Help Needed: Info. Window in Finder Not Showing Video Codecs

[Ray&Paula]

Hi,
I'm on a 2016 MacBook Pro 15" w/ touchbar with OS High Sierra.
I'm having an issue with my GoPro Hero7 Black folder information not showing video codecs within Finder. The following are my actions directly from my SDXC card once opened within Finder;
Click on video within the folder > Right click on Get Info. and the Info window opens
I opened this same video yesterday which showed my video codecs under "More Info" as shown on the left below. I opened it up today in the same manner (on the right below) and now it doesn't show codec information, dimensions, color profile, duration, etc.. Also, as you can see below, the left Info window was grayed out compared to the right Info window. I restarted my MacBook Pro which gave me the same results as the right screen shot. I re-formated my SDXC card in camera and took another video which still gave me the same results as the screen shot on the right. If anyone has any idea for correction, I sure would appreciate it. Thank you. Ray

 

[chown33]

The Where item in the window on the right shows "Trash" as the location of the item.

Move the containing folder "2018-12-21" out of the trash and try again.

The Where item is in the General sub-pane, below Kind and Size, and above Created and Modified.

 

[Ray&Paula]

The Where item in the window on the right shows "Trash" as the location of the item.

Move the containing folder "2018-12-21" out of the trash and try again.

The Where item is in the General sub-pane, below Kind and Size, and above Created and Modified.

Sorry about that....... I did have the screen shot on the left in the trash as shown. I pulled it out for viewing purposes due to being different from that point forward. I'm glad I didn't permanently delete otherwise I would have a harder time explaining my problem. I just pulled the left one out of the trash and took a new screen shot. I also just re-formated my card and took another video. Information on the new video still lacks the codec information, etc. for some reason. Thanks for the help. Ray

 

[chown33]

Sorry about that....... I did have the screen shot on the left in the trash as shown. I pulled it out for viewing purposes due to being different from that point forward. I'm glad I didn't permanently delete otherwise I would have a harder time explaining my problem. I just pulled the left one out of the trash and took a new screen shot. I also just re-formated my card and took another video. Information on the new video still lacks the codec information, etc. for some reason. Thanks for the help. Ray

View attachment 812249

What format did you use when you reformatted the card?

Some metadata, such as what gets listed under "More Info" requires indexing by Spotlight. So is the disk "Untitled" indexed and searchable by Spotlight? If you don't know, you can look under the Spotlight pane in System Preferences, and look whether Privacy is enabled (or can be enabled) on the "Untitled" disk. If Privacy is enabled, turn it off. If it's not, then enable it on "Untitled", then turn it off.

You can also force Spotlight to index a file by copying it to a disk that's already indexed. This will trigger the indexing. So try this:
1. Copy the file GH-10081.MP4 to any location on "Macintosh HD". The Desktop should suffice.
2. Wait 15 seconds.
3. Do a "Get Info" on the file in that location.
4. Confirm the "Where" is actually on "Macintosh HD".
5. Does "More Info" show the info on codecs, dimensions, etc.?

 

[Ray&Paula]

What format did you use when you reformatted the card?

The card is formatted as ExFat.

Some metadata, such as what gets listed under "More Info" requires indexing by Spotlight. So is the disk "Untitled" indexed and searchable by Spotlight? If you don't know, you can look under the Spotlight pane in System Preferences, and look whether Privacy is enabled (or can be enabled) on the "Untitled" disk. If Privacy is enabled, turn it off. If it's not, then enable it on "Untitled", then turn it off.

I did a Spotlight search for my SDXC card called Untitled which is on the desktop. It doesn't show up in the search. I looked under the Spotlight pane in System Preferences. I didn't see where you could actually enable or disable Privacy. You can add folders to it preventing Spotlight from searching certain locations. That area is currently empty.

You can also force Spotlight to index a file by copying it to a disk that's already indexed. This will trigger the indexing. So try this:
1. Copy the file GH-10081.MP4 to any location on "Macintosh HD". The Desktop should suffice.
2. Wait 15 seconds.
3. Do a "Get Info" on the file in that location.
4. Confirm the "Where" is actually on "Macintosh HD".
5. Does "More Info" show the info on codecs, dimensions, etc.?

