Spotlight

How can I check that spotlight is indexing my data of my external hard drive?

I can see my files when I open the drive, but when I search for files I cannot find them.

What about tags? I transferred my files from another drive, but I cannot find them with tags. Is it the problem of spotlight too?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Sep 13, 2022 2:57 AM

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2 replies

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,296 points

Sep 13, 2022 4:44 AM in response to Anissa99

When you believe that Spotlight is churning away on your external drive, start a faux search from the menu extras 🔍 tool, and just type in for example, kind:pdf. You should see a blue progress bar below that search line indicating Spotlight is indexing.

Anissa99 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 17, 2022 12:00 PM in response to VikingOSX

After indexing I still cannot find some files when I search for them in the new drive Seagate, Although they are there.

I also notice that every time I connect the drive to the Mac indexing takes place for a few minutes. Why is that?

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