Stop spotlight indexing time machine

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Level 4

2,581 points

Stop spotlight indexing time machine

Hi.

Spotlight has been permanently indexing my Time Machine for days now. I've tried many ways of stopping it. I don't need it to be indexed. I've put the sparsebundle, and the directory holding it into Spotlight's privacy tab. I've tried running mdutil but no matter what name and path I try for the volume or directory I get an error. I've disabled Time Machine backups, but nothing stops it and it continues to read data from the the disc permanently at rates from 2 to 30Mbps. This can't be good for the disc drive and given they don't make them any more I'd rather not knacker it. I can't turn it off because it's also my wireless access point

Does anyone know how to stop spotlight doing this?

Thanks in advance.

Big Sur 11.3.1

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 24, 2021 5:02 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

May 24, 2021 7:08 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Turn off Time Machine's automatic backup in the System Preferences, then add the drive you are backing up to, to the Privacy screen of Spotlight.

Keep in mind the visual entrance into Time Machine that offers drag and drop and searching of your Time Machine backups is managed by Spotlight. You can use Devon Technologies EasyFind to search the drive instead, but be sure not to move files within the drive, especially while it is backing up.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

214,962 points

May 24, 2021 11:33 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support and then reboot normally. Then check to see if the problem persists.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

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Answer 3

Zurarczurx Author

Level 4

2,581 points

May 24, 2021 11:10 AM in response to a brody

Thanks a brody. I don't want to search my Time Machine backups. I want Spotlight to stop indexing them, but I still want to use Spotlight for HD searches (not backups). If I add the drive I'm backing up to the privacy panel of Spotlight then that will be the HD and then Spotlight won't find anything. I already use EasyFind, but only when searching for system or special files that Spotlight won't find; it's far too slow to be used instead of Spotlight. I don't have automatic backup running - never have.

Surely there's a way to stop Spotlight searching a drive?

Thanks for replying

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,802 points

May 24, 2021 11:17 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Spotlight and Time Machine are inseparable as the latter depends on the former. Just what is going on with your particular implementation that causes Spotlight to run incessantly is another matter less clear.

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Answer 5

Zurarczurx Author

Level 4

2,581 points

May 26, 2021 9:21 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks, Old Toad. I'd already tried a boot into safe mode but the problem persists. I only use the drive for backups so I've prevented the problem happening by changing the password of the drive so that Spotlight can't open it. I don't use it for automatic backups, I just do a manual one every few days if I've made any major data changes and then eject the disc. I can live with it, but it is a bit of a pain.

Thanks for replying.

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