I opened the SDXC card called Untitled from my desktop. I then dragged the video file onto the desktop which was a copy (video only). Checked "Get Info" and there it was under "More Info" showing everything codecs, dimensions, etc.. As for "Where" it shows Macintosh HD.
The codecs, dimensions, etc. "do not" show up when checked within finder from the SDXC card Untitled using "Get Info" There's nothing under "More Info" As for "Where" it shows Untitled-DCIM-100GOPRO
I must say this is very interesting. The missing link for getting this info. straight off the card must lay somewhere within the System Preferences. We're getting closer...... I sincerely appreciate you taking the time in helping me out. I have to go to a Christmas party right now but, I'll check back later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again! Ray

 

[chown33]

I opened the SDXC card called Untitled from my desktop. I then dragged the video file onto the desktop which was a copy (video only). Checked "Get Info" and there it was under "More Info" showing everything codecs, dimensions, etc.. As for "Where" it shows Macintosh HD.
The codecs, dimensions, etc. "do not" show up when checked within finder from the SDXC card Untitled using "Get Info" There's nothing under "More Info" As for "Where" it shows Untitled-DCIM-100GOPRO

This set of results pretty much confirms 2 things for me:
1. The SDXC card is not being indexed by Spotlight.
2. The "More Info" is being retrieved from Spotlight's metadata store (which is the result of indexing).

I don't know why the SDXC card isn't being indexed by Spotlight. However, I'm pretty sure that unless it can be indexed by Spotlight, the "More Info" will not show codes, dimensions, etc. for files residing on the card


There are some commands that can be pasted into a Terminal window that may offer more clues, or that might be able to turn on Spotlight indexing for the card.

Paste the following command into a Terminal window.

mdutil -vas

Press RETURN after the pasted command.

Next, drag-select the entire output, and press ⌘C. Then paste the clipboard into a reply here.

Please paste the result between CODE tags (READ THIS to learn how).

If the command outputs an error message, copy and paste it in a reply here.


Also post the output of this command:

mdutil

That's right, just a plain unadorned mdutil.

It should output a summary of its available options and usage. I don't have High Sierra on a Mac here, so I need to see what your 'mdutil' command can do.

 

[Ray&Paula]

This set of results pretty much confirms 2 things for me:
1. The SDXC card is not being indexed by Spotlight.
2. The "More Info" is being retrieved from Spotlight's metadata store (which is the result of indexing).

I don't know why the SDXC card isn't being indexed by Spotlight. However, I'm pretty sure that unless it can be indexed by Spotlight, the "More Info" will not show codes, dimensions, etc. for files residing on the card


There are some commands that can be pasted into a Terminal window that may offer more clues, or that might be able to turn on Spotlight indexing for the card.

Paste the following command into a Terminal window.

mdutil -vas

Press RETURN after the pasted command.

Next, drag-select the entire output, and press ⌘C. Then paste the clipboard into a reply here.

Last login: Sun Dec 23 07:48:54 on ttys000
Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$ mdutil -vas
/:
    Indexing enabled.
/Volumes/Untitled:
    Indexing disabled.
/private/var/folders/59/jmc51hc12r71_s2tmd6lrwq40000gq/T/AppTranslocation/8030C7B5-B793-44F9-97CA-2007506AC1E5:
    Indexing and searching disabled.
Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$

Please paste the result between CODE tags (READ THIS to learn how).

If the command outputs an error message, copy and paste it in a reply here.


Also post the output of this command:

Last login: Sun Dec 23 08:16:36 on ttys000

Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$ mdutil

Usage: mdutil -pEsa -i (on|off) -d volume ...

      mdutil -t {volume-path | deviceid} fileid

    Utility to manage Spotlight indexes.

    -p             Publish metadata.

    -i (on|off)    Turn indexing on or off.

