Reindexing of External Samsung SSD's

Thanks for the reply Woodmeister50. FYI, the drive is formatted APFS.

Per the Apple Support Instructions, I did use the Privacy List Add and Remove in Spotlight settings. I checked with Spotlight after going thru the reindexing process. It did  show the indexing had begun. See screen shot below.

I did mention to the Apple phone adviser how a Google search suggested using a Terminal command to check if the indexing was working. He advised against using terminal. Since his only advice was   to  reinstall the OS, which I had just done, I will follow your suggestion  with a copy and past of your command adding the drive by dragging the icon into Terminal. If that fails, I will follow your next Terminal step.

I appreciate your help and hope I can finally search for files on my  2TB Photo SSD! I will keep you posted. Thanks, Charlie

[Edited by Moderator]

Hi Woodmeister50, Apologize for the delayed reply. Other things in my life were taking priority.

I did run Disk Utility on the drive with an operation successful response and no fixes needed. I then tried both your Terminal commands. See screen shots of both below.

Both indicate removing .plist files. I did not feel comfortable doing that. I do not know where they live on my Mac Mini. I didn’t want to delete something else accidentally and cause more problems on my computer if I were able to locate them. I had removed .plists in the past with an Apple phone adviser’s help.  

I spoke to a Senior Apple adviser this afternoon. He told me that they no longer do Terminal commands or instructions by phone with a screen share. I was told he would have to forward information to engineering in an apparent new policy. This would take time and he mentioned their solution could be updating the software to Mac OS 27. I do not like updating new OS software on the first release. Do not want to do beta testing.

He did have 2 suggestions to try first. I have another external SSD drive. He said to try reindexing that drive to see if I have the same problem. I did. Like my other drive the results of Disk Utility and both of your Terminal commands were exactly the same.

The other suggestion involved an app with a dongle that allows me to use my old iMac as a second monitor. He said uninstalling the app could help eliminate the issue. I would contact the company to see how to uninstall  first and reinstall after the indexing if it works. I’d like to hear your take if this could work.

You have given me more information and help than Apple support. I would appreciate any further suggestions you may have, Thanks for all your input! Correcting this has taken a lot of time. I don’t understand why it should be this difficult when external drives have become so common.

Thanks, Charlie

Hi HWTech, Thank you for your reply. I do not use Terminal unless someone gives me the commands. I am not proficient with this app.

The first time I did the terminal command, I did drag and drop the  T7 SSD 2TB icon from the desktop. I did not know about the spacing for the letter before adding the volume. I also did a copy and paste of woodmeister50’s correction commands first.

This time, per your input, I typed the commands and left a space after each letter designation before dragging the volume from the desktop. Below is a screenshot of the Terminal with both commands. As previously noted in a past attempt, Terminal is asking to “dump the VolumeConfiguration.plist” and remove the “Spotlight index directory”. I do not feel comfortable doing that. I do not know where they live on my Mac Mini. I don’t want to delete something else accidentally and cause more problems on my computer if I were able to locate them.

Do you have any other suggestions on how to reindex my SSD’s so I can search their contents? I still don’t understand why it should be this difficult when external drives have become so common. Searching is the easiest way to find a file or folder when there are many on a drive.

Thanks, Charlie

Hi Woodmeister50, Thank you for the new Terminal “E” Command. Below is a screenshot of Terminal. Thinking this was successful by the “Indexing enabled” comment.

As per your first reply on 9/19, I ran the Terminal “s” Command afterwards  Below is a screenshot of Terminal. This is the first time I’ve seen the “Indexing enabled” comment. All previous attempts have said “invalid path”or “invalid option”. Hoping this means it is reindexing the drive as mentioned in your 9/19 reply. You said it could take awhile for indexing to complete. Is there any way to check that the indexing is finished other than a file search on the drive?

I can’t thank you enough for your efforts helping me try to resolve my reindexing problem. I’m hoping my next comment will be mission accomplished! Will keep you posted. Charlie

Hi Woodmeister50, Below is a screen shot of the Get Info for the drive.

In addition below is a screenshot of the drive icon opened on the desktop showing the folders. In the folders that are labeled green, I was able to search and find files from them. The ones in Red searches were unsuccessful. 

What I found interesting was the green folder at the top “Action Fx…” was originally in the red “Movies” folder where the files could not be found, but were located when the folder was outside the master “Movies” folder. This is the same for the green folder at the bottom “Simba” which came from the red master “Pictures” folder. Figuring the problem lies within one or both these red folders. FYI, per Get Info, the full “Movies” folder contains 249 items using 102.6 GB, and the “Pictures” folder contains 19,056 items using 397.64 GB. The “Different…” contains 1,463 items using 9.78 GB, and the “Nikon” contains 2,843 items using 62.93 GB. Number of items and size do not seem to be a factor other than the “Pictures” folder which is the largest in both categories. The plot thickens! Any ideas?

Are there any thoughts from you or anyone else on the erase drive restore Time Machine back up idea I posted yesterday? Thanks, Charlie

Hi Woodmeister50,  Thanks for the screen shot  of the “Get Info” on a NEF file in your library. I checked several photos (NEF, TIFF, and JPEG files) in the red “Picture” folder shown in yesterday’s attached screen shot and none of the photos had anything in the “More Info” category. The same result of no data in the “More Info” on several of the mov files in the red ”Movies” folder. As suspected, it appears limited or no indexing was done in either of those folders. 

What’s odd is that the 2 folders I mentioned yesterday “Action Fx…” from the“Movies” folder and “Simba” from the “Pictures” folder show similar data as yours in the “More Info” category when those folders are on the main SSD window, but nothing when in their original folders.  Any explanation?

Both the NEF, and JPEG files in the Green “Nikon folder (shown in yesterday’s attached screen shot) had similar information as yours. There were no TIFF files to check  in this folder. 

Guess nobody has any thoughts on the erase this drive and restore it from Time Machine back up idea I posted yesterday. Thanks, Charlie

I just noticed when posting my above comment that my post with screen shots from yesterday 9/27 was no longer visible. If removed by the Moderator, could I please know why?

Maybe I’m missing some setting, but it would also seem logical and helpful to have all replies listed in chronological order regardless who posted. Please advise.

Hi Woodmeister50, Thanks for your input and the 3rd party Media Management Tool suggestions.

I received a notice today for a Tahoe 26.7.1 software update. I haven’t installed it yet. When I do I will try to reindex and see if the update corrects the problem. I will keep you posted. Charlie

Hi Woodmeister50, I know I’ve said it repeatedly, but your helpful suggestions have given me direction to attempt to solve this frustrating indexing issue.  

FYI, the Tahoe 26.7.1 software update did not correct the problem. I got all the same results as before. I moved a few files and folders from the primary problematic”Movies” and “Pictures” folders onto the main SSD icon window. All were found. When all were returned to their respective folders, the search produced nothing. 

I will explore 3rd party Media Management Tool suggestions you posted as an alternative. Apple Spotlight isn’t working on either of my external SSD’s, and I’m done expending time and energy finding out why. You would think that a crucial issue such as searching for files and folders on hard drives would be on the top of the list when creating an operating system. I would be curious to see if anyone else has encountered this issue. Please post if you have. It may prompt Apple to find a solution. 

Thank You, Charlie

Thank you! That worked!