Had to disable Spotlight indexing to stop mds_stores going nuts. Surely there's a better way?

[AVR2]

I have three Macs of various vintages running 10.15.7, all with the latest updates.

My 2019 MBP 16" is the only one that's suffering from mds_stores going nuts and using over 100% CPU on daily basis.

As a temporary solution I've added all volumes to the Privacy tab, so Spotlight is basically useless, but it seems the only way to stop mds_stores slowing the machine right down and spinning the fans up to maximum.

There has to be a better way that lets me keep Spotlight functionality while not being held hostage to mds_stores, surely?

 

[MacInWin]

Nope. mds_stores is part of the indexing system that makes Spotlight work. That said, usually mds_stores will finish the indexing process and then quiet down significantly as the updating of the database is much less intensive than building it in the first place.

There are search alternatives. EasyFind and Find Any File are two, both work pretty well.

 

[chscag]

My 2019 MBP 16" is the only one that's suffering from mds_stores going nuts and using over 100% CPU on daily basis.

That particular model is known to run hot, noisy, and ramp up the fans. Especially those models with the i9 CPU. You can do a google search and see what other owners have done to mitigate the problem.

And as Jake stated, there is no way to remove the mds_stores activity as it's part of the processes that are ongoing. You might want to think about updating your MBP to Big Sur which seems to better handle those processes. Apple should be releasing Big Sur 11.2 shortly.

 

[AVR2]

That particular model is known to run hot, noisy, and ramp up the fans.

I expect the fans to be noisy when I'm using Premiere, AE or Photoshop, but something about Spotlight is clearly broken, as so many people are reporting the issue.

Before I effectively disabled Spotlight I could be browsing or writing a document or something equally low-pressure, the MBP would be virtually silent, and then suddenly the fans would ramp up, everything would slow right down and I'd know that it was mds_stores hogging the CPU again.

Now, with Spotlight prevented from indexing anything, the MBP is virtually silent most of the time. The fans only become audible over the normal background noise when I'm doing video work, and the system slowdowns have gone away.

But of course, I shouldn't have to disable a core OS functionality in order to achieve this.

It's also strange that it only seems to affect one of my three Catalina Macs.

 

[AVR2]

There are search alternatives. EasyFind and Find Any File are two, both work pretty well.

Thanks for that, I'll try EasyFind for a bit.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Try using Onyx to do some basic maintenance. In particular, use it to rebuild the Spotlight index. I would do the same for the various caches.

 

[pm-r]

I expect the fans to be noisy when I'm using Premiere, AE or Photoshop, but something about Spotlight is clearly broken, as so many people are reporting the issue.

I wonder if this old solution would have any relationship with your problem...???

mds_stores high cpu usage because of "extensions"-preferences

mds_stores high cpu usage because of "ext… - Apple Community

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