Sunday
May312009
Mac Tips Daily! #186 - Re-Index Spotlight
Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 9:28AM
Spotlight is great for searching. The problem with it is that it's not super fast, and sometimes you come up empty without the results you expect. Sometimes these ailments can be cured by simply re-indexing your hard drive.
Here is how to do it:
Open 'System Preferences'
Next, choose 'Spotlight'
Now, click on the 'Privacy' tab.
Now, click on the '+' sign to add an arbitrary folder.
Wait several minutes, and then select the same folder, and click the '-' sign.
Why do this? You have to trick spotlight, since re-indexing isn't straightforward.
Now, close the window, and Spotlight should begin re-indexing your system. This may take several minutes or hours, depending on the size of your hard drive, and the speed of your Mac.
Power user tip:
To re-index the drive, Open the Terminal, and type in:
sudo mdutil -E /
This will re-index your boot drive, as denoted by the '/'. You can substitute this path with any drive or folder you want, and it will force re-index.
Here is how to do it:
Open 'System Preferences'
Next, choose 'Spotlight'
Now, click on the 'Privacy' tab.
Now, click on the '+' sign to add an arbitrary folder.
Wait several minutes, and then select the same folder, and click the '-' sign.
Why do this? You have to trick spotlight, since re-indexing isn't straightforward.
Now, close the window, and Spotlight should begin re-indexing your system. This may take several minutes or hours, depending on the size of your hard drive, and the speed of your Mac.
Power user tip:
To re-index the drive, Open the Terminal, and type in:
sudo mdutil -E /
This will re-index your boot drive, as denoted by the '/'. You can substitute this path with any drive or folder you want, and it will force re-index.
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