Finder running too slow.(mds taking up too much memory)

[hary536]

Hi,
I have MacBook Pro with OS 10.8.2.
Since last couple of months, I have noticed that my Finder gets really slow frequently. Which means, it doesn't display the contents of a folder and you see a spinning wheel in the status bar at the bottom.
Specially it doesn't display the contents of a folder where files are being written continuously.(for example: I am processing some data which generates files in a folder).
Whenever, it goes into this mode, Activity monitor shows that mds process is taking up close to 1GB Virtual memory. This happens even when I have 3gb of free memory or 2 gb or 1gb or 500mb. So basically it happens anytime.
I also checked spotlight at the top right corner and it doesn't show "Indexing" message. So, am confused what is happening.
At the same time, sometimes windowserver process also pops up at the top of the list,taking up more virtual memory.

Most of the times, I have to restart my machine to get out of this mode.

Disk check using Disk utility doesn't show any problem.

Any idea, any suggestions?

PS: I have Dropbox, Skydrive and Tonido Server apps installed on my computer.

 

[GGJstudios]

Whenever, it goes into this mode, Activity monitor shows that mds process is taking up close to 1GB Virtual memory. This happens even when I have 3gb of free memory or 2 gb or 1gb or 500mb. So basically it happens anytime.
I also checked spotlight at the top right corner and it doesn't show "Indexing" message. So, am confused what is happening.

It does sound like indexing, even though it's not showing in the icon. Try forcing a complete re-indexing of your drive:

Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes​

If that fails to index, enter the following command in Terminal:

sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/your drive name"​

If a drive is constantly active or your CPU utilization is high (possibly with increased temps and fan speed) when you're not running any major apps, you can check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon:

(not indexing)

(indexing) (pulsing dot)​

When it's indexing, you may also see increased CPU and RAM usage by the mds and mdworker processes in Activity Monitor.

 

[nyolc8]

...
you can check to see if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the Menu Bar icon:

Image (not indexing)
Image (indexing) (pulsing dot)​

When it's indexing, you may also see increased CPU and RAM usage by the mds and mdworker processes in Activity Monitor.

Since 10.8, I don't get the dot there if indexing is in process... Is this only for me?

 

[Isamilis]

There is indexing dots showing. At least on my 10.8.2 and 10.8.3.

 

[nyolc8]

There is indexing dots showing. At least on my 10.8.2 and 10.8.3.

I disabled-enabled spotlight on my macintosh hd, and now the dot is there... I don't really understand because many times I click on the sportlight icon, I see it says indexing and calculating remaining time, then it dissapears in 1-2 minutes. So maybe those calculating time things are not real indexing? Maybe just some optimalizations?

edit.: the dot dissapeared but it still says indexing. No dot but it says 10 minutes left. Why is the dot dissapears?

edit2.: I just found another thread and found the answer:

It seems to put the dot there when Spotlight can't be used. As soon as enough indexing has been done that you can type in requests the dot goes away.