FoxTrot Search Forum
FoxTrot Search for macOS Forum

Home » Public Forums » FoxTrot Search User Forum » Index corrupted, new index build is not working
Index corrupted, new index build is not working [message #125] Tue, 14 May 2013 20:43 Go to next message
david berreby
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2013
Junior Member
I've stopped being able to use FT Pro because

1. I got a message some weeks ago that my index had become corrupted

2. FT seems to be re-indexing everything from scratch

3. This indexing never seems to end. It tells me 19,381 one files out of
60,219 are indexed, but the number of files completed does not increase
with the passage of time. Moreover the "time remaining" indicator goes up
and down wildly (it now says time remaining is "about 9 days"...wait that
just switched to 19 hours...then to "about a day"...now it's back up to "3
days" -- all this since I typed the "3" above)

4. Every now and then I get a message that something called
"something-something"helper has quit unexpectedly.

What on earth is going on? How do I fix it? Does anyone know?
Re: Index corrupted, new index build is not working [message #126 is a reply to message #125] Wed, 15 May 2013 17:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 383
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
david berreby wrote:

> 3. This indexing never seems to end. It tells me 19,381 one files out of
> 60,219 are indexed, but the number of files completed does not increase
> with the passage of time. Moreover the "time remaining" indicator goes up
> and down wildly (it now says time remaining is "about 9 days"...wait that
> just switched to 19 hours...then to "about a day"...now it's back up to "3
> days" -- all this since I typed the "3" above)
>
> 4. Every now and then I get a message that something called
> "something-something"helper has quit unexpectedly.

The i386MDIHelper (or RosettaMDIHelper) is used when using a 32-bit (or PowerPC) Spotlight importer. If it crashes, then one of your third-party applications have a Spotlight importer that crashes. I think you should not get this alert message, unless if you have set Crash Reporter preferences in the developer mode.
Anyway, FoxTrot should recover from this and continue indexing, but if prior to crashing, this importer hangs, then yo can get what you describe: indexing can be very long. FoxTrot should also force-quit the importer if it hangs for a long time, but it can hang again for the next indexed document...

To determine which importer is concerned, several options:

- check the blacklist; every time an importer hangs or crashes, the document being indexed is blacklisted, so it will not be indexed again (assuming the indexer is crashing on a specific document, and not for every document!). In FoxTrot Pro, the blacklist button is at the bottom of indexed locations list, in the "indexed data" pane of the "manage indices" window. If the blacklist contains a lot of files from a third party application, it's importer is probably not working correctly.

- check the crawler log; click "Logs…" in the "Configuration" pane, and check the file currently being indexed in "FoxTrotCrawler.log". If the the importer frequently hangs on files from a third party application, it's importer is probably not working correctly.

- use Activity Monitor; select "all processes" in the toolbar popup menu, then sort the processed by % CPU; if FTFileCrawler or i386MDIHelper or RosettaMDIHelper uses 100 % of CPU, select it in the processes list, and click "sample" in the toolbar. Examining the sample should indicate which importer is currently being called.

If you find that the CPU is used mainly by FTProFileIndexer, then the problem can be elsewhere; check if some exceptions are shown in the indexer log. Also, you can verify if the size of your index file is normal, in the Finder or in the "configuration" pane.

Thanks for the report


Jérôme - CTM Engineering


------------------------------------------------------------ ---------
"I would like to comment that FoxTrot is so far superior to Spotlight
in every way that without it, I would probably have to go back to
Windows (shudder) since the ability to search my own files is mission
critical."
Steven Merley, FoxTrot Personal Search user

Download a demo version from www.foxtrot.ch
------------------------------------------------------------ ---------

--

---


Jérôme - FoxTrot Engineering
Re: Index corrupted, new index build is not working [message #129 is a reply to message #126] Mon, 20 May 2013 17:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
david berreby
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2013
Junior Member
Hi, thanks for this answer.

Looks as if the trouble is ".mwd" docs -- that's Mariner Write, which I
used years ago. Viz:
<>

Trouble is, as I put hanging files on the blacklist, new ones take their
place as problems. Could I possible remove this i386MDIHelper thing? I
don't have a PowerPC chip so I don't see why I need it.

Thanks!

