Windows 7 keeps losing index of RAID volume

Wedge504 · 08 Aug 2013

I have a 4-disc enclosure set up as a single RAID volume, attached to a desktop running Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit.

About every 2 or 3 weeks, I must reindex this volume, because it simply stops working. I don't know if it is getting corrupt or just disappearing, but the windows search on this volume clearly doesn't reference an index any longer. I can rebuild the index, and the search works, using the index again.

I have googled quite a bit and found many people discussing Windows 7 indexing and some problems associated with it, including the thread here about rebuilding. I have yet to find anyone who seems to suffer the "losing index" problem that I am describing.

Any guidance on this will be appreciated.

Wedge504 · 09 Aug 2013

I've been researching more and I found a Vista user that says his index was lost after running defrags.

In Windows 7, does defrag run when the PC is idle? If yes, can this be turned off?

edit: I just reread the Vista users comments, and apparently he was using a 3rd party app called "MyDefrag". But still, my question above stand. I am wondering if defragging the RAID volume can cause the index to be lost.

MilesAhead · 09 Aug 2013

How about approaching it the other way. Stop defragging. Index the drive. See what happens? I'm not sure if a defrag program on a RAID setup is all that useful, as I haven't had a RAID sytem to play with.

Wedge504 · 09 Aug 2013

I'm in agreement; if defrag is occuring, I want to stop it, but I do not know if Windows 7 defaults to a defrag at idle. This is the reason I asked if defrags occur when the system is idle.

As for the user of this PC, I will ask if he is manually starting a defrag. If he is, I'll ask him to stop.

MilesAhead · 09 Aug 2013

I believe since Vista, defrag.exe is in Scheduled Tasks. Unfortunately Windows has no API call to tell when the disk is idle. Only the CPU. That's why it's counterproductive to use Scheduled Tasks to schedule defrags. You can be in the middle of a defrag with a 3rd party defragger and it will still fire if CPU activity is low and other settings apply.

I found out the hard way the first time I ran MyDefrag on my new Vista PC. defrag.exe kicked in and crashed MyDefrag. Fortunately it didn't scramble the drive contents.