Since upgrading to Catalina, Spotlight no longer indexes hard drive that contains time machine backup.

I have the same issue and my drive is not a RAID, it's just a regular external disk and spotlight is not indexing it any more, this started with the Catalina installation

I removed it as a time machine so I could add/remove it to the list of "Prevent from indexing locations" in spotlight but I get the error "...is a time machine backup folder", even thou it's not because I removed it already

Something's up with Catalina and external HD indexing

I'm going insane. I use spotlight constantly during the day to find specific files, and now, with Catalina, it doesn't work. I have TBs of data on an external "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" formatted drive. Have been using external drives for about 25 years without problems finding data. Yesterday I could find files. Now I have Catalina and can't. The instructions for getting spotlight to reindex say to add the drive or folders to its privacy list and then remove them--but I can't add anything from that drive because it claims that everything I try to add "is a Time Machine backup folder. You cannot add it to the privacy list."

There's got to be a fix for this, Apple. ASAP. I can't afford to be crawling through thousands of folders looking for things.

“Should be” is a leap of faith… as there is no telling what Apple has done internally to Catalina, Spotlight, or even Time Machine.

Apple does not mention RAID array compatibility in its discussion of external storage devices for Time Machine backups, even though you indicated that it worked prior to Catalina.

I don't have a solution for you.

I did find a solution for me, which was to right click the hard drive and then Get Info. Some of the permissions under Sharing and Permissions were set only to read. Once I set them to read AND write the spotlight indexing and search functions could work.

The blanked out area is my user name. Of course, if you don't have Sonos you can ignore this. Initially I also set "Everyone" to Read and Write, but once I had Spotlight working i discovered I didn't need to. I think Catalina changed some of those permissions without telling me. Either that or Spotlight works diferently now.

Don't know if it will work for you. It seems so basic. I am using EXACTLY the RAID system I had before installing Catalina so the issue is with the update, not the hardware.

I've been having the same issue since upgrading to Catalina (currently running 10.15.1). I don't even use Time Machine, but it won't let me add my external drive to the Privacy list, and whenever I search "a folder" it returns results from across every drive instead of just the folder. VERY irritating.

I have 2TB external drive and I've been using it for files and time maschine backup. After upgrade to catalina -> stop work spotlight on it.

Solution work for me:

1) Partition disk

2) Set up time maschine to partion which I want.

3) Eject external disk.

4) Plug in back.

That's all, indexing files except for time maschine partion work like before Catalina.

Same or similar problem. OS 10.15.2 on Mac Pro (late 2013) with all applications on the internal SSD and all data files on a 16 Tb Pegasus 3 RAID 10. The files on the external drive are no longer indexed or searchable. Trying to drag folders onto the Spotlight Privacy window results in a message stating the folder, or sub folders, is a Time Machine backup.

have you been able to solve your problem?

if not, have you tried storing the files temporarily elsewhere; wiping the drive; and initializing the drive? i had the same issue, and, it seems to have been resolved now.

upon the initial installation of catalina back in october, i could only find files that were on the drive before catalina.

then, with the latest update, i could not find any files on my external drive at all.

i tried all the indexing options to no avail, and, this is what finally worked.

I have the exact same problem. Loads of files that will take hours upon hours to search without Spotlight. Worked just fine before upgrading to Macbook Pro with Catalina. I even tried erasing the Time Machine backup from the removable drive and it still won't let me index. Somehow it thinks it's still linked to Time Machine backups even though there's no folder/files. HELP!

i am so sorry to hear that you are having this problem. have you tried my suggestion above?

"have you tried storing the files temporarily elsewhere; wiping the drive; and initializing the drive? i had the same issue, and, it seems to have been resolved now.

"upon the initial installation of catalina back in october, i could only find files that were on the drive before catalina.

"then, with the latest update, i could not find any files on my external drive at all.

"i tried all the indexing options to no avail, and, this is what finally worked."

you will lose your time machine backups, but, i found that it was a small price to pay for finding my files.

mind you, ever since i tried that method, i had to re-index my drive several times— i run the sudo mdutil -E / command every couple of days— but i CAN find the files.

i am hoping that future updates will resolve this issue.

i truly hope that this helps you.

Yes, success! I pieced together several suggestions from this and other forums and blogs. Specifically, here's what I did:

1) copied all data from the removable HD

2) erased all data from that drive

3) reformatted that drive (mac did this automatically when I erased)

4) via Utilities > Disk Utility > select drive on left > Partition partitioned the 4TB drive into two separate 2TB partitions (effectively turned it into two separate drives)

5) moved all data back onto Partition 1 of this drive

6) ran Time Machine on Partition 2 of this drive

7) in System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy "added" Partition 1 Drive to the list of "Prevent Spotlight from searching" list

8) in same place, immediately deleted the Partition 1 Drive from the "Prevent Spotlight from searching" list

9) starting successfully indexing said drive

Spotlight is inherent to the normal operation of Time Machine. It is unclear to me that Time Machine, or Spotlight itself, will even work properly on an external RAID drive configuration.