Not-indexed folders - researching further

[Vadim_k]

I had an issue with some folders are not been indexed, posted here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6206
The answers to this post help me to learn more about forcing re-indexing. In further testing I realized that force indexing does not fix the problem. I still have many unsearchable folders.

When I add such unsearchable folder's path to Options –Indexes –Folders, then it got indexed properly. If I remove it from the list, it becomes unsearchable again.

Is there a reliable way to index my entire drive C:?

Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

[Vadim_k]

Update: It looks like I found a solution. I added C: to Options –Indexes –Folders, and now I can search all folders that were unsearchable before.

Somehow I thought that because in Options –Indexes –NTFS - OS (C:) "Include in database" is checked, Disk C: would be indexed. Maybe this was a wrong assumption. Adding C: to the folders list, resulted in them more complete indexing, and Number of objects on the status bar is tripled.

[therube]

Should not have to be doing that.
(Assuming you've left C NTFS Indexing enabled), you would be seeing duplicated results too.

Check for filtering you may have enabled.
Indexes | Exclude


Some examples of items that are not turning up without doing a Folder Index?

[Vadim_k]

@therube, my exclude list is empty. I just checked for duplicates and I do see them. Thanks for noting that. Let me share some statistics:

• 1. C NTFS Indexing enabled - the number of index objects is ~500k, and not all folders are indexed
  2. C NTFS Indexing enabled plus C: is in Folders: - the number of index objects is ~1,500k, all folders are indexed, but there are duplicates in the results
  3. C NTFS Indexing disabled and C: is in Folders: - the number of index objects is ~1,000k, all folders are indexed, and no duplicates.

I will go with the workaround 3, which is seemingly the only one that works correctly on my computer. Just curious if anyone else reported a similar issue.

[void]

NTFS indexes use the MFT to find files, your MFT could be corrupt.
Folder indexes do not use the MFT, instead they use folder directories, which may still be intact.

Please make a backup of anything important on your C: drive and check it for errors:

• In Windows Explorer, right click your C: drive and click Properties.
• Click the Tools tab.
• Click Check now....
• Click Start.
  If prompted to schedule a scan after a restart, click Yes and restart.

To check if Everything has found corrupt MFT entries:

• In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
  /debug
• In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Indexes tab.
• Click Force rebuild.
• After reindexing, check the debug console for the following line in yellow text:
  removed x orphaned files in y seconds

If there are a large number of orphaned files you may have an issue with your MFT.