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Re: Spotlight backkup strategy (with asr, ARD 3 and Automator?)
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Re: Spotlight backkup strategy (with asr, ARD 3 and Automator?)


On 2006.06.08, at 13:17 , Ryan Brown wrote:

To prevent this, additional steps are required, such as disabling indexing on that volume via

sudo defaults write /path_to_backup_volume/.Spotlight-V100/_IndexPolicy Policy -int 3 

prior to restarting from Safe Mode.

An easier, but less commonly known route to disabling spotlight is to create a .metadata_never_index at the root of the volume you want to disable indexing for. A .metadata_index_homes_only file will also be respected.

That's an interesting tip.  A Google search for metadata_never_index turns up a few references, but it's nowhere to be found in the Spotlight documentation, at least based on my last review of such.  That's not unexpected. ;-).

I uncovered the Policy workaround by examining the differences in _IndexPolicy.plist between 

sudo mdutil -i off /path_to_volume 

and 

sudo mdutil -i off /path_to_volume

It's unfortunate that this kind of information isn't in the Developer documentation, requiring we "poke at the black box to see what makes it tick." ;-)

How these workarounds fare with different Backup and Recovery utilities (B&RUs) varies based on a given B&RU's approach to the Spotlight metadata store, especially when updating an existing backup.  When duplicating or "cloning" a drive, most B&RUs remove from the backup files which are not on the source, presuming such files were deleted from the source since the backup was last updated.  WIth most B&RUs, if one uses either of the workarounds above, one always has to reset the workaround after the backup, especially if indexing is enabled on the source:

- If .metadata_never_index is only on the backup volume, it will be deleted when the backup is synchronized with the source.

- The _IndexPolicy.plist of the source will either (a) replace that on the backup, enabling indexing; or (b) be removed from the backup, the latter if the B&RU ignores the metadata store on the source and consequently views _IndexPolicy.plist on the backup as file to be deleted.

EMC Insignia (nee Dantz) Retrospect, ignores the /.Spotlight-V100 directory on both the source *and* backup volumes. One need only set up the workaround once on the backup volume after performing an initial Duplicate backup with Retrospect.  The workaround will remain in place on the backup volume through subsequent updates of the Duplicate, enabling one to backup a volume on which indexing is enabled while always having a backup on which both indexing is disabled and no disk space is used by a copy of the metadata store from the source.

;-) Doc
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References: 
 >Spotlight backkup strategy (with asr, ARD 3 and Automator?) (From: "Sergio Trejo" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Spotlight backkup strategy (with asr, ARD 3 and Automator?) (From: "Dr. Smoke" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Spotlight backkup strategy (with asr, ARD 3 and Automator?) (From: Ryan Brown <email@hidden>)



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