Good application to index external drives

Does anyone have an application to recommend that will index external drives so that I can browse or search their contents when they are not mounted?

What you want is a disk cataloging utility. Look for them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.

Similar Messages

  • Spotlight Indexing External Drives

    I have been waiting about a week for Spotlight to Index my external drives, but the magnifying glass continually only shows "Estimating indexing time..." for each drive and never seems to go any further.
    Any clues?
    Thanks.
    -Aaron

    Aaron Welch wrote:
    I have been waiting about a week for Spotlight to Index my external drives, but the magnifying glass continually only shows "Estimating indexing time..." for each drive and never seems to go any further.
    It clearly doesn't like something on one of them. I'd start by excluding all of them from indexing, via System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy, then running +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on each one, via Disk Utility, in your Applications/Utilities folder.
    Then remove the exclusions, one at a time. If one hangs like that again, you'll at least know which one it is, and can try a process of elimination by excluding folders on that drive.

  • Moving my applications to an external drive.

    Hi everyone! I want to free up disk space for a film to edit. So I am planning to move all (well, most) of my applications to my external hard-drive. After the edit is done, I will move all the applications back into my notebook. I am confident that I will not run into any problems, but I wanted to know if anyone had experienced a particular problem before I commit the act, thank you very much.
    Twitter ---> @idunnocineology

    Don't do this, applicaitons depend upon stuff installed all over your boot drive, they don't take up much room anyway.
    If you have drive space download this free program to help visualize what is what
    http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/#download
    User movie files, itunes out of control, mail out of control.
    Storage drive here
     Most commonly used backup methods explained

  • MacBook Air Hard Drive too small - can I run applications from an external drive or is there a better solution?

    I just got a MacBook Air 11" 10.7.2 2GB/64GB.  I love it, but the internal drive is sooo small.  Occasionally I need to take projects home from work or travel with my computer.  Is there any way to run apps (Final Cut Studio, CS5, Office 10, etc) from an external drive?  I am trying to convert over from my Macbook Pro (running Snow Leopard) and I can't seem to find a solution.
    Thanks for your time!
    Samantha

    Samantha,
    It's best to keep your applications on the internal drive and consider external storeage for your data.
    Your choices are direct attached storeage to the USB port (external portable USB drives), storeage on your home or work network, or cloud-based storeage, like DropBox.
    You can also look at slimming down your OSX installation on your MBA by removing unwanted fonts and printer drivers.
    Btw, you will struggle to run CS5 and Final Cut Studio on a MBA with 2GB RAM. Only install the applications you really need on your MBA.
    Can I ask which model MacBook Pro you are migrating from?

  • Can I install Windows Applications on an External Drive?

    I would like to install Windows apps on an external drive. Is this possible?
    Windows Vista will of course reside on the internal drive. (on a 2009 Mac Mini)

    Is this possible?
    Only if the application is explicitly designated as being portable. It may work for other applications, but isn't guaranteed to succeed, as most Windows applications modify the registry when installed and/or use system components.
    (46573)

  • How can I stop Spotlight from indexing external drives?

    I work in an environment where we plugin several different costumer harddrives all day long as part of our working process. Often only to extract one file from a given drive. Therefore its annoying that Spotlight automatically starts indexing these drives, because it slows down everthing, but also because our windows costumers suddenly see these weird mac files on their drives, that are invisible to the macuser. The Privacy setting is not of much use, as its impossible to add oru costumers drives to the list - we simply don't know the drive until we see it.
    How can spotlight stop indexing?

    The Privacy option is okay for private users, but at work we receive alot of harddrives from costumers and we simply cannot spend the extra time waiting for a drive to be indexed every time it is connected. That drive may never be connected again as it belongs to a costumer, and it is impossible for us to add drives to the Privacy pane, because we do not know they exist before we see them infront of us. The ption to disable all external drives from being indexed would be great. Or that the indexing can be stopped in the spotlight menu, or that the indexing will not start until 10 minutes after the drive has been mounted - and only if the drive is inactive.

  • Prevent Spotlight From Indexing External Drive?

    Is there a way to prevent spotlight from commencing to index an external drive immediately upon connection?

    As Király says, once you have put the volume into System Preferences > Spotlight > 'Privacy' tab it will remain there - with one caveat, though...
    Bear in mind that if you ever erase that volume it will have gone from the 'Privacy' tab (because erasing gives the volume a new UUID) and will need to be replaced.
    NB:  It's not actually the drive that goes into the 'Privacy' tab - it's the volume(s) on the drive.

