Finder started indexing my hard drive again

Today I booted up my mac pro and heard my hd was busy when idle, turns out finder is indexing the hd again, which has been in there for over a year. Why is it doing that? It takes 2 hours and slows up my computer.

Maybe the index or database is corrupt and you should just delete those mds files.

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Spotlight on my iMac running snow leopard will not stop indexing the hard drive. How can I stop this?

Spotlight on my iMac (OSX 10.6.8) has suddenly begun indexing the hard drive non-stop, causing very sluggish operation and spinning beach balls. Reinstalling the operating system has not helped, nor has repairing permissions or the disk.

One of the first things that happens when installing a new version of OS X is that the Spotlight search app is setup to index all available hard drives.
The indexing makes it faster and easier for the Spotlight Search app to find things on and off your Mac.
You can either let it take the time it needs to do this (Spotlight will only do this one time, initially) OR if you just can't or want to wait for this to complete, you need to go into OS X System Prefences panel in the OS X Dock, locate the Spotlight icon.
Click the Spitlight icon and another set of menus appear.
Find the menu item dealing the Spotlight indexing and uncheck its checkbox to disable Spotlight indexing.

Why can't spotlight index my hard drive?

Since Spotlight can't index my hard drive, time machine won't make any backups. The old time machine backups still work and I can see and restore old files, but I cannot create any new backups.
The problems seem to have started when I upgraded to iPhoto 11 (which would not load until the latest iPhoto update).
The drive is attempting to index for literally weeks at a time and the system becomes unresponsive.
How do I fix this? I have already brought it into the store where they fromated the drive but the problem came back.

Since Spotlight can't index my hard drive, time machine won't make any backups. The old time machine backups still work and I can see and restore old files, but I cannot create any new backups.
The problems seem to have started when I upgraded to iPhoto 11 (which would not load until the latest iPhoto update).
The drive is attempting to index for literally weeks at a time and the system becomes unresponsive.
How do I fix this? I have already brought it into the store where they fromated the drive but the problem came back.

I can not get the new updates because my start disc and hard drive are full, I need 1.98 GB.

I can not get the new updates because my start disc and hard drive are full, I need 1.98 GB.

Some folks recommend OmniDiskSweaper to allow you to review your stuff to find possible candidates to throw away.
Even if you throw away some stuff and your desired "1.98GB", then what? If that's the number you need for the update, you'll just use most or all of the reclaimed space with the update and you are right back to where you started.
You don't specify what kind of machine you got but presumably it's a mac pro since you posted in the Mac Pro community. In which case just get yourself another drive or two and move stuff around to free up your boot drive.
[Perhaps you should hurry too since I expect hdd prices might be going up due to possible impending hdd shortages.]
Finally, if some of those updates are major system updates you want extra drives for backups because I always recommend you never do major updates to your system without backups to that system.

Spotlight is not indexing my hard drive? Mail won't search for anything.

Ok, So I tried the command prompt: "sudo mdutil -E /" and it just tells me that indexing is disabled. I've tried everything I can think of. Any ideas? I can't find a way for spotlight to re-index my hard drive. Also, when I search for anything in mail, nothing will come up. And I have it set to search for everything. Any ideas with that? Help with either problem would be appreciated! thanks.

Might give a try with Spotless...
http://www.fixamac.net/software/spot/

I downloaded an Adobe file from my email but cannot find it on my hard drive or in recycle bin - it's in downloads but am unable to open from downloads - how can I recover the file?

I downloaded an Adobe file from my email (service provider is MWeb) but now cannot find it on my hard drive and it's not in the recycle bin. It does, however, appear in Firefox downloads but I'm unable to open it from there. How can I recover the file?

Thanks Rob.
I actually had no clue what the core problem was caused by. So it's Windows itself...that helps some.
I'll resubmit there. It might actually have saved time for it to simply have been moved to there instead of off-topic, though I suppose you have to follow protocol.

How do I get finder to recognize my hard drive after pulling my hard drive out without eject...? Is my hard drive dead? I see it in disk utility... Can I get my info back?

I have a seagte back up plus. I pulled my hard drive out without ejecting it and now finder dosn't find it but I see it in disk utility (although I cant repair permissions) How do I get finder to recognize my hard drive after pulling my hard drive out without eject...? Is my hard drive dead? I see it in disk utility... Can I get my info back?
Thank you so much for any help

In Disk Utility you need to see a volume or partition in addition to the drive.
If all you see is the drive, then when you ejected it you proably corrupted the volume or partition on the drive.
If that is true then your chances of getting anything back are slim at best.
About the only thing I know that might work not is to send the disk out to a service for recovery. This is going to cost like $$$$.
Is the data worth that much?
Allan

Hi, I used an external hard drive as a time machine,now I want to use it on a windows PC as a normal hard drive again. How do I "reformat" the time machine to an normal usb-device?

