Back on Windows, I used to use Everything - voidtools to search through any NTFS partition immediately because it used the FAT. Nothing comparable appears to exist for Linux, much less BTRFS specifically.
Consequently, is there any potential danger to doing
?
I think yes (I am no expert so take this with a grain of salt). Donât do it for now. I will look into this in more detail later once I have time. For now just follow the recommendations.
Afaik the reason is because of cache files (and other fast changing files) can wear down your SSD and can lead to lags.
There was a proposal that after the indexed files a normal search is used. Not sure if this is already implemented.
Give me some time to look into this or maybe someone more knowledgeable can respond in the meantime.
I donât think itâs immediate, exactly, but I was very happy with the performance of KFind, and ran into problems trying to use baloo. Might be worth a try instead? (I ended up setting Super+F as a shortcut for KFind, I used it so often)
Yeah, @johnandmegh, I always use kfind because the integrated search in dolphin, be it provided by baloo or whatever else, never works. I think itâs been able to find a single file for me in the past year. Perhaps it relies solely upon its index?
Have you tried FSearch ? , blisteringly fast
I remember I tried once, without content indexing, and was pleasantly surprised that it worked.
I think it would be a bad idea to try content indexing (imagine how many files that might be) and best avoid hidden files and folders. You may also find that with so many folders, baloo will run out of iNotify watchesâŚ
After having tried it the once, I went back to content indexing $HOME.
I remember being impressed by the speed of plocate (for filename searches) but it needs a regular indexing job.
Just ignore my comment.
No, @WilsonEPhillips, thatâs not quite enough said, because I have little idea of what you refer to. For instance, if youâre referring to BTRFS snapshots, I donât understand how that pertains to search.
@artytux, Iâve not. However, does it possess the same drawback that KFind does - that it does not integrate directly into dolphinâs search bar?
Just ignore my comment.
I donât use the Dolphin search bar at all what I can tell you is that with FSearch you get the results as quick as you type in the request then with the results just left click and the file (text or image) will open in your preferred software if you right click gets a quite good mini menu copy as, trash and properties are some of the right click.
The reason for not using Dolphin/Baloo is baloo kept throwing up errors in itâs status reports.
Try FSearch itâs affordable, fast and the searches are configurable in preferences - database.
Indexing â/â means you will be indexing a lot more than what you need, and the file indexer will error often because it wonât have access to many directories in there.
This is essentially a waste of resource and recipe for problems.
No donât do it. As often, there is a reason the defaults are what they are.
What you want here is to add the mount point of your NTFS drive as an indexed directory, aka the your drive path. That would be for instance /home/media/$USER/sdb1.
This is true for Plasma-'s baloo and also other file indexers as well.
Considering that I see no results in dolphin when baloo is inactive regardless of my system possessing a multitude of BTRFS snapshots, I doubt that they are contributing to any relevant filesystem index.
I donât know what youâre referring to here. Every system contains logs, and I have no external drives connected to my PC, much less any direct connections to any servers on my LAN. Why do mention this regardless?
I donât want to index solely $HOME, /etc, and /usr, though. I want everything (except /tmp).
I believe that kfind provides the same. Unfortunately, unless it provides some incredible functionality that I didnât realize I needed, itâll only be as useful as kfind currently is to me. I am thankful, though.
I donât use NTFS. I only use BTRFS (and occasionally exFAT for Android, Windows, and macOS interoperability, albeit not currently). Consequently, I donât know what youâre referring to.
Surely it is designed to ignore directories that it is unable to access? I canât see that being particularly problematic.
I want to be able to search for system files across the HFS hierarchy. In windows, I used to index my C:/ (and all other drives, albeit individually to the non-abstracted filesystem hierarchy). I do, however, want to exclude /tmp due to it being purely temporary and thus not a useful usage of CPU.
I had no issues with this, allowing myself to be able to access system files quickly. Being able to access such files is the purpose of me doing this.
Have you any examples?
Just ignore my comment.
Just so it doesnât look like a got angry and leftâŚ
There are some of the folders that should not be indexed. Some only exist when the system is running. They are created new each boot.
You have no need to index /var or /proc or /opt or /.snaphots or /bin or /lib or anything other than /etc and /home and /usr.
You asked. I answered and you didnât like my answer. Do whatever make you happy. 
I felt a need to look up about this and seems to be A Thing in Micro$ fair enough do it in M$
This is Linux get out of M$ thinking, please.
The only need to go into the file system is IF you are are creating some new wow item for Linux other than that, honestly Iâm very puzzled why anyone would venture in to there.
Indexing the root file system is a big no no no,
NO unless you want to brick you Linux install
I"m very puzzled to what you seek in there (- Please answer at least this Q -)
What are you looking for ?
I thought you were looking for specific item
Have you ever considered Htop
This is where you completely let yourself down, be kind to yourself.
give FSearch a try, did not install and use nah,
so how can you realize itâs uses if you donât try it Hmm ?
no attempt to use it in you own way so how can anyone tell you how to find what you are looking for when you do not advise anyone about your what you searches are for ?.
This is why the answers given to your problem donât help the way you would like,
you need to take heed when developers and other members of this community
advise you not to do !
Iâm at a loss, keeping your cards (info) close to your chest will impede anyone trying to help
read the previous advice, solid advice
DO NOT index root unless you want to break it !
At first I had the idea that you were looking for specific item not for random playtime in the engine room.
Stop saying stuff like this, @WilsonEPhillips. The constant passive aggression is just strange! Iâm glad for your help, okay? I never wonât be, so stop saying that. It got our last thread locked and itâs just an annoyance.
I am genuinely glad you provided a list of things to exclude:
The logical root cannot be indexed in Windows (if thatâs what you mean by âMicro$â - Xbox and Windows Phone share the same kernel, but differ in that indexing cannot be user-controlled). Heck, it canât even be assigned to the %SystemRoot% (or CSLID equivalent) environment variable, to my knowledge.
I have no idea what this means.
It didnât appear to the last time I did it on cpe:/o:opensuse:tumbleweed, and I used that system for a year without reinstallation.
Why do you mention that?
Iâm not looking for anything. Your suggestion was assistive, but I certainly did not request it. This isnât an X/Y problem - I want all non-temporary files of my system to be indexed. To that end, I want to know whether indexing all of it is potentially dangerous for the system. That is all.
What information am I witholding? What does such an accusation provide except animosity? I see no reason to construe such a thing, much less without merely asking me whether I am, especially because I can see no reason for me to do so. This is no interrogation of myself - it is a request by my self for assistance.
I donât know what this means either.
Letâs stay on track. I donât want to discuss anything emotional (this is a discussion about indexing with baloo, damnit) and I certainly donât want to discuss the nitty gritty of the myriad file searching tools Iâve not used in my life.
Letâs just discuss filesystem indexing.
