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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Removing/deleting Spotlight-V100?

As discussed in another thread, I noted a log entry for a Spotlight crash on the internal drive which I saw only when booted from the external, cloned drive. I did not see that log entry when booted from the internal and found no problems there with Spotlight. I'm in way over my head on this one and need some fairly simple directions, if possible.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2211067&tstart=0&start=0

I solved the problem of the crash log entry, at least for now, by making a new clone, and moving the cloned volume prior to cloning into Spotlight/ Privacy. I no longer see the crash log entry when booted from the clone, but the matter of this problematic "file" remains.

This was the log entry I was getting.

localhost mds208: crash data for /.Spotlight-V100 in volume /Volumes/Hard Drive/.Spotlight-V100?!?\n


It was recommended that I delete the /.Spotlight-V100 file on the clone, which is likely corrupted or incompatible with the spotlight index on the internal volume.

My original plan was simply to use the "Destroy" function in EasyFind, but I have since learned that the .Spotlight-V100 is a directory, not a file, and, as such, can not be deleted directly.

It would require using Terminal commands, which may appear in the following X Lab article on Spotlight. But I'm not sure exactly which commands, if any, from that article I would use.
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html

My other question would be, since I dragged Spotlight into Privacy prior to making this new clone, would simply dragging it out of Privacy (when booted from the cloned volume) therefore, allowing it to rebuild the index there completely, take care of this problem directory? I would consider doing this when I am ready to start using the clone.

And, I don't know if the following from that X Lab article now applies to my specific situation and would prevent me from using the simple index rebuild I described above.

*Anomalies from stopping indexing using Privacy under Tiger*
4.The only way to remove all the index-related files after stopping indexing via Privacy is to use mdutil to both disable indexing on the volume and erase the index files. This is accomplished by issuing the following two commands in Terminal in the order specified:
1. sudo mdutil -i off /path tovolume
2. sudo mdutil -E /path tovolume

iMac G3/400 OSX 10.4.11 "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking", iMac G5/1.6 OSX 10.5.7

Posted on Oct 27, 2009 5:35 AM

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15 replies
User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,201 points

Oct 27, 2009 10:26 AM in response to WZZZ

I just did these 2...

1. sudo mdutil -i off /path tovolume/

2. sudo mdutil -E /path tovolume/

To one volume, and just the second one to another volume, (didn't mean to do just the 2nd one but forgot!).

Once I removed the Volumes from the Privacy Pane, Spotlight immediately started indexing them.
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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Oct 27, 2009 10:40 AM in response to BDAqua

That you chose to execute these commands, does this mean then, that you think this is the proper way, once Spotlight has been moved into Privacy in a particular volume, to delete that corrupt Spotlight-V100 directory?

And that simply moving it out of Privacy to re-build it won't do it properly (as in the anomalies that the X Lab article mentions)?

Message was edited by: WZZZ
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User profile for user: rccharles
rccharles
User level: Level 6
12,969 points

Oct 27, 2009 11:02 AM in response to WZZZ

You can seem hidden files...

Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

# Show hidden files & folders in finder
#Just copy the the line starting with defaults into the terminal
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE ;killall Finder

# Normal display. Hide hidden files & folders in finder
#Just copy the the line starting with defaults into the terminal
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE ;killall Finder
mac $

The finder comes right back.

--------------

rccharles wrote:
At times, Mac OS 10.4 seemed to get confused over turning off an entire partition with the privacy database. Here is another alternative.

If you want to disable indexing on a partition, you can place _IndexPolicy.plist and _rules.plist in the root of the partition.

You can use spotless to figure out what these files are by experimentation.


Here is what I did:

I installed the spotless application.
http://www.fixamac.net/software/spot/

I use spotless to configure spotlight. Click on disabled indexing then click on delete index files.

!http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3527/3239751839_c760c46628.jpg?v=0!


mac $ pwd
/Volumes/Spotless
mac $ ls -ld .Spotlight-V100
drwx------ 4 mac staff 136 Jan 22 23:51 .Spotlight-V100
mac $ ls -l .Spotlight-V100
total 16
-rw------- 1 mac staff 55 Jan 22 23:51 _IndexPolicy.plist
-rw------- 1 mac staff 58 Jan 22 23:51 _rules.plist
_IndexPolicy.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple. com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Policy</key>
<integer>3</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
_rules.plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple. com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Spot_Auto</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</plist>


Robert
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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Oct 27, 2009 12:25 PM in response to BDAqua

PS. About 11 hours remaining on the Indexing now!


OMG! Sorry to the be the cause of that ordeal, but many thanks--an inadequate word here--for trying it out. That must be a huge drive. This one's only using 23 out of 128GB, so might take quite a bit less than 11 hours. But, I guess I won't try this anytime soon. Will wait until I need to re-install from or work with the clone.

Robert, thanks for the information on Spotless. I've known about it for a while, and while I'm tempted to try it out, I use Mail.app which I think relies on Spotlight for searching--but not sure about that. So, I've hesitated to disable Spotlight. I'm very aware of Spotlight's shortcomings and very rarely use it for searching--use EasyFind--but for the time being, it's really not getting in the way.

And I don't really understand anything below the screenshot you posted, but I guess it would start to make sense if I installed Spotless. Just might try it out, but do need to know if Mail, or anything else, relies on it for searching.
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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,201 points

Oct 27, 2009 12:55 PM in response to WZZZ

OMG! Sorry to the be the cause of that ordeal, but many thanks--an inadequate word here--for trying it out.


