i can't seem to be able to search for files on my mounted NAS drives

[mrgreeneyes]

i have a synology NAS, and i have several folders that i have mounted on my desktop as AFP,
and if i click on one of the mounted fodlers and in the finder window do a search for a file it can't find anything.

CleanShot 2022-09-01 at 11.28.15

Screenshot uploaded to CleanShot Cloud

share.cleanshot.com

i made sure to have any indexing done on my NAS.

any ideas?

 

[jamietshaw]

Same. It's not in Spotlight’s index, so it just doesn‘t bother to show anything. Really annoying. I end up using Terminal, which is hardly a user-friendly method!

find /Volumes/media -name "spider-man"

 

[jamietshaw]

PS You’ll get a neater screenshot with the built-in tools. Either:

• Make the Finder window visible, open Preview and go to File > Take Screenshot > From Window, then click on the Finder window.
• Make the Finder window visible, open Screenshot and choose the option to take a screenshot of a window, then click on the Finder window.
• Press Cmd-Shift-4, then Spacebar, and click on the Finder window.

 

[HDFan]

Works for me although I am likely using SMB. Is there a reason you are using AFP rather than SMB since it has been deprecated?




What version of DSM are you running?

 

[mrgreeneyes]

Works for me although I am likely using SMB. Is there a reason you are using AFP rather than SMB since it has been deprecated?

View attachment 2049966


What version of DSM are you running?

View attachment 2049972

i am using DSM 7, i didnt choose AFP, but i just remounted all my shares as smb, and i still cannot search for files.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

PS You’ll get a neater screenshot with the built-in tools. Either:

• Make the Finder window visible, open Preview and go to File > Take Screenshot > From Window, then click on the Finder window.
• Make the Finder window visible, open Screenshot and choose the option to take a screenshot of a window, then click on the Finder window.
• Press Cmd-Shift-4, then Spacebar, and click on the Finder window.

i prefer using my method but thanks for the tip.

 

[davidlv]

i am using DSM 7, i didnt choose AFP, but i just remounted all my shares as smb, and i still cannot search for files.

Have you tried using EasyFind? It will allow you to specify the target disk (boot disk is the default).

DEVONtechnologies | Needful Things

A little collection of free utilities for the Mac to make your life easier.

www.devontechnologies.com

 

[mrgreeneyes]

Have you tried using EasyFind? It will allow you to specify the target disk (boot disk is the default).

DEVONtechnologies | Needful Things

A little collection of free utilities for the Mac to make your life easier.

www.devontechnologies.com

no i have not tried easy find, i will give it a try. thanks

 

[BanditoB]

Spotlight can search the NAS, but it is extremely slow as there is no index for it to work with. If you're in the directory with the file you're looking for, it will come up fairly quickly. If, however, you start at another level or the root of you share, be prepared to wait a while for search results.

If you are on DSM 7, you can enable Universal Search and it will index the drive and it will work with Spotlight in Finder to locate files on the NAS very quickly. Here is a video that shows you how to set up Universal Search.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

Spotlight can search the NAS, but it is extremely slow as there is no index for it to work with. If you're in the directory with the file you're looking for, it will come up fairly quickly. If, however, you start at another level or the root of you share, be prepared to wait a while for search results.

If you are on DSM 7, you can enable Universal Search and it will index the drive and it will work with Spotlight in Finder to locate files on the NAS very quickly. Here is a video that shows you how to set up Universal Search.

i have universal search set up, and it still doesnt find anything when i am searching for something.

 

[davidlv]

i have universal search set up, and it still doesnt find anything when i am searching for something.

In my experience, Spotlight will often miss things. EasyFind will show anything you search for, and if set up correctly, it will show the path to the target file(s) at the bottom of the search window. Clicking on the enclosing folder will give you immediate access to search target. This app can be set up in many ways, to include even hidden files. Highly recommended.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

In my experience, Spotlight will often miss things. EasyFind will show anything you search for, and if set up correctly, it will show the path to the target file(s) at the bottom of the search window. Clicking on the enclosing folder will give you immediate access to search target. This app can be set up in many ways, to include even hidden files. Highly recommended. View attachment 2050097

how do you have it show the path at the bottom? i dont see an option to have that shown.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

also, when i am in finder and click on my NAS and mount a folder it always mounts it as AFP, how can i change that to SMB?

 

[mrgreeneyes]

how do you have it show the path at the bottom? i dont see an option to have that shown.

nevermind, i found out how, by clicking on an item from the search result it will then show you the file path.

 

[HDFan]

lso, when i am in finder and click on my NAS and mount a folder it always mounts it as AFP, how can i change that to SMB?

Uncheck enable AFP.

 

[doobydoooby]

Hi, sorry I can't help you with suggestions how to fix it but there must be something in your setup that is causing this to occur. I have a NAS connected via SMB (its WD, not synology) and I can search for files on it via finder in the same manner as any other location.

 

[BanditoB]

i have universal search set up, and it still doesnt find anything when i am searching for something.

Are you on the latest version of DSM 7? The integration with Spotlight is a fairly recent addition.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

Are you on the latest version of DSM 7? The integration with Spotlight is a fairly recent addition.

Yeah I have DSM 7

 

[mrgreeneyes]

Uncheck enable AFP.

View attachment 2050447

if i uncheck AFP, then some of my shared folders don't appear if i try to mount them as SMB

 

[HDFan]

if i uncheck AFP, then some of my shared folders don't appear if i try to mount them as SMB

The next thing to try would be to un-share the folder and re-share with AFP disabled. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to unshare a folder without deleting it.

Copying a small existing shared folder to a different folder and sharing it was my next thought. Unfortunately the same thing happens - sharing a folder creates a new folder.

Evidently you can't separate sharing from creating/deleting the folder.

The only option to test things seems to be to create a new shared folder without AFP then copy the content into the new folder to see if the new folder works with only SMB enabled.

 

[Reelmower]

I am in a similar boat. My searches are extremely slow if I mount the drive with smb, but very fast with AFP. Spotlight search does not work at all when I use SMB. This is on a brand new M2 MacBook pro. I have had AFP turned off on my synology nas as long as I can remember. I only turned it on because I saw this thread.