How can I reindex an external hard drive so it searches correctly?

[oxband]

I had a RAID 5. I copied the contents of that drive to a regular external hard drive. So, instead of being a RAID, it was a single drive.

Since then, when I search in the finder, the results are weird and wrong. It's giving me odd files directions and things that just aren't accurate. I want to reindex the drive so when I search in the finder window, it actually points me in the right direction.

I tried this solution - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716 - but it didn't work.

Any suggestions? I'm running Big Sur 11.6

 

[bogdanw]

My solution from Terminal

sudo mdutil -d -i off /Volumes/ExternalDrive

sudo rm -rf /Volumes/ExternalDrive/.Spotlight-V100

sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/ExternalDrive; sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/ExternalDrive

About mdutil https://ss64.com/osx/mdutil.html

 

[oxband]

My solution from Terminal

sudo mdutil -d -i off /Volumes/ExternalDrive

sudo rm -rf /Volumes/ExternalDrive/.Spotlight-V100

sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/ExternalDrive; sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/ExternalDrive

About mdutil https://ss64.com/osx/mdutil.html

If I do this.....do I need to change anything in this script to have my drive name? Or just use as written? Thanks so much.

 

[bogdanw]

Replace ExternalDrive with the name of your drive. If it contains spaces, put it in quotes:

sudo mdutil -d -i off "/Volumes/My Drive"

 

[oxband]

When I try the second step, it doesnt work. I'll copy and paste. You can see the name of the drive is "In the Pines RAID 5." Thoughts? Thanks again.

noamscomputercatalina@MacBook-Pro-5 ~ % sudo rm -rf /Volumes/"In the Pines Raid 5"/.Spotlight-V100



rm: /Volumes/In the Pines Raid 5/.Spotlight-V100: Operation not permitted

noamscomputercatalina@MacBook-Pro-5 ~ %

 

[bogdanw]

Skip that second step and re-enable the indexing with

sudo mdutil -i on “/Volumes/In the Pines Raid 5/”
sudo mdutil -E “/Volumes/In the Pines Raid 5/”

 

[oxband]

I am trying to do that but it tells me there's an invalid path. Attached is a screenshot. Thoughts?

 

[jaytv111]

It looks like the terminal doesn't like the quote characters you used.

Type in the commands with regular double quotes and don't copy and paste. Otherwise if you do copy and paste, you have to edit the command to delete out the left quote and right quote characters and insert the doublequote character.

 

[oxband]

You are a hero. A true hero. That solved it!