Turn Off Spotlight Indexing for a Volume with mdutil
Save CPU and disk churn on drives you never search from Finder.
Run `sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/VolumeName` to stop indexing that volume.
01Command
Command
$ sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/工作盘02What it does
Spotlight indexes every mounted volume by default, which wastes time on backup drives, VM images, or large archives you never search. Disabling indexing stops the continuous background re-indexing; adding `-E` erases the existing index store to reclaim space. `mdutil -s /Volumes/Name` shows the current status first.
03Risk
!Warning: After disabling, that volume will not appear in Spotlight or Finder search results — re-enable with `-i on` before you need to search it. Never disable indexing on your startup disk unless you accept losing app-launch search.
04Undo
Undo
$ sudo mdutil -i on /Volumes/工作盘05Sources
- mdutil – Manage Spotlight indexesEvidence: Documents -i on/off, -E erase, and per-volume status
Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: System & Settings
06Related solutions
List Local Time Machine Snapshots with tmutil
See every local APFS Time Machine snapshot on your startup disk and delete ones you no longer need.
Query Spotlight's Raw Syntax with mdfind
Use kMDItem attributes to search file metadata the Spotlight UI can't express, faster than find ever will.
A Big Digital Clock in the Terminal With tty-clock
Turn the terminal into a full-screen clock with optional seconds.