Lion however, I've been unable to search for any files on my Time Machine drive (external USB connected HDD).
I've tried forcing Spotlight to re-index my external drive by adding the external drive to the Spotlight Privacy and then removing again but I'm not convinced It's doing anything.  I've also tried repairing the time machine disk in Disk Utility (which completed with no problems)
The strange thing about this problem is that if I set Finder to show all hidden files (via the "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE" command), after I reboot and go into Time Machine, it starts picking up files that I'm searching for.  But when I disable the hidden files again, Spotlight goes back to returning 0 results.
This is really frustrating as everything was working before I updated to Lion.  I've tried searching for other clues to clearing my Spotlight cache on the external drive but nothing has worked.  Some methods (such as this:- http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/A5.html) refer to repairing a sparse bundle on my external drive but I can't find the file it's talking about.  Am I missing something obvious here?
Any help would be most appreciated.

Anyone can help on that topic ?
I'm looking for a solution for that too ...

Similar Messages

  • Mybook World doesn't work with time machine  What do it do?

    I have just installed Lion and now Time Macine cannot access my MyBook World Edition network drive.  Any ideas?

    Had the same problem and found out that there is an issue with these on Time Machine in Lion.
    The WD Support Notice
    Cause:
    Apple has changed the requirements of OSX's internal file protocol (AFP) to version 3.3. Any external drive that wishes to take advantage of the Time Machine software must comply with this new requirement. WD's internal software does not yet meet this requirement, and as such, Time Machine on OSX 10.7.x (Lion) will not be able to establish a connection.
    Solution:
    A firmware update for the My Book Live, The My Book World (White Light), and WD ShareSpace is in development to update the version of Netatalk (to 2.2). At the current time, there is no work around available.

  • Help with iTunes database and Time Machine after Lion clean install

    I did a clean install of OS X Lion and think I've given myself problems with my Snow Leopard Time Machine backup and with my iTunes Library database files.
    My iMac (2007) had become very sluggish so I opted for a clean install.  Before the install of Lion my Snow Leopard 10.6.8 internal 1TB HD was at about  600GBs.  I was using Time Machine to backup to an external 1TB drive.  I had my iTunes 10.?  library on the same drive.
    For the Lion install I partitioned my internal 1TB HD into two partitions - a 250GB Lion boot partition and the rest for Lion data files.
    Now I  have two problems - 1.  I can't  work out how to re-connect my Time Machine backups, since they were related to a much bigger original drive, and 2.  I can't seem to find my iTunes database files.
    I also don't want to restore any application files at this stage, as I'm determined to do a fresh install of only the applications I need as I go along, and hopefully  avoid the issues of sluggishness I had with Snow Leopard.
    I have all my iTunes files in their pre-Lion external HD folder, but that folder does not seem to  have the iTunes Library.XML or iTunes Library files.  I didn't delete them so I'm hoping they were in my iTunes folder on my SL boot drive.  But that drive was deleted during the install, so I'll be depending on Time Machine to restore the database.
    Can anyone suggest a way to deal with Time Machine for my Lion install, and a way to restore my iTunes database?  I'd like to keep as much of the Snow Leopard Time Machine data as I can, while continuing to do Time Machine backups from my Lion installation.
    Anyone know where iTunes stores those database files, if not in the external drive iTunes folder? Spotlight search doesn't find the files, but is there a way to search my old Time Machine backups without having the Time Machine backups folder re-connected in Lion?
    Thanks.

    My iTunes folder is organised like this if it helps:
    And iTunes uses them from the Prefrences like this:
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • Spotlight doesn't work with Time Machine?

    I'm trying to use Spotlight to find specific files in my Time Machine back-up but it doesn't work. Is this right?

    The Time Machine Tutorial shows how to find things in Time Machine (about halfway through).

  • AirPort Time Capsule doesn't work as Time Machine

    When I try to connect AirPort Time Capsule as Time Machine the following message is displayed: The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Constantin’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1).
    How can I resolve this issue?
    Thanks,
    Constantin

    Often just a reboot of the TC is enough to get things going.
    Or a whole network restart in correct order.. ie modem.. wait 2min.. TC wait 2min.. computers.
    It is a standard issue.. see C17 here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • Internet not working with Time Machine after power outage... but works when

    My power went out and now the internet will not connect with the Time Machine. If I plug it directly into my mac book it works. Sometimes it takes a little bit to work when plugged straight in, but I can get it to work. However, when using the Time Machine, I can't get on at all.
    I tried using the Airport Utility Set up and nothing worked -- and now it won't even recognize the time machine at all!
    Any suggestions of what to do? All of my work is on the internet. I had no issues before the power went out.
    Thanks!!

