Cannot search external drive

[GrahamD]

I am using an external HD, Seagate 2TB formatted with exFAT.

I use it to backup all my photographic images, some 100,000 in number.

Problem is, I cannot search for any of them. They are (mostly) .jpeg and all have a filename prefix IMG_

How can I make Win7 search for files? I presume it's an index issue, so how can I create one, if that is what is needed?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[wither 2]

Are you able to open the external disk in Windows Explorer and see your files?

What are you putting into the search box?

 

[GrahamD]

Thanks for the reply.

All my files are present and correct. On any other drive, if I were to search for (example) IMG_10001, in the top right box in Window Explorer, it would eventually come up.

In this case, it seems to refuse to start a search and anything you type comes back with "Search not found", even though you can see its all there.

 

[wither 2]

Click on Start, Run. Type in Index. Click on Indexing Options. Run the troubleshooter.

Does that help?

 

[GrahamD]

I ran the troubleshooter, which then asked me to run as Admin. Ran it again, clicked the Files Do Not Appear in Search and it came back with Troubleshooter Couldn't Identify The Problem.

 

[Alejandro85]

The build-in Windows search is completely broken and will often not find files or show strange results.

Use a real search program instead.

 

[file3456]

I turn off the Windows Search service and use a very fast program called Everything.exe. Give that a try.

Downloads - voidtools

 

[wither 2]

I ran the troubleshooter, which then asked me to run as Admin. Ran it again, clicked the Files Do Not Appear in Search and it came back with Troubleshooter Couldn't Identify The Problem.

Did you run the other part of the troubleshooter which allows you to specify the drive?

Are you saying this happens for any drive?

 

[Extrinsic]

I turn off the Windows Search service and use a very fast program called Everything.exe. Give that a try.

Downloads - voidtools

I disable Windows Search as well, and never even thought about a replacement. I always have to enable the service on the rare occasions I need to search for something. I'll try Everything out, thanks.

 

[Sorayama]

I have always disabled Windows Search and Indexing. Fastest search for any directory is create a context menu entry "Search with EVERYTHING", but you can customize to any text. I run Everything as a portable app from inside a hidden directory C:\Everything (If using installed version, modify the path below to wherever Everything.exe is located). Copy the following and save it as a .reg file and merge. Any time you want to do a really fast search, right click on directory and Everything limits results to that directory alone instead of the entire drive. NOTE: This only works on directories!

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search with EVERYTHING]
"Icon"=""C:\\Everything\\Everything.exe""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Search with EVERYTHING\Command]
@=""C:\\Everything\\Everything.exe" -path "%1""