  • Need a good recommendation on an external drive

    Digitizing DVCProHD footage. Our internal 3TB Raid keeps getting filled up. Wanted to capture straight to an external Drive. Was going to use LaCie bigdisk quadra via FW800 but FCP kept dropping frames during capture and would bust the capture. Currently capturing to Internal Raid (using Apple Pro Rez(HQ)) Then transferring files to external drives. Would like to skip this step.
    If I use the eSATA connection with this drive can I capture straight to it or is there another external drive that would be fast enough to capture directly?

    Why are you capturing DVCPRO HD as ProRes HQ? That is a HUGE waste of space. Capture DVCPRO HD as DVCPRO HD...zero quality loss. You gain nothing by going to ProRes from DVCPRO HD.
    And ProRes HQ is for 2K workflows...all you are gaining over regular ProRes are files twice the size.
    http://forums.creativecow.net/faq/applefinalcutpro#75
    You are wasting a lot of space needlessly. And the ONLY external drives that can play back HQ are eSATA, Fibre and miniSAS. Firewire won't cut it.
    Shane

  • Indexing External Hard Drives Help

    Hello,
    I’m sure this question has been asked in some for or another previously, however, a quick search didn’t turn up the results I was looking for.
    Here’s my question. In previous versions of OSX I could index certain drives, folders, etc. So how do I index external drives now? I have to search thousands of files on external drives that I need to search by file content or code strings contained within the files.
    I have tried to add the search filter of “Contents”, but that really does nothing. (at least on my machine – no results) I seems as though this is because the drives are not indexed.
    So, can Spotlight index external drives, or am I stuck with something like Google Desktop? If it can’t be done, I can’t imagine why Apple would have gotten rid of a seemingly common function like searching document contents on other than root hard drives.
    Thanks.

    Might give a try with Spotless...
    http://www.fixamac.net/software/spot/
    To see if it can fix it.
    But, I use EasyFind...
    http://www.devon-technologies.com/download/
    Near the bottom of the page.

  • Installing ILIFE 08 when iphoto is on an external drive

    Should I go ahead and install? Will it recognize the iphoto on the external drive?
    Thanks

    Julie:
    Is the application on the external drive or just the library? If you're referring to the library then it won't make any difference. The iLife 08 upgrade will change the application but it will still be pointed to the library on the external HD. When you first launch iPhoto 7 (you should install the iPhoto 7.1.3 and the iLife Support 8.2 updaters before launching iPhoto 7 for the first time) it will tell you that your library will need to be upgraded to the new version. Give it the OK to do so and you should be on your way.
    You do have backups of your iPhoto Library, right? If not make a temporary backup copy of your current V6 library before upgrading to V7. Just as a precaution.
    TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
    I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.≤br>
    Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

  • Backup to external drive question

    Alright, so I have been trying to partition my Macbook HD for a little while now (to install Bootcamp), but it is now telling me to backup all data and format my HD.
    So, after looking around for a little while, I found a backup program on the Apple download site called "SmartBackup". It says that I should be able to backup my information to any external HD. I have a 250GB external HD that is in NTFS format (so I can use it on my Windows Desktop, too).
    My question is, will I have to partition the external drive to be in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format to do a proper backup? I've been a Mac user for a while, and this is my first time doing a full backup to an external HD. Also, if I partition my external drive, do you know if it will erase the data currently on the external drive?
    Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

    Hi,
    may I suggest a setup for the external HD with two partitions, one for OSX and one for NTFS:
    Open Disk Utility (found in Applications / System Applications) - choose your external drive from the left pane - go to the Partition Tab - from Volume Scheme choose two partitions - set the size of the partitions - click on Options to verify that GUID is set - click on the first partition and choose HFS+ as file format - click on the second partition and choose MS-DOS (is FAT32) as file system
    Start the process by clicking on Partition.
    To get NTFS (if wanted) for the second partition you have to reformat it while in Windows since Disk Utility can not do this.
    Use SuperDuper http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html to make a full bootable backup of your internal OSX system to the external HD (makes it easier to do what you need).
    Caution: Using the a.m. procedure will delete all files that curently are on your external harddisk !
    Regards
    Stefan

  • Recommended External Drive for iTunes

    Can anyone recommend a good 2-3 terabyte external drive to be attached either to Mac Mini or Network and to hold all my current and future iTunes media ??
    I have 500gb already and dont want to use up the entire Mac Mini drive
    Tha

    I have been using a Western Digital 3TB drive for about 3 months now ( upgraded from a 2TB other make ) and have had no issues. It is quiet and reliable and fast enough sending movies to ATV over LAN that I don't notice any delays.
    Sometimes it will sleep but wakes upon accessing a movie.... the movie starts playing after a few seconds buffering.
    No complaints.