    Hello,
    Yes, I mean Time Capsule. I tried unplugging and plugging in several times. Nothing is working. Somehow I cannot even see the Time Capsule network as being there at all.
    I've had the cable company come replace the cable modem, but the guy didn't really know anything beyond that. So I have a new modem that can work when the cable is plugged directly into my laptop but the whole functionality of the Time Capsule is down.
    Please help! I need internet this fixed by tomorrow morning if possible.
    Greatly appreciate the help! Thanks!!!
    Danielle Marie Crume
    http://youknowitbyheart.com
    http://www.twitter.com/sumsette
    "We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." ~John W. Gardner

  • What 3rd part NAS drives work with Time Machine on lion?

    I've been waiting for 3rd party solutions to surface but keep seeing bad reviews and horror stories. Anyone have success getting time machine to work on lion using a network storage drive OTHER than time capsule?

    Visit their websites. Look at what's available. If you have questions as their respective tech support.
    No backup device is ever trouble-free. Nor do they all have exactly the same features or capabilities. Personally, I don't use NAS. Far too slow. I much prefer using directly connected drives or internal drives, if possible, because they are faster. Additionally, eliminating a network in the backup chain is eliminating just one more thing that can go wrong.
    But I have no idea what your backup needs are nor why you need network storage, so my remarks may not be entirely germane.

  • IMac doesn't find my time machine after replacing hard drive

    The Apple Store replaced my hard drive today, after determining it was shot.  We then had trouble getting my time machine to connect to my machine, but finally got it connected after changing the password, and FIVE hours later I left the Apple store.  My challenge is when I plugged in the Time Machine when I got home, my computer is not showing it in the Airport Utility.  I am less than fluent in this stuff, can anyone walk me through how to get connected again?
    Stephani

    500 GB,  $219.68 installed.  So imagine how annoyed I was when I called Apple Care and they wouldn't help me on the phone unless I paid for support tonight. 
    Light is blinking amber on the TM.

  • What are the applications that work with time machine on lion?

    I cannot use time machine on:
    iCal
    iPhoto
    I am at a loss here. pretty sure before i could go into iphoto in the "past" and look at a picture i might have erase from before. not anymore, same with ical.

    If it's iPhoto 9.1.5 it changed with Lion:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4754
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • Can't restore folders from Time Machine after Lion

    Hello guys,
    after upgrading to Lion 10.7.1 I can't seem able to restore some old folders from Time Machine
    Here's what happens: I log in TM, I can scroll through my old backups, I can choose the folders I want to restore, I can click on the folder, but when the systems tries to restore it, it stops saying that I don't have the privileges to access file A in the folder (and then all the procedure is stopped).
    Oddly (at least for me) if I try to restore just that same file A (and not the whole folder) that I should have no privileges for, from the same old backup, I can do it, but I have to give the system my password: It pops up a window saying something "Finder is willing to make some modification, can you authorize?"  (forgive i'm translating the alert from another language) and then I can restore it.
    Has anybody else this problem and how can be solved?
    Many thanks
    Ps: I did a simple upgrade on Lion, no partition, no blank disk, and never changed anything in my user preferences, it's always the same, administrator
    Pps: Before Lion I could restore easily exactly the same folders and files I tried to restore with Lion

    wrongusername wrote:
    But if I transfer everything with the Setup Assistant, won't I once again be experiencing the problems I had?
    If the problems were caused by your data. But that's extremely unlikely. It may have been an app, or, much more likely from your description, something corrupted in the Leopard OS. That's one of the problems with upgrading a sick system without knowing what or where the causes are. It's a bit like a brain surgeon operating on himself: if he isn't in tip-top shape to start with, his condition is likely to change, and not for the better.
    Most of us would have recommended first simply doing a +*Repair Disk+* on your internal HD; if that didn't help, installing the "combo" Leopard update; if that didn't work, doing an +Archive and Install+ and re-installing the "combo."
    After a clean re-install of Snow Leopard, my Mac worked fine again (except for the TM trouble). So it probably had something to do with my old files.
    Probably not. Much more likely OSX was somehow damaged. And you got a whole new one.
    How come I could read the files on my external HD and yet not be able to copy the files?
    Time Machine uses special "deny everybody everything" permissions on it's backups, among other things, in an attempt to keep us mere mortals from moving, changing, or deleting things and corrupting them.

  • Spotlight search doesn't work--for first letters H and N only! (iOS 5.1)

    I have been reading a thread about spotlight not working until people updated to 5.1. Well, I have the reverse problem. I updated to 5.1 a few days ago, and now I can search for everything EXCEPT words that begin with H or N. When I try that, the enlarged letters on the keyboard freeze for 10 seconds, then disappear. Although the N or H appears in the search screen, no search results appear. I have tried shutting off various programs but that does not help. Anyone else see this problem?

