Can't Search - Privacy List Error from Spotlight Prefs

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Level 1

19 points

Can't Search - Privacy List Error from Spotlight Prefs

I got a new Mac Pro (2019) and am almost finished setting it up. I did not use migration assistant, I did it from scratch. It went very smoothly.

There is one big problem and that's Spotlight. It will only search my Macintosh HD - Data.

I opened the Spotlight preferences, went to the Privacy tab, and tried to add the various drives to the "prevent" window but I always get the same error:

Privacy List Error

The item couldn't be added or removed because of an unknown error.

Nothing I do seems to fix this. I ran Disk Utility repair. No change.

I see that other people have had this problem but not in recent years. I'm out of ideas, can anybody help?

Thank you very much.

Jon

Mac Pro 2019

Processor 3.9 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon W

Memory 96 GB 2933 MHz DDR4

macOS Catalina - Version 10.15.6

Posted on Oct 8, 2020 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 8, 2020 5:58 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hey Grant, thank you for your response. I should have mentioned that I have four external data drives. Those are the ones that I can't search.

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Answer 2

Oct 8, 2020 8:18 PM in response to JRS320

so the external drives are ON the "prevent" list and you can't remove them?

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Answer 3

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 8, 2020 9:15 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Unfortunately, I can't access my computer until the morning. I'll post a screenshot then.

Thanks for staying with me on this!

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Answer 4

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 9, 2020 6:16 AM in response to JRS320

Here's a screenshot of the Get Info for one of my drives

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Answer 5

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 9, 2020 7:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Nope, I've never used anti virus software.

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Answer 6

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 9, 2020 3:25 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I've been looking at all my OWC stuff and wondering if it might be related to that. I'll give them a call tomorrow. I'll post the results, good or bad. Thanks again!!!!

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

251,101 points

Oct 10, 2020 1:05 AM in response to JRS320

Sorry, just showing what running those two on mine looked like, so I think it means the commands you did worked... does searching work now?

im19 is my Mac, bd1$ is me

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Answer 8

Oct 9, 2020 3:13 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I think you should contact OWC.

Kernel Extensions:
  /Applications/SoftRAID 5.8.4/SoftRAID 5.8.4.app
    OWC_SATA_Command.kext (8.1.0b16)
    OWC_SCSI_Device.kext (1.1.0b16)
    OWC_SCSI_Device_0E.kext (1.1.0b16)

and ask them to help you with this.

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Answer 9

Oct 8, 2020 5:51 PM in response to JRS320

You can not add Macintosh HD because it is locked, owned by the System, and Spotlight is permanently is unwilling to Index it for you. It is also Read-Only.

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Answer 10

JRS320 Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 9, 2020 11:01 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

EtreCheck of my computer

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Can't Search - Privacy List Error from Spotlight Prefs

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