  • HT201250 I have 2 Lacie external drives connected to a Windows PC.  What is the best scenario for backing up files on both computers?  I would like to save all my files on one backup drive and have Time Machine backup that external drive to the other.

    I don't know if this is a good idea, because the external drive is going to be slower than using my local hard drive to open files from.  My IMac has 1tb and the 2 external drives have 1tb each.  The IMac is my computer and my Wife uses the Windows PC, so I have to make sure both of our files are backed up.  Thanks in advance for any advice regarding this issue.

    I'm in a similar situation including movies I've purchased from iTunes...
    Here's my setup:
    I have all my iTunes data (music, movies, etc.) as well as about 10 GB of photos stored on a nework storage device that uses RAID-5 with SATA disks. This is basically a little toaster-sized NAS machine with four hard drives in it (www.infrant.com). If one of these drives dies, I get alerted and can insert a new one without missing a beat since the data is stored redundantly across all drives. I can also just yank out any one of the four drives while the thing is running and my data is still safe (I tried this after I bought it as a test).
    That's how I prevent problems with a single disk... Redundancy
    Now onto "backups"...
    Nightly, my little RAID toaster automatically backs itself up to an attached 250GB USB drive. However, these backups are only of my critical data... documents, photos and home movies... I don't bother backing up my "Hollywood" movies since I can live without them in a disaster.
    ... I actually don't permanently store anything I care about on a laptop or a desktop. It all goes on the NAS box (Network Sttached Storage) and then my other computers use it as a network drive. It's attached via Gigbait to my main computer and via wireless to most everything else.
    My achilles heel is that I don't store anything outside of my house yet. If I was smart, I'd alternate two USB drives attached to my NAS box and always keep one of them somewhere else (Safe Deposit Box?).
    ...and that's just one way to do it.
    -Brian

  • How to reinstall iTunes and not lose everything from external drive.

    I had to reformat my hard drive.  All my iTunes files were (and still are) on an external drive.
    When I download the latest version of iTunes, I installed and set up my preferences to change the location of iTunes Media File to External Drive J:\iTunes\iTunes Music.
    When iTunes installs, it creates files and folders in C:\Users\Userxyz\Music\itunes
    So....Because iTunes didn't show any of my music, playlists, apps, etc. and because I had changed where to keep media files,
    I selected the "Add Folder to Library" option
    iTunes successfully displays all the music from this external drive and left the music files where they were.
    But....it also copied all of this music to a folder on my desktop called "Copy of Itunes".  Now, I have 3 *itl and "xlm files.  One on External Drive J, another in Music\iTunes on Drive C, and a 2nd in Copy of iTunes on the desktop.
    Missing from iTunes are my purchases.  All apps, purchased and free.  Playlists.
    I have a folder "Mobile Applications"  on the external drive and in Copy of iTunes, but both are empty.
    I wonder if I already lost my purchases.
    I would also like to keep my files on an external drive because I don't have enough space to keep iTunes on my main drive.
    I also use Vista.....
    I hope someone can help.  This is all very confusing
    Jeri

    When you say all of your iTunes files were on the external drive, do you mean all, or only the stuff that's inside the red outline below. The most important part of your library is the database file iTunes Library.itl which holds the records of your playlists, ratings and all other data that doesn't get stored in tags.
    Typical layout of iTunes folders:
    When the media folder is inside the main iTunes folder as shown above then the library is portable, and if the library is relocated to an external drive it will survive a wipe of the internal drive. However most users typically split their library when they find they are running out of room on the internal drive by choosing a new locaton for the media folder and then consolidating.
    If this is what you have done, and you don't have a backup of the library files, the iTunes Library.itl file in particicular, then your old library is lost forever. If you do have the files then it may be possible to get the right library file reconnected to the media provided you haven't been moving things around randomly.
    You can check each of the .itl files that you have on your computer in turn using the hold-down-shift-when-starting-iTunes method. If one of these has the correct playlists, and the drive letter of the external drive is the same as before, then it should all work.
    tt2

  • Move iWork 09 to external drive?

    Hi,
    I'd like to free some space on my SSD. Since now I'm using the current iWork, I'm thinking to move my old "iWork '09" folder from "Applications" to an external drive.
    If I'll ever encounter issues opening my old iWork 09 documents will I be able to just move the "iWork 09" folder back to "Applications" folder on my mac and easily open my old files?
    Thanks
    Running Mavericks 10.9.4
    MBP Retina 15"
    256 GB SSD

    You can move the folder there, and you won't have to do anything to use the old versions from right off the external.
    You  may be only able to copy out of Applications, but after confirming the apps work off external, delete the folder in Appications.

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