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When using Spotlight search, it is not finding a specific file, which I know is located on my Time Capsule drive, which, of course, is mounted and indexing thereof is enabled. Please, see below relevant Terminal extract:

Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /                                                              
/:
    Indexing enabled. 
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /Volumes 
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes:
    Indexing enabled. 
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdutil -s /Volumes/Time\ Capsule 
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes/Time Capsule:
    Indexing enabled. 
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans                     
total 15296
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff        0 Jan 15  2012 Icon?
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff      264 Jan 20  2012 Teach Yourself - Afrikaans
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff  7761600 Aug  9 09:33 afrikaans woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name afrikaans     
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name afrikaans 
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name afrikaans
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

I have tried rebuilding the indexing by adding and removing the drive from the Spotlight Privacy tab. What should I do? Please help! Thanks

UPDATE 1 as per kodliber's suggestion: Have you tried by manually import this file you mention using the command mdimport? Yes I have, to no avail.

Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/
total 15296
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff        0 Jan 15  2012 Icon?
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff      264 Jan 20  2012 Teach Yourself - Afrikaans
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 Martin  staff  7761600 Aug  9 09:33 afrikaans woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdimport /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/afrikaans\ woorden.txt
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name woorden
Password:
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ -name woorden
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

UPDATE 2 as per Jahhein's question: At the root of the volume, is there a file named .metadata_never_index? No, there is no such file.

Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -la /Volumes/Time\ Capsule | grep .metadata_never_index
Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %

UPDATE 3

Doing the same search using Spotlight via CMD+Spacebar works: enter image description here

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  • At the root of the volume, is there a file named .metadata_never_index?
    – Jahhein
    Commented Aug 15, 2020 at 18:43
  • @Jahhein No, there is no such file.
    – yssup
    Commented Aug 15, 2020 at 21:33
  • Are you trying to find a file within the TM backup using Spotlight? I don't think you can get results from inside a backup in 'normal' search. What happens if you search from within the TM application, using the "Finder" window's search bar?
    – benwiggy
    Commented Sep 4, 2020 at 14:58
  • @benwiggy No, my problem has nothing to do with Time Machine. I'm trying to find a file on Time Capsule drive, not within Time Machine backup.
    – yssup
    Commented Sep 5, 2020 at 9:40

1 Answer 1

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1

(I have not enough reputation to comment your question, so I post a reply - my apologies to the admins.)

Have you tried by manually import this file you mention using the command mdimport?

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  • You may ask OP to drop in chat chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/38/ask-different-chat
    – anki
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 14:46
  • @kodliber yes, to no avail Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % ls -l /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/ total 15192 drwx------ 1 Martin staff 16384 Jan 20 2012 Teach Yourself - Afrikaans -rwx------ 1 Martin staff 7761600 Aug 9 09:33 afrikaans woorden.txt Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdimport /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans/afrikaans\ woorden.txt Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ % mdfind -onlyin /Volumes/Time\ Capsule/Documents/Afrikaans -name woorden Martin@Martins-MacBook-Pro ~ %
    – yssup
    Commented Aug 14, 2020 at 11:12

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