Can not search contents on connected external SSD drives (APFS formatted) on an Apple iMac with Monterey OS 12.6. Have copied a file name on the drive and pasted the name in search with no results. Is there a way to set up search for these external drives? Thanks, in advance, Charlie
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 12.6
I contacted Apple Support and they were able to resolve the External Drive search issue. The link on how to fix by rebuilding the Spotlight Index is below. It worked for me! Hope this helps anyone else having the same problem. Charlie Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support
I contacted Apple Support and they were able to resolve the External Drive search issue. The link on how to fix by rebuilding the Spotlight Index is below. It worked for me! Hope this helps anyone else having the same problem. Charlie Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support
I actually don't have an answer for you, but being curious, I gave this a try as well.
In my case I was using a WD My Passport external drive. The current Mac I'm using for this reply is running macOS High Sierra.
The WD was initially formatted for HFS+. I copied a file to this drive, and Spotlight had no issue finding it on that drive. However, when I reformatted the drive for APFS, and then, copying the same file to the drive, Spotlight did not find it.
Not sure why this is so, but hopefully someone else here will chime in and enlighten us.
Search not working with external SSD drives
