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Possible to duplicate files and their indexes on new volume? [message #1227] Mon, 14 June 2021 23:06 Go to next message
Grant Barrett
Messages: 24
Registered: October 2019
Junior Member
I have about 250GB (225K files, hundreds of directories) indexed by FoxTrot in 81 indexes. Some of the indexed content includes sub-directories that are indexed by multiple indexes. This is a generalized and oversimplified example:

/documents/contentA/subcontentA/
/documents/contentB/subcontentB/
/documents/contentC/

Index1->contentA/*
Index3->contentA/*+subcontentA/*
Index3->contentA/*+subcontentB/*
Index1->contentB/*
Index4->contentB/*+subcontentB/*
Index1->contentC/*
Index2->contentC/+subcontentA/*

What I want to do is make an exact duplicate of my files and file structure, and an exact duplicate of all my indexes, and put them on an external drive for my friend with a licensed copy of FoxTrot so they can have an identical searchable setup to what I have WITHOUT me or them having to go through and reselect all the indexed folders in each of the 81 indexes. Is this possible? Does FoxtTrot (as some software does) have the option of, on a new drive, selecting a root folder for all the indexed data and just matching the pre-existing directory and file trees in the indexes it is now aware of?

Thanks, in any case.
Re: Possible to duplicate files and their indexes on new volume? [message #1228 is a reply to message #1227] Tue, 15 June 2021 09:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 384
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
FoxTrot stores the full path of each indexed folder in its configuration files, and the full path of each file in the index itself. If you copy your data and your indices to another Mac in a way that preserves the path (i.e., if your files or your indices are somewhere inside your home folder, the home folder name should be the same; or they all are on an external drive, the external drive name should be the same), then you can just copy your index files and the configuration file ({home folder}/Library/Foxtrot/FoxTrot Starter Settings.ftsstg).
If your indices are inside your home folder, and the target Mac has a different home folder name, but the indexed files have an identical path, then you may copy your index files and drag and drop them to the "manage indices" window to open them all (instead of copying the "FoxTrot Starter Settings.ftsstg" file).
If the path of your indexed files changes on the other Mac, you will have to rebuild the index. You may however use BBEdit's multi-file search and replace to automatically convert the paths in the "Config" file inside each index package (.ftindex file). If you do this, copy your indices to the target Mac, then do multi-file search in the "{home folder}/Library/Foxtrot" folder, with file filter: name is "Config"; options: all file types, search nested folders, search invisible folder. Once done, drag and drop your .ftindex files to the manage indices window, and manually rebuild all your indices...
Hope this helps!


Jérôme - FoxTrot Engineering
Re: Possible to duplicate files and their indexes on new volume? [message #1230 is a reply to message #1228] Tue, 15 June 2021 16:32 Go to previous message
Grant Barrett
Messages: 24
Registered: October 2019
Junior Member
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed.
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