Not a problem, I don't rely on Spotlight for finding anything at all, and use Eudora for real eMail, which searches fantastic for me.

As soon as Spotlight finishes, (about 10 Hours remaining), I'll just disable Spotlight again.

I dearly wish it had an opt-in instead of an opt-out setting/function.
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User profile for user: rccharles
rccharles
User level: Level 6
12,969 points

Oct 27, 2009 1:07 PM in response to WZZZ

I have spotlight indexing turned on so that I can search for data in a file. If I am searching on a file name, I use easyfind. If I really, really want to find some data in a file, I use the terminal find command.
Robert, thanks for the information on Spotless. I've known about it for a while, and while I'm tempted to try it out, I use Mail.app which I think relies on Spotlight for searching--but not sure about that. So, I've hesitated to disable Spotlight. I'm very aware of Spotlight's shortcomings and very rarely use it for searching--use EasyFind--but for the time being, it's really not getting in the way.

The advantage of spotless is that you can use the tools to turn off indexing on a partition basis like a flashdrive. For instance, Spotless places the files on the drives so the indexing will be disabled on all machines were you use the flashdrive on.
And I don't really understand anything below the screenshot you posted, but I guess it would start to make sense if I installed Spotless. Just might try it out, but do need to know if Mail, or anything else, relies on it for searching.

Spotless is shareware, so if you don't want to pay, you can create the files listed yourself. I'd bought spotless.



When I turned search off, mail stopped searching.
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User profile for user: jsd2
jsd2
User level: Level 5
6,245 points

Oct 27, 2009 3:15 PM in response to WZZZ

[Spotless|http://www.fixamacsoftware.com/software/spot/index.php] can turn off searching if you so direct, but it can also just delete the .Spotlight-V100 directory on any volume without turning off searching - - see
http://www.fixamacsoftware.com/software/spot/SPOTug/126.html#intro

I've often used this function to "revive" Spotlight when it has stopped finding things, and just adding and removing the volume to and from the Privacy pane did not fix it.

I know you saw a problem in the log file with the .Spotlight-V100 directory on the internal HD, but did anything actually stop working? If Spotlight finds a damaged index it will sometimes just re-create it on its own, so there is not an operational problem.
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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Oct 27, 2009 3:49 PM in response to jsd2

Thanks jsd2 for that link and that very interesting news that the Spotlight directory can be deleted using Spotless without it stopping searching. Will have to look into this. That would mean it wouldn't have to re-index the whole volume, I suppose.

No, nothing stopped working. But I only got this log when booted from the clone, and what I still don't fully understand--though I don't doubt it meant some sort of mismatch or corruption on the clone directory--is that it reported a crash for the Spotlight-V100 for the internal HD. Nothing of the kind was reported when booted back on the HD and I'm seeing no problems with Spotlight there at all.

I didn't stay long enough on the clone to see if Spotlight was completely operational there.
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User profile for user: jsd2
jsd2
User level: Level 5
6,245 points

Oct 27, 2009 4:16 PM in response to WZZZ

Spotlight directory can be deleted using Spotless without it stopping searching. Will have to look into this. That would mean it wouldn't have to re-index the whole volume, I suppose.


No, Spotlight would have to re-index the volume before it could find things again on that volume. But with searching turned on, it will re-index the volume. If you turn off searching, it will no longer do that.

I think my own approach to your situation would be to ignore the log file report unless you actually have an operational problem. I would first make sure that Spotlight works for both volumes while booted both from the HD and also while booted from the clone. I would then just add the clone to the Privacy list to avoid duplicate hits going forward.
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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Oct 27, 2009 4:50 PM in response to jsd2

Realized just after I wrote that, that it didn't make sense to think it wouldn't have to do any re-indexing once the directory was deleted. Wishful thinking.
I would first make sure that Spotlight works for both volumes while booted both from the HD and also while booted from the clone.


Too late for that. I did a new clone moved into Privacy before cloning, where it remains. That's when I saw that crash entry had disappeared. Guess it'll just have to get rebuilt if at some point I decide to re-install using that cloned volume or want to work from the clone. Not sure I see the point of rebuilding until then.

Thanks.
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User profile for user: WZZZ
WZZZ Author
User level: Level 6
13,226 points

Oct 27, 2009 5:10 PM in response to WZZZ

Missed editing the last post by a few seconds I guess.

Simply adding volumes to Spotlight's privacy list does not achieve the same results as using Spotless. You may cause the Metadata Server to crash, and the volumes may be indexed the next time you mount them.


I've read that elsewhere, but do you think that's a real concern for a clone? CCC recommends moving the target / cloned volume into Privacy for each cloning and they also recommend booting from the clone to test. Would that mean anytime I want to test it, I would encounter those issues?

Message was edited by: WZZZ
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User profile for user: jsd2
jsd2
User level: Level 5
6,245 points

Oct 27, 2009 5:44 PM in response to WZZZ

The Privacy list "usually" works OK. I only use Spotless when it doesn't.

As I recall, when a particular volume is placed on the Privacy list from one startup disk, it remains on the Privacy list when you boot from elsewhere. So I think you could re-boot from the clone now, and the clone will still be on the Privacy list and won't re-index itself. You could then test the clone for proper Spotlight functioning by seeing if it can find things back on the internal HD. If it can do this, I wouldn't do anything further.
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Removing/deleting Spotlight-V100?

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