Why is spotlight not finding files in a folder (I know the files are there)

I've been having trouble with spotlight. I've done all the possible means of resetting spotlight folders via pref pane and via command line. Either way I go about it spotlight is not working properly.
My test for this is to search in folder for a file I know is in there. But, spotlight in finder isn't finding the file. Why? What prevents SPotlight in FInder from seeing files that are there? None of my drives are in the privacy section of the spotlight preferences.
Leopard 10.5.6 Mac Pro

this is certainly not normal. it looks like spotlight indexing is choking on something. if this continues you should probably stop it. look in the console log. there may be a record of what it's choking on. you can try deleting the hidden spotlight folder at the top of the drive. this will restart indexing and delete all the current spotlight data. if it keeps doing this I don't really know what to suggest. you can try excluding various folders on the drive from spotlight to see if you can isolate where the problem is.

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Based you the issue you are describing, you may need to re-index Spotlight. Take a look at the article below for more information.
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Why is spotlight not finding items I know are there?

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Check Finder preferences, Advanced, to see that searches are for yoour "Mac" as opposed to "current folder" or "previous search scope".
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From the menu bar, select
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Spotlight not finding files that definitely exist.

I have spent the day backing up and syncing.
I have an epson P4000 (PSD). I also have two external drives (yes, this may be overkill, but I never do it). The P4000 is backed up and synced to both drives.
When I do a search for all files with a .RAW extension in the three places, the P4000 and one drive find all the files (2798) but the other drive only shows 602 files.
I know the files are there. Why isn't spotlight finding them? How can I make it find them?
Thanks for any info.

The Spotlight index may not be up to date for that drive.
You can force Spotlight to re-index any drive (including the drive you boot from) by opening System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy and dragging the icon for the drive into Privacy.
Then close System Preferences, and I believe you may need to log out and log back in again.
Then go back into System Preferences / Spotlight / Privacy and select the drive now in the Privacy list and click the "-" at the bottom of the list to remove it from the list. Whenever an item is removed from the Privacy list, Spotlight immediately sets out to index it.
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Open a Finder window and type Command-f to bring up the search criteria lines. In the second line, click on the "kind" drop down and select "other" from the list. A panel will show up giving all the various possible search criteria. The two of interest for finding such files are System Files and File Invisibility. If you check the check box to the right of any lines in that panel those search items will be added to the "kind" drop down list so that you don't have to go back through "other" to select them in the future. The drop down just to the right of the "kind" drop down specifies the rule to apply to that search criteria. So if you select System Files in the first drop down, you also need to select "Include" in the second drop down to see those files in the search results.
--Bob

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Spotlight not finding it either.
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-Wm

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Your results are strange.
If I try using your "1.01_stoddard.mp3" filename I
find the file with the Spotlight menu, the Spotlight
window and a smart folder.
If I delete the file, then search for it again
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" it is, of course not found, then
I create a new file and rename it to
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" Spotlight finds it immediately.
Do you want to try to debug this here in the
discussion?
multi
Mac OS X (10.4.3)
www.DiscoverYourMac.com
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3) eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.

RENAME: When I rename a photo why can I not find it doing a search? The photo obviously keeps its old name even though it has a new one IPhoto 09

When I rename a photo why can I not find it doing a search? The photo obviously keeps its old name even though it has a new one> IPhoto 09

Thanks, that makes sense. If I do a search in IPhoto I find it. I have 6 grand children and also have had my camera for quite awhile and it starts file names over again after 10,000 pictures. (I don't have all these on the computer) but now I have some files with the same name ie img_4 and img_4
Thanks again for your help!!
HC

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Why is spotlight not finding files in a folder (I know the files are there)

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