Files that were zipped are missing from Spotlight searches

Submitted by dimoco on Thu, 2009-06-25 05:27
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I zipped some files with BetterZip for backup purposes, but kept the original files on my hard drive. The files on my hard drive, however, no longer appear in Spotlight searches. As soon as I open one of these files, the file appears again in Spotlight searches. What has been done to the original files that they don't appear in Spotlight searches? What is the fast method to change a setting/flag/unmark all the original files so they appear in Spotlight searches?

System: OSX 10.4.11

Thanks,
Tim

‹ cant open sitx File Odd behaviour when extracting files from nested folders ›
Submitted by Robert on Thu, 2009-06-25 10:06.

I haven't experienced this yet, but other strange behavior of the Finder in Mac OS X 10.4 which I reported to Apple over two years ago and which has been fixed in Mac OS X 10.5. I suspect that it has the same root cause.

To work around this problem quit BetterZip, then execute this command in the terminal and see if it solves the problem:

defaults write com.macitbetter.betterzip MIBUseHardLinks NO

Submitted by dimoco on Thu, 2009-06-25 17:44.

I entered the command in terminal as suggested.

Former status: Opening a file made it appear in Spotlight searches.

Current status: After opening a file, the file appears in Spotlight searches only if it is a recent file, i.e., created after my initial use of BetterZip on 6/15. (Not tested thoroughly, but that seemed to be the common characteristic.)

I then entered this command in terminal: defaults write com.macitbetter.betterzip MIBUseHardLinks YES

I opened a few old files to see if anything changed:
After a file was opened in Word or Excel, it then appeared in Spotlight searches
After a file was opened in Preview or Seashore (image editor), it still did not appear in Spotlight searches (before running the commands in Terminal, opening a file in Preview or Seashore would make the file appear in Spotlight searches, so this is a