Etrecheck report - Help would be gratefully appreciated

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rf4c Author

Level 1

21 points

Etrecheck report - Help would be gratefully appreciated

Hi friends,

I am hoping to get some advice / suggestions based around an Etrecheck report which I will attach.

The entire saga began a few days ago when tidying up music files.

I tried to use Spotlight to search my entire Mac for files with certain extensions such as .aac, alac, .flac, etc.

When I asked Spotlight to search, it ignored my mac and just kept giving me internet search results.

That led me to using my Etrecheck Pro.

While it hasn't sorted the Spotlight issue, I think there may be a need for some deeper repairs and maintenance.

The Etrecheck was done after a reboot and no alterations have been made since.

In case you find references to external hard drives, I have 5, which I only connect when needed, as

my OS (Monterey) continually ejects the drives randomly, and I'm afraid of damage to them.

There will also be a reference to low storage of the main HDD, but I don't want to be greedy in

asking for too much. At a later date I'd like to return to seek advice on storage, like a

reliable powered hub for the HDDs or RAID maybe?

Anyway, I set the Etrecheck scan for "No Problems, just checking" in case I diverted it towards

looking for something specific and ignoring other issues.

If any more info is needed, please ask, and thank you in advance for any guidance you offer.

Kin wishes

Jim

The Report:

Etrecheck Report

Mac mini, 12.7

Posted on Jan 1, 2025 9:30 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

158,946 points

Jan 1, 2025 5:49 PM in response to rf4c

Hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of stripping all the blank lines from your report and including it as an attachment.

The Report

The service that runs Spotlight is working overtime.

MartinR wrote:

I noticed a Samsung driver/kext and a WD driver/security helper ... neither should be necessary.

Add to that list "Smart Cleaner" / "App Delete". Macs don't need that kind of help. It may be the reason Spotlight isn't working correctly.

Uninstall them, make sure they are permanently and irrevocably gone, and then try rebuilding the Spotlight index: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report - Apple Community describes how to post an EtreCheck report to this site.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

25,642 points

Jan 1, 2025 2:58 PM in response to rf4c

Your Etrecheck report is hard to read, with all the blank lines. However, on first pass nothing looks like a problem. The internal SSD (251GB) seems to have ~78GB free (~30% free) which should not present any problems.

I noticed a Samsung driver/kext and a WD driver/security helper ... neither should be necessary.

I suggest a full shut down & restart, then see if the Spotlight search problem goes away. Make sure you are searching your internal drive (and/or external drives) ... not searching OneDrive or any cloud based storage.

You could also try using a different user account to see if the problem exists in more than one account - that would be helpful diagnostic info.

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Answer 3

rf4c Author

Level 1

21 points

Jan 2, 2025 8:34 AM in response to rf4c

Hi everyone,

First of all, I apologies for making the task more difficult with my messy report.

When I was compiling the post, I got a message telling me there was too much text, so

I started reconstructing the post! Badly it appears! I'll read the articles linked to you posts, many thanks for them.

Regarding the advice, I will be implementing all suggestions in the coming days.

I'm less despairing now that I have the advice of those who know, so I'll do a total tidy up and cleanout and use the advice you've given.

Thank you so much guys. Time is a valuable commodity, so genuine gratitude for giving yours!

Very kind wishes, Jim

PS - If it all falls apart, because I do something stupid, I'll come back.....meekly!

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Etrecheck report - Help would be gratefully appreciated

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