User profile for user: lbartram
lbartram Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Leopard Spotlight & Apple RAID Doesn't work

Hi all:

I'm wondering if anyone has tried to use Spotlight with a internal two-disk RAID on a Mac Pro. I used OS 10.4's Disk Utility applicaiton to create one large striped volume from two 750 gig internal drives.

After updating to Leopard, the indexing process gets to 50%, then stops altogether (it is easy to hear the drives stop working). After going into terminal and trying to reset things with sudo mdutil -i on, etc., I see, surprisingly, an error message to the effect that there is no index on the RAID volume! This is despite the fact that it had been creating such an index for the past hour or so but only reaching the halfway point.

Does OS 10.5 Leopard's Spotlight (which is mainly the reason I upgraded!) not work on RAID volumes?

Please let me know. Thanks!

Larry

Mac Pro 3.0 Dual Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5), 6 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 3, 2007 9:50 AM

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11 replies
User profile for user: lbartram
lbartram Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 4, 2007 8:13 AM in response to Frando

Hi Frando:

I wonder if Spotlight might index the RAID by reformatting the two drives with the GUID partition table option while formatting the individual disks, and then remaking the RAID. I originally formatted each drive under 10.4 with the Apple Partition Map option. Maybe I can try this by making an external RAID (I think I might have two spare drives around here somewhere) and see if they index. Please let this thread know if you find out anything in the meantime.

I hope someone from Apple reads this and comments. Would save a lot of time and headache, and there is certainly no mention that RAID volumes won't work with Spotlight.

Larry
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User profile for user: James Howison
James Howison
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 11, 2007 12:46 PM in response to lbartram

I have also found that Spotlight doesn't work with a RAID on OS X Server Leopard. I created the RAID1 (Mirror) using Disk Utility on the Leopard install disks, so if it is something to do with partition maps or something the Leopard install itself is out of sync.

I haven't dug into it yet as did the OP, but I notice that Spotlight can't find anything on the computer. I can get the Spotlight box up and type into it but it never returns any results (and the 'searching' spinning wheel stops very quickly).
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User profile for user: anothersmurf
anothersmurf
User level: Level 1
58 points

Nov 14, 2007 9:01 AM in response to lbartram

I have a 2-disc internal RAID mirror on a brand new mac Pro tower. On installation of Leopard Server, Spotlight did not work at all. Googling, I found "sudo mdutil -i on /" which I ran. The command executed very quickly and there was no error mesage. Now Spotlight works at least partially. That is, it will find some files but not others. (It works if what I'm looking for is in my /Applications folder, but not if it is in ~/Documents or /Library or /System.)

Sounds like a bug in the OS, since several people are experiencing it. So I guess all we can do is hope Apple will fix it...
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User profile for user: lbartram
lbartram Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Nov 15, 2007 4:52 PM in response to anothersmurf

Hi:

You're luckier than me! I ran "sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/drivename/" with the same apparent result, but it never did stop indexing.

Now, I've also installed 10.5.1 that was released today. NO HELP. Apple has not fixed this bug in Leopard. I'm heartened by the fact that all the relevant variables are under their control (it was their Disk Utility software that created the RAID).

I have reported this to Apple Tech Support. They had me run a diagnostic program on the computer with the RAID and send them the output. Haven't heard anything yet, but in case someone at Apple is listening, my case number is 86857446.

PLEASE HELP, APPLE.
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User profile for user: jedi_master_ss
jedi_master_ss
User level: Level 1
0 points

Feb 21, 2008 12:01 PM in response to James Howison

After running a few 'sudo mdutil -Ea' passes it started working on my RAID, but only partially. If i search from a remote machine of a share with a space in it, well forget it. If a folder has a space in it and searching from 10.4 forget it. Sometimes when searching from 10.5.x just forget it if the local folder has a space in it even if the network share name does not. However in all of those cases it works when you search locally or via mdfind. All of the network shares are on a XServe RAID, all of them have spotlight indexing turned on via the Server Admin. The server is running 10.5.2 however the same erroneous results have been occuring since 10.5.0
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User profile for user: VinceOnStatenIsland
VinceOnStatenIsland
User level: Level 1
0 points

Mar 14, 2008 6:44 PM in response to lbartram

I discovered this thread after having the problem myself. Got a new MacPro with a 320GB and added one extra 320 plus two 1TBs. Using Disk Utility, I mirrored the 320s, then mirrored the 1TBs. I then installed OSX Server Leopard on the 320s.

It seems like Spotlight works on the 320s, but the 1TBs is only partially indexed. And users don't seem to have any ability to search the drives, despite the fact that Spotlight is allowed. I've tried the above tricks to no avail. At first, it says it will take 400 hours to index the big drive, but it soon stops.

Interesting note: Some users on old OS9 machines can search both drives without issue. Of course, they are using Sherlock, not Spotlight.

Hope Apple comes up with an solution soon, because my job depends on it.

--vinny
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Leopard Spotlight & Apple RAID Doesn't work

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