Can re-indexing produce gains in search speed?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Can re-indexing produce gains in search speed?

I think the title says it all, but to elaborate — if I re-index the files on my harddrive, I was wondering if the indexing algorithm index my files more efficiently, perhaps due to the added freedom of not having to assimilate into an existing file lookup table.

I have bagillions of science monographs in my file system, and spotlight now takes tens of seconds to find stuff. 😟

Sorry if the question is obvious. Operating and file systems are not my forté.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 17, 2012 2:56 PM

Reply

Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,941 points

May 21, 2012 5:51 AM in response to SynapticSage

Reindexing can help if it is completed can help, as long as the hard drive isn't too full*:

http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html

And you have not used any programs that affect caches, or change firewall settings, or automatic backup, or automatic virus detection. These background programs will always adversely affect your speed.

If content search is not necessary, and just file name search is, you may want to consider Find Any File instead of using Spotlight or Find File search.

Reply