DJSamHiller

Q: Why Won't Mavericks Index My External Hard Drive?

Ever since I upgraded to Mavericks, my 13 inch MacBook Pro (2010) isn't able to Index my Western Digital My Passport External Hard Drive.  It just keeps saying "Indexing" and "Estimating Indexing Time," but never seems to start or finish, even when left running overnight.  I really need to be able to search my hard drive using Spotlight for work, so this is quite an inconvinience for me. When I type in a search phrase in Finder the related files sometimes appear, but when they do they constantly flash on an off, as if it's finding them but then losing them again.

 

I haven't suffered any data loss as other WD user seem to have, so that's good, but I really do need to solve this indexing problem.

 

Please help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 7, 2013 9:40 AM

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Q: Why Won't Mavericks Index My External Hard Drive?

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  • by ianwest1,

    ianwest1 ianwest1 Mar 30, 2014 8:54 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 30, 2014 8:54 AM in response to Csound1

    Can you not read, or are you just a bit dim? I have a Verbatim - same problem. Somoene else above has another brand that is also affected: neither of these rbands, as far as I'm aware, are made by WD...

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 30, 2014 9:02 AM in response to ianwest1
    Level 9 (51,166 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 30, 2014 9:02 AM in response to ianwest1

    I have no idea who manufactures Verbatim drives, but I have seen no widespread reports of problems with them so. Does the drive appear in Disk Utility, and if yes, is it mounted?

  • by ianwest1,

    ianwest1 ianwest1 Mar 30, 2014 9:20 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 30, 2014 9:20 AM in response to Csound1

    It's mounted, and it all worked find until I installed Mavericks...

     

    the Spotlight prefs add/remove trick seems to have worked, so it's not a biggie - annoying though...

  • by sixteenbits,

    sixteenbits sixteenbits Apr 29, 2014 2:44 PM in response to DJSamHiller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2014 2:44 PM in response to DJSamHiller

    Same problem here! I see there is still no fix.

  • by Scott Nash,

    Scott Nash Scott Nash Jun 4, 2014 6:59 PM in response to ianwest1
    Level 2 (164 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 4, 2014 6:59 PM in response to ianwest1

    "Can you not read, or are you just a bit dim? I have a Verbatim"

     

    LOL

     

    These fan boys drive me nuts too.  I've had several problems that I was, everntually able to get a solution to, but I had to post, and repost and post again though wave after wave after wave of reasons why it wasn't apples fault.  They don't seem to realize people don't post here for blame, they post here seeking solutions.  "It's not apples fault" is NOT a solution.  It's not even helpful.  Half the time it IS apples fault, and of that other half, there is still something that could be done with the apple settings to at least work about the problem.

  • by Scott Nash,

    Scott Nash Scott Nash Jun 4, 2014 7:02 PM in response to Scott Nash
    Level 2 (164 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 4, 2014 7:02 PM in response to Scott Nash

    Oh, and btb, the reason I found this thread is I'm having exactly the same problem on a thumb drive.  That's a lot of companies dropping the ball all at once...  or just one.

  • by fredsterpr,

    fredsterpr fredsterpr Jun 10, 2014 12:25 PM in response to sixteenbits
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 10, 2014 12:25 PM in response to sixteenbits

    I recently discovered the same issue with my WD drive.  I tried the add/remove fix from spotlight but it did not work for me. Nothing happened.  Help.... anyone?

  • by sixteenbits,

    sixteenbits sixteenbits Jun 10, 2014 12:38 PM in response to fredsterpr
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 10, 2014 12:38 PM in response to fredsterpr

    Unfortunately, it seems like the solution might be "wait for Yosemite, cross fingers it's fixed."

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jun 10, 2014 12:42 PM in response to fredsterpr
    Level 9 (51,166 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 10, 2014 12:42 PM in response to fredsterpr

    Yes, lot's of people are having problems with WD.

     

    That's probably why WD are handing out free data recovery software for when it all goes down the tubes.

  • by eobet,

    eobet eobet Jul 17, 2014 12:11 PM in response to DJSamHiller
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 17, 2014 12:11 PM in response to DJSamHiller

    I have this problem as well on all of my Macs ever since Mavericks.

     

    Since the problem doesn't exist in previous versions of OS X, the suggestion that it's a manufacturer's fault rather than Apple's fault seems like bulls.

     

    It's also quite pathetic that there doesn't seem to be a solution yet? Or did I miss it?

     

    10.9.4 did seemingly nothing for me on this matter, and I also can't add the harddrive to the spotlight privacy because of an "unknown error".

     

    My USB harddrive is constantly spinning now and getting very hot!

     

    Apple seemingly doesn't "just work" anymore.

  • by dinhr,

    dinhr dinhr Jul 17, 2014 2:35 PM in response to cubbycoltrain
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 17, 2014 2:35 PM in response to cubbycoltrain

    This worked for me. The external drive has to be plugged in, it seems the computer doesn't access the external drive index unless the drive is plugged in -maybe it stores the index on the external drive?

  • by dinhr,

    dinhr dinhr Jul 17, 2014 2:42 PM in response to cubbycoltrain
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 17, 2014 2:42 PM in response to cubbycoltrain

    This worked for me, thanks to cubbycoltrain. The external drive has to be plugged in, it seems the computer doesn't access the external drive index unless the drive is plugged in -maybe it stores the index on the external drive?

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2409?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • by Joe Bailey,

    Joe Bailey Joe Bailey Jul 17, 2014 3:32 PM in response to dinhr
    Level 6 (12,217 points)
    Jul 17, 2014 3:32 PM in response to dinhr

    dinhr wrote:

     

    This worked for me, thanks to cubbycoltrain. The external drive has to be plugged in, it seems the computer doesn't access the external drive index unless the drive is plugged in -maybe it stores the index on the external drive?

     

    Right in one try. To be specific the index is stored in the drive volume directory as is most meta data, tags, etc. Separate index files have not been used since Spotlight replaced Sherlock several years ago (maybe OS X 10.4?).

  • by dinhr,

    dinhr dinhr Jul 17, 2014 4:36 PM in response to Joe Bailey
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 17, 2014 4:36 PM in response to Joe Bailey

    Yeah, I remember Sherlock showed all the indexes.

     

    How do I get at, or see, the drive volume directory?

  • by Joe Bailey,

    Joe Bailey Joe Bailey Jul 17, 2014 5:02 PM in response to dinhr
    Level 6 (12,217 points)
    Jul 17, 2014 5:02 PM in response to dinhr

    dinhr wrote:

     

    Yeah, I remember Sherlock showed all the indexes.

     

    How do I get at, or see, the drive volume directory?

    Finder is one way to see the volume directory but it does not show all the content. For that you will need something like the sector editor in Drive Genius. Since there is no text, you will need to be adept in reading binary/hexadecimal. A thorough working knowledge of the structure of the Mac OS Extended (journaled) format would be extremely helpful to understanding what you will see in Sector Edit. That information can be found by joining the Apple Developer's Group and searching for the documents in their files.

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