    -d             Disable Spotlight activity for volume (re-enable using -i on).

    -E             Erase and rebuild index.

    -s             Print indexing status.

    -t             Resolve files from file id with an optional volume path or device id.

    -a             Apply command to all volumes.

    -V vol         Apply command to all stores on the specified volume.

    -v             Display verbose information.

    -r plugins     Ask the server to reimport files for UTIs claimed by the listed plugin.

NOTE: Run as owner for network homes, otherwise run as root.

Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$

That's right, just a plain unadorned mdutil.

It should output a summary of its available options and usage. I don't have High Sierra on a Mac here, so I need to see what your 'mdutil' command can do.

First, Thank you for time and all your help for getting this corrected. I left my SDXC card in my card reader which shows as Untitled (above) that indexing is disabled. I see that the Spotlight utility above shows -i (on|off) Turn indexing on or off. What would you suggest for me to try for the next step? Thank you again for your help, I sincerely appreciate it. Ray

 

[chown33]

First, read this article:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202035

An important note is this:

Terminal doesn't show the password as you type.​

Next, paste this command into a Terminal window and press RETURN:

sudo mdutil -v -i on /Volumes/Untitled

It will ask for your password, so enter it and press RETURN. It should then enable Spotlight indexing on "Untitled", if that's possible (it might not be).

To check whether indexing was actually enabled:

mdutil -vas

Post all the output.

 

[Ray&Paula]

First, read this article:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202035

An important note is this:

Terminal doesn't show the password as you type.​

Next, paste this command into a Terminal window and press RETURN:

Last login: Sun Dec 23 12:37:48 on ttys000

Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$ sudo mdutil -v -i on /Volumes/Untitled

Password:

/Volumes/Untitled:

       Indexing enabled.

       Scan base time: 2018-12-23 17:41:22 +0000 (1 seconds ago), reasoning: 'ScanMountError'

Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~

It will ask for your password, so enter it and press RETURN. It should then enable Spotlight indexing on "Untitled", if that's possible (it might not be).

To check whether indexing was actually enabled:

raymondsherman$ mdutil -vas

/:

       Indexing enabled.

/Volumes/Untitled:

       Indexing enabled.

       Scan base time: 2018-12-23 17:41:22 +0000 (97 seconds ago), reasoning: '(null)'

/private/var/folders/59/jmc51hc12r71_s2tmd6lrwq40000gq/T/AppTranslocation/8030C7B5-B793-44F9-97CA-2007506AC1E5:

       Indexing and searching disabled.

Raymonds-MacBook-Pro:~ raymondsherman$

Post all the output.

Awesome!! I checked and everything working as it should. I do have a question; Will I have to do this same procedure with other readers and/or S Cards? In either case, I will definitely file this procedure for future reference. I can't thank you enough for your time and help in getting this resolved. Hopefully from this point forward indexing will be enabled. Thank you!! Ray

 

[chown33]

Awesome!! I checked and everything working as it should. I do have a question; Will I have to do this same procedure with other readers and/or S Cards? In either case, I will definitely file this procedure for future reference. I can't thank you enough for your time and help in getting this resolved. Hopefully from this point forward indexing will be enabled. Thank you!! Ray

Glad it worked.

I don't know if you'll have to do it on other readers or cards. I don't know why it needed a "manual intervention" in this case, so I don't know the underlying cause for disabled indexing.

The way Spotlight normally works, it should enable indexing on any media it can write to, when the media is inserted, and there's no Spotlight indexing database.

If there's a special file that signals Spotlight to NOT enable indexing, then it won't, but one must intentionally create that file. So unless that file already existed, which seems unlikely given that you reformatted the card, I can't think of a reason why Spotlight wouldn't index the card.

If you want to do some testing, you can format another card as ExFAT and put some files and folders on it that would normally be indexed. An MP4 file looks like a good test case.

If you try another card, and it isn't being indexed, then paste this command into Terminal:

ls -laeO@ "/Volumes/Untitled"

If the disk has a name other than "Untitled", then substitute that.