David

On Wednesday, May 15, 2013 11:46:35 AM UTC-4, FoxTrot Engineering wrote:
>
> david berreby wrote:
>
>> 3. This indexing never seems to end. It tells me 19,381 one files out of
>> 60,219 are indexed, but the number of files completed does not increase
>> with the passage of time. Moreover the "time remaining" indicator goes up
>> and down wildly (it now says time remaining is "about 9 days"...wait that
>> just switched to 19 hours...then to "about a day"...now it's back up to
> "3
>> days" -- all this since I typed the "3" above)
>>
>> 4. Every now and then I get a message that something called
>> "something-something"helper has quit unexpectedly.
>
> The i386MDIHelper (or RosettaMDIHelper) is used when using a 32-bit (or
> PowerPC) Spotlight importer. If it crashes, then one of your third-party
> applications have a Spotlight importer that crashes. I think you should not
> get this alert message, unless if you have set Crash Reporter preferences
> in the developer mode.
> Anyway, FoxTrot should recover from this and continue indexing, but if
> prior to crashing, this importer hangs, then yo can get what you describe:
> indexing can be very long. FoxTrot should also force-quit the importer if
> it hangs for a long time, but it can hang again for the next indexed
> document...
>
> To determine which importer is concerned, several options:
>
> - check the blacklist; every time an importer hangs or crashes, the
> document being indexed is blacklisted, so it will not be indexed again
> (assuming the indexer is crashing on a specific document, and not for every
> document!). In FoxTrot Pro, the blacklist button is at the bottom of
> indexed locations list, in the "indexed data" pane of the "manage indices"
> window. If the blacklist contains a lot of files from a third party
> application, it's importer is probably not working correctly.
>
> - check the crawler log; click "Logs…" in the "Configuration" pane, and
> check the file currently being indexed in "FoxTrotCrawler.log". If the the
> importer frequently hangs on files from a third party application, it's
> importer is probably not working correctly.
>
> - use Activity Monitor; select "all processes" in the toolbar popup menu,
> then sort the processed by % CPU; if FTFileCrawler or i386MDIHelper or
> RosettaMDIHelper uses 100 % of CPU, select it in the processes list, and
> click "sample" in the toolbar. Examining the sample should indicate which
> importer is currently being called.
>
> If you find that the CPU is used mainly by FTProFileIndexer, then the
> problem can be elsewhere; check if some exceptions are shown in the indexer
> log. Also, you can verify if the size of your index file is normal, in the
> Finder or in the "configuration" pane.
>
> Thanks for the report
>
>
> Jérôme - CTM Engineering
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------
> "I would like to comment that FoxTrot is so far superior to Spotlight
> in every way that without it, I would probably have to go back to
> Windows (shudder) since the ability to search my own files is mission
> critical."
> Steven Merley, FoxTrot Personal Search user
>
> Download a demo version from www.foxtrot.ch
> ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------

--

---
Re: Index corrupted, new index build is not working [message #130 is a reply to message #129] Tue, 21 May 2013 09:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 383
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
david berreby wrote:

> Looks as if the trouble is ".mwd" docs -- that's Mariner Write, which I
> used years ago. Viz:

> Trouble is, as I put hanging files on the blacklist, new ones take their
> place as problems.

You can disable Mariner Write's importer by pressing the command and option keys while launching FoxTrot, then check "manage third-party metadata importers". Note that these importers may also cause some troubles to Spotlight itself, so you can consider uninstalling the importer completely; type the following command in a Terminal.app window to find where this importer is installed:

mdimport -L

> Could I possible remove this i386MDIHelper thing? I don't have a PowerPC
> chip so I don't see why I need it.

You need these helpers in order to use importers that are only compiled for PowerPC, or for 32-bit intel, when you are using a 64-bit machine. For example, all MS Office importers are still 32-bit only.


Jérôme - CTM Engineering


------------------------------------------------------------ ---------
"Being an old school Mac user, to me searching for a file is the good
old Command-F. I never liked Sherlock and never really saw the need for
fancy search software, but FoxTrot has made me think again."
FoxTrot Personal Search review on www.softpedia.com

Download a demo version from www.foxtrot.ch
------------------------------------------------------------ ---------


Jérôme - FoxTrot Engineering
Re: Index corrupted, new index build is not working [message #133 is a reply to message #130] Thu, 06 June 2013 23:03 Go to previous message
david berreby
Messages: 3
Registered: May 2013
Junior Member
Sorry to be long in replying. Your suggestion (manage 3rd party importers)
worked! FT is back to its normal helpful self. Thanks for the tip (and the
explanations). Appreciate it.

David

On Tuesday, May 21, 2013 3:31:37 AM UTC-4, FoxTrot Engineering wrote:
>
> david berreby wrote:
>
>> Looks as if the trouble is ".mwd" docs -- that's Mariner Write, which I
>> used years ago. Viz:
>
>> Trouble is, as I put hanging files on the blacklist, new ones take their
>> place as problems.
>
> You can disable Mariner Write's importer by pressing the command and
> option keys while launching FoxTrot, then check "manage third-party
> metadata importers". Note that these importers may also cause some troubles
> to Spotlight itself, so you can consider uninstalling the importer
> completely; type the following command in a Terminal.app window to find
> where this importer is installed:
>
> mdimport -L
>
>> Could I possible remove this i386MDIHelper thing? I don't have a PowerPC
>> chip so I don't see why I need it.
>
> You need these helpers in order to use importers that are only compiled
> for PowerPC, or for 32-bit intel, when you are using a 64-bit machine. For
> example, all MS Office importers are still 32-bit only.
>
>
> Jérôme - CTM Engineering
>
>
> "Being an old school Mac user, to me searching for a file is the good
> old Command-F. I never liked Sherlock and never really saw the need
> for
> fancy search software, but FoxTrot has made me think again."
> FoxTrot Personal Search review on www.softpedia.com
>
> Download a demo version from www.foxtrot.ch
>
>
Previous Topic: Multiple IMAP accounts
Next Topic: Is it possible to use Boolean OR plus proximity?
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Thu Mar 28 13:49:18 GMT+1 2024