Hi, I used an external hard drive as a time machine,now I want to use it on a windows PC as a normal hard drive again. How do I "reformat" the time machine to an normal usb-device?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+format+hard+drive

I am getting the PowerPC applications are no longer supported error, so I downloaded Libreoffice and can not find it on my hard drive anywhere. It did say install to Applications but it's not there. How do I find it and can I put it in my dock?

I am getting the PowerPC applications are no longer supported error, so I downloaded Libreoffice and can not find it on my hard drive anywhere. It did say it would install to Applications, but it's not there. How do I find it and can I put it in my dock?

In Safari's preferences:
Look in the folder displayed where you see the arrow. The actual Downloads folder is found in your Home (user) folder.

How can one find out how much hard drive space the apps and media are using?

how can one find out how much hard drive space the apps and media are using?

See Here > Where did my Disk Space go?
And Here > The Storage Display

Why can't I drag my files in finder to an external hard drive?

I'm trying to drag my files from finder to an external hard drive--I just get the universal "do not" symbol. How do I do this?

1.youd need a program like PARAGON to write to a NTFS drive from your Mac.
2. IF you can offload that data onto your PC or other computer, THEN format same in Mac OSX extended journaled, you can just drag and drop files to it.
3. To show the HD on desktop go to Finder > preferences > General > check on "external disks" and "hard disks"
4. The "EASY" option really is to get another HD for use with your Mac, unless of course you need specific files off that drive ON your Mac.
$70 for a good cheap quality 1TB external USB HD.
5. FAT32 and (better option>) EXFAT can read/write to BOTH Mac and PC (however time machine will not use either)
6. See mac format below, HFS+ i.e. "mac osx extended journaled"
FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

Spotlight is CONSTANTLY indexing my hard drive

Mavericks Server 10.9.5.
Whenever I use Spotlight, I virtually always get "Indexing <my hard drive name>", and "Estimating indexing time".
If I put in a search term, it often works, but still with the "Estimating indexing time" barber pole at the bottom of the results window.
I have tried all the known solutions with no effect. The problem has persisted through multiple OS updates.
Possible clue: I notice a LOT (like about 5 every second) of lines like this in the System Log:
7:49:533 AM mdworker: (Warning) Import: Bad path:
(other than the timestamp, they are all exactly like this).

Safari Web Content can build up over time. You could try doing Safari>Reset Safari. I check every item in the list except "Saved names and Passwords" which would otherwise be a pain to re-enter for everything.
Note also that unlike SL, Lion does not quit the app when you click on the x, so maybe you have very many lingering in memory. This should not make a difference as normally the memory manager copes with it, but just maybe a third party app is not letting go as it should.

Time Machine does not start after external hard drive is connected

Time Machine does not start after external hard drive is connected

These are the iCloud storage options: http://www.apple.com/icloud/includes/lightbox-storage.html
Also bear in mind that:
1. restoring data over icloud takes time
2. iCloud is not designed as a replacement to Time Machine.

Starting on external hard drive with OSX.6.8 don't works

starting on external hard drive with OSX.6.8 don't works
On mac book with OSX.7.5 it start with my external hard drive with OSX6.8

10.6 does not support an iMac that came with a later OS X version.
see > Don't install a version of Mac OS X earlier than what came with your Mac

Wow. How do I find out why my hard drive is suddenly full?

I'm a bit nervous. I have a 60GB hard drive on my Powerbook. I had about 33GB left consistently for probably over a year. I maintain, watch and use it REALLY carefully. I came home from work today, woke my computer from sleep, and an warning was on the screen saying Your Start Up Disk Is Full ... I'm thinking how is that even possible.
I doubled clicked my Hard Drive, and sure enough, everything is saying I have only about 490mb left!!! I have not installed any new programs, have not put a bunch of music, video, games anything on since it was at its normal 33GB.
Please, from any experienced users, any ideas what may have happened? How to find out what is suddenly (and through no intentional doing of my own) on there taking up the sudden quantity of hard drive space? How to possibly isolate what caused it? I'm a bit worried about what's going on. Thank you for any help or direction. Mark
I already restarted, repaired permissions, restarted, etc ...

You're Welcome melange!
I posted that article, as it addresses the insufficient hard disk space, not for the RAM info.
768MB is sufficient.
When you ran Repair Disk, were there any repairs done?
Here are this instructions for running the Cron Scripts in Terminal.
Quit all applications/programs.
Navigate to HD > Applications > Utilities.
Double click on Terminal, to open.
At the prompt, type:
sudo periodic daily
Press Return.
Enter your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.
This will execute the daily script that is sheduled to run every night.
When completed, repeat this procedure, but change the command to:
sudo periodic weekly
This one rebuilds a database or two, and usually takes somewhat longer to complete. It is scheduled to run once a week.
Repeat again, with command:
sudo periodic monthly
Or they can all be run in one pass, with this command:
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
When the tasks complete, and return to the prompt, you may quit Terminal.
Also review this article Freeing space on your Mac OSX startup disk, authored by Dr Smoke.
ali b
Message was edited by: ali brown

Finder started indexing my hard drive again

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