I'll be able to tell something about the basic structure of the disk from that command's output.


Incidentally, I didn't follow-up earlier on the Spotlight pane in System Preferences.

The way Spotlight's Privacy works is you add things to the list to enable privacy, i.e. to disable indexing. Once something is in the list, you disable privacy (enable indexing) by removing the item from the list.

Since nothing was in your Privacy list, you would have added the "Untitled" volume, and indexing would be disabled. Yes, I know indexing was already disabled, but I don't know why it was disabled, and there may be several reasons. So adding "Untitled" will tell Spotlight to disable indexing.

The next step is to remove "Untitled" from the Privacy list, which should enable indexing. That's the goal here: to tell Spotlight to enable indexing without having to use a command-line tool.

You can use the 'mdutil' command-line to check whether using the Privacy list like this really disables and enables indexing. That's one advantage of having more than one way to do something.

Also see this Apple article:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716


Finally, when you paste Terminal output into replies, please do it after the quoted block, not within it.

When I wrote "paste it in a reply here" above all I meant was "in a reply to this thread". I didn't mean to paste it into the quoted block of what I already wrote. It can be confusing to other people who might read this thread later if parts of what you post is stuck in the middle of what I posted.

 

[Ray&Paula]

Glad it worked.

I don't know if you'll have to do it on other readers or cards. I don't know why it needed a "manual intervention" in this case, so I don't know the underlying cause for disabled indexing.

I use several external HD's and never had this issue. The reader is a simple single sd card reader made by SanDisk.

The way Spotlight normally works, it should enable indexing on any media it can write to, when the media is inserted, and there's no Spotlight indexing database.

If there's a special file that signals Spotlight to NOT enable indexing, then it won't, but one must intentionally create that file. So unless that file already existed, which seems unlikely given that you reformatted the card, I can't think of a reason why Spotlight wouldn't index the card.

If you want to do some testing, you can format another card as ExFAT and put some files and folders on it that would normally be indexed. An MP4 file looks like a good test case.

If you try another card, and it isn't being indexed, then paste this command into Terminal:

ls -laeO@ "/Volumes/Untitled"

If the disk has a name other than "Untitled", then substitute that.

I'll be able to tell something about the basic structure of the disk from that command's output.

There wasn't anything listed under "Privacy" in System Preferences, that's what makes it odd. I will do some additional testing as you suggested. If there is a problem, I'll let you know.

Incidentally, I didn't follow-up earlier on the Spotlight pane in System Preferences.

The way Spotlight's Privacy works is you add things to the list to enable privacy, i.e. to disable indexing. Once something is in the list, you disable privacy (enable indexing) by removing the item from the list.

Since nothing was in your Privacy list, you would have added the "Untitled" volume, and indexing would be disabled. Yes, I know indexing was already disabled, but I don't know why it was disabled, and there may be several reasons. So adding "Untitled" will tell Spotlight to disable indexing.

The next step is to remove "Untitled" from the Privacy list, which should enable indexing. That's the goal here: to tell Spotlight to enable indexing without having to use a command-line tool.

You can use the 'mdutil' command-line to check whether using the Privacy list like this really disables and enables indexing. That's one advantage of having more than one way to do something.

Also see this Apple article:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

Thanks for that great explanation. Basically, you're tricking the system and hopefully removing a ghost at the same time.

Finally, when you paste Terminal output into replies, please do it after the quoted block, not within it.

When I wrote "paste it in a reply here" above all I meant was "in a reply to this thread". I didn't mean to paste it into the quoted block of what I already wrote. It can be confusing to other people who might read this thread later if parts of what you post is stuck in the middle of what I posted.

You're absolutely right....... my bad. I've never done "Codes" before but, now that you taught me, I will definitely post them as you mentioned.
Thank you again for all your time that you invested in helping me clear up this situation. I now know a little about "manual intervention" when it comes to Spotlight indexing. I certainly couldn't have done it without your help. You are truly an awesome asset to this forum and I sincerely appreciate it. I wish you and your's a great Holiday! Ray