    Thanks, but I have done that already several time. I also closed all open applications, and I also Reset All Settings. No improvement. BTW I am using an iPhone 4.

  • Spotlight/Searching does not work for afp shares in Lion

    Hi
    I cannot search for files in Finder on my afp shares. The server and client are both running Lion 10.7. Anything I am missing? Should this work or not? I'm so used to Spotlight I would really hate it if this isn't supported for afp shares.
    Thanks NEI

    Acrobat catalog, PDX, files only work from local or network drives.
    From Acrobat's Help;
    "Moving collections and their indexes"
    "You can develop and test an indexed document collection on a local hard drive and then move the finished document collection to a network server or disk."

  • Mac Mail Version 6.0 (1486) has stopped recieving mesages regularly and the search doesn't work

    Mac Mail Version 6.0 (1486) has stopped recieving mesages regularly and the search doesn't work.
    Since installing Mountain Lion, Mail seems to be very unresponsive. I have mac mail running on an iMac (which works fine) and a 2012 MacbookPro which is the one having the issues with the Mail app. Both computers are running on Mountian Lion.
    When I scroll up in Mail for instance, the frame rate drops to about 5 a second.
    When I click on a message it doesn't display it in the preview pane. Which is very annoying!
    But I can get around the issue by double clicking on a message and it opens up the message in a new window.
    When I search for a message, nothing appears in the results. Even if Im searching for something that is defiently there, eg if I type in my name, you'd think some results would come up. But when I click on something else, the results dispaly for about half a second. Bizarre. Is anyone else having this problem?

    what kind of error in browser you are seeing?
    is search service application never starterd or its started but cannot crawl?
    did you see the timer jobs related to search services and what's their status?
    so what about the search results from site collection?
    also make sure this service "SharePoint Search Host Controller Service" started on all servers in the farm.
    Please remember to mark your question as answered &Vote helpful,if this solves/helps your problem. ****************************************************************************************** Thanks -WS MCITP(SharePoint 2010, 2013) Blog: http://wscheema.com/blog
    In the browser I receive the following error:
    The search service app is running, doesn't crawl:
    Yes, I can see the timer jobs related to search services, some of them are Succeded, others are Scheduled.
    The service SharePoint Search Host Controller Service is started in the first server of the farm, but not in the second
    one. When I try to start it, I receive the following error:
    Windows could not start the Sharepoint Search Host Controller Service on Local Computer. Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly.
    Melvintt
    MCTS, Windows Server 2008 R2: Network Infrastructure
    MCTS, Windows Server 2008 R2: Active Directory, Configuring

  • I photo don't work with Time Machine

    I just have 2 weeks using this macbook, and i made a Time Machine just before sell my other macbook. Both have Lions because both are same 2.4 Ghz
    Intel core i5 (the only difference is HD Disk). So i made all the time Time Machine, so i bring on all my information from my Time Machine disk... and everithing works fine BUT not my pictures. 
    I lose all the pictures that i put in that Iphoto from day 1 that i use the other computer (6 months ago).
    Its like Iphoto doesn't work with Time Machine.
    To me is very important to someone from apple to explains me since, if that don't work as it suppose to be, then i have to look for a better bacjup program than this garbage.

    1 - TimeMachine does work with iPhoto - except if iPhoto is running then the iPhoto database is not backup up until a backup cycle runs while iPhoto is not running
    2 - Never "assume" that a backup is good - you must test it
    3 - teh simple solution is to Connect the two Macs together (network, firewire target mode, etc) and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity from the old Mac to the pictures folder of the new Mac - launch iPhoto on the new mac and it will open the library and convert it as needed and you will be ready move forward.
    4 - no one from Apple will explain anything to you here since this is strictlhy a user to user forum
    5 - as to which backup program you use - totally your choice - no one here cares at all - we are willing to help you with iPhoto issues but could care less about if you use Apple software or not - since you obvviously have not bothered to learn how to use Time Machine you will have the same or similer problems with any software that you use incorrectly
    LN

  • Spotlight Search is not working with Lion

    I was on 10.6.5 and installed Lion.
    Spotlight searching is not working at all now. I have tried everything in the Spotlight preferences Confidentiality, selecting my hard disk and exclusding it quitting putting it back.
    I waited 3 days to be sure it was not because indexing is not finished.
    I don't know what I can try now..
    I have Time Machine I tried Mac OSX Combo 10,7.3.

    Try this, lauch Terminal and at the prompt copy & paste
    sudo mdutil -i off /
    Press return.
    You'll be prompted for you password, it will be invisible
    Then copy & paste this command
    sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100
    Press return and finally
    sudo mdutil -i on /
    Press return

Maybe you are looking for