What exactly does "rebuild index" mean?

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cabbage
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:51 pm

Re: Keep offline volumes in the index

Post by cabbage »

void wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2014 6:43 am
[*]Offline indexes will be lost when the index is rebuilt. All volumes must be online when Everything builds its index.[/list]
What exactly does "rebuild index" mean? I'm very confused. When does it happen? Every time Everything is started? In which case then how can there be such a thing as "keep offline volumes in index"? Is "rebuild index" the same thing as monitoring internal hard drive for changes and updating? Do I ever have to rebuild the index? How do I know if it's happening? Is there a way to stop it?

What I do know is that offline drives seem to randomly disappear and I have no idea why. Sometimes they stay for months and sometimes for only for a few minutes after detaching and I can't see any pattern.
void
Developer
Posts: 15351
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: What exactly does "rebuild index" mean?

Post by void »

Moved from Keep offline volumes in the index.



Everything should only index once.

Everything will perform a quick reindex if you add or remove a volume from your index.


When does it happen?
When you start Everything for the first time.
-or-
When you add or remove a volume from your index.


In which case then how can there be such a thing as "keep offline volumes in index"?
When reindexing, Everything will keep an old copy of your index.
The filenames from your offline volume are gathered from your old index.
Once the new index is created the old index is destroyed.


Is "rebuild index" the same thing as monitoring internal hard drive for changes and updating?
No.
Rebuild index is creating a full and fresh scan of your volumes. (expensive)
Monitor changes watches your file system for changes and updates your existing indexes. (inexpensive)


Do I ever have to rebuild the index?
Generally, no.

You will need to rebuild if you:
delete hardlinks
add hardlinks in Everything 1.4 or earlier.
After running a check disk that made a change to your volume.



Everything will automatically reindex if:
a lot of changes were made to your file system while Everything was not running.
An NTFS USN Journal is deleted or re-created.
Your Everything.db was missing or corrupt.


How do I know if it's happening?
Everything will show reindexing or scanning in the status bar at the bottom left.


Is there a way to stop it?
Once started, a reindex cannot be stopped.



Is Everything missing files or still showing deleted files?

-Please make sure Everything is installed correctly:
  • In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the General tab on the left.
  • Check Store settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything.
  • Uncheck Run as administrator.
  • Check Everything Service. (Please make sure this is tick-checked and not square-checked)
  • Click OK.
  • Exit Everything (right click the Everything tray icon and click Exit).
  • Restart Everything.


Is Everything reindexing often?

-Please make sure Everything is installed correctly:
  • In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the General tab on the left.
  • Check Store settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything.
  • Click OK.
-Please try disabling automatically include new volumes and automatically remove offline volumes:
  • In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the NTFS tab on the left.
  • Uncheck Automatically include new fixed volumes.
  • Uncheck Automatically include new removable volumes.
  • Uncheck Automatically remove offline volumes.
  • Click OK.
-Please try increasing your USN Journal size to at least 131072 KB:
  • In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the NTFS tab on the left.
  • For each NTFS volume:
    • Set Maximum size to: 131072 KB
  • Click OK.
-Please make sure Windows is shutting down gracefully. (bluescreens will cause Everything to lose recent changes to your file systems)
-Please make sure Everything is shutting down gracefully on system shutdown. (don't terminate Everything on shutdown)
-Please make sure there's no pending Windows updates that are stuck. (stuck updates can make millions of file changes triggering a reindex)
-Please try storing your Everything database on another drive (Tools -> Options -> Indexes -> Database location)
Thy Grand Voidinesss
Posts: 606
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2022 5:01 pm

Re: What exactly does "rebuild index" mean?

Post by Thy Grand Voidinesss »

void wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:52 am [...]
Do I ever have to rebuild the index?
Generally, no.

You will need to rebuild if you:
[...]
After running a check disk that made a change to your volume.
[...]
What kind of changes? And how is a user suppose to know that such changes have been made?

I use chkdsk rarely and with the /F parameter in hopes of fixing things when something is apparently not working
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