Is there any way to speed up the indexing of 3.5” external hard drives such as more Unified Memory, stronger processor chip, different Mac Computer? I.e. what influences the indexing speed for a specific non-SSD hard drive?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini (M4)
Biggest factor I’d the connection method, USB2, USB3.1 or 3.3, FireWire, Thunderbolts, but while be dismal compared to suds.
Another big factor is HD speed, 4,800, 5,400, 7,200, or 10,000 rpm, 2.5” drives will be slower I than 3.5” drives by far, Green drives will normally be slower.
We need a bit more info, like the exact drive you’re going to use, or is it one you have already?
An etrecheck report would tell us a lot…
https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html
And by indexing speed do you mean like lookups using Spotlight or what?
The Transfer Rate of that WD 10T drive is up to 273MB/s.
https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/data-center-drives/ultrastar-dc-hc330-hdd?
What enclosure or dock do you have the WD 10T drive in..?
It will take time to initially index the WD 10T drive depending on how much you have currently stored on it. Once the initial indexing is complete additional data should be automatically indexed as it is added.
Spotlight indexing allows Spotlight and Finder to search the folders and files on the external drive.
That is not totally true, you can still use Finder to access folders and files on a non-indexed external drive.
By indexing I mean the MacOS built-in process that makes a list of all the folders and files in a volume/folder which allows Spotlight and Finder to locate and display any specified folder/file. Apple tells me that if my external drive is not fully "indexed" I may not be able to find what I am looking for. Currently I am working with a Western Digital Ultrastar drive DC HC510 P/N: 0F27606, a 10 TB drive.
Thanks BDAqua. For a given drive and cable connection, is there a combination of Mac computer equipment that would offer the fastest possible indexing process?
How are the drives formatted?
It is taking a long time to index currently or are you just trying to maximize the indexing process?
How can I improve external hard drive indexing speed on Mac?
