Spotlight not working and MDS running high

[MJHanson7490]

My Spotlight hasn't been working for a few months. It just keeps searching with no results. Under Activity Monitor it shows that MDS is running very high, around 95+. I've tried Repairing Disk Permissions, but this did nothing.

I'm using a 2008 unibody Macbook with Leopard. I was going to upgrade to Snow Leopard so I can access the App Store. Does anyone know if upgrading to Snow Leopard will fix my Spotlight problem? I would like to do a clean install if possible.

Thanks!

 

[MJHanson7490]

If anyone's reading this - The quit MDS in Activity Monitor and rebooted, now it's been back to normal (~ 0.3 CPU) for a while.

Yet, Spotlight is still not working and I can't find a solution. Will upgrading to Snow Leopard fix this, or will I still have trouble?

 

[chscag]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to upgrade and install Snow Leopard clean. However, keep in mind that if you install Snow Leopard clean (the upgrade version) you will be missing the iLife Apps. I suggest instead to use Time Machine to make a good backup and restore during the SL upgrade. It won't overwrite any system files but will restore your applications and settings. The SL install should fix Spotlight.

 

[MJHanson7490]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to upgrade and install Snow Leopard clean. However, keep in mind that if you install Snow Leopard clean (the upgrade version) you will be missing the iLife Apps. I suggest instead to use Time Machine to make a good backup and restore during the SL upgrade. It won't overwrite any system files but will restore your applications and settings. The SL install should fix Spotlight.

Thanks, I think I'll do that. I backup all of my files to an external HD and I have the original iLife disc (not too concerned about saving preferences). I've never used Time Machine because I was worried about how much space it would use on my external HD. Also, I take lots of photos and I like having my files organized in a particular way on my external hard drive so I can easily access them if I plug it into another computer.

Is there a way to only backup applications and settings with Time Machine (not backup my files - photos, music, etc.)? I would prefer to manage files my own way.

 

[chscag]

You can exclude whatever you wish from the Time Machine backup which means if you want, only backup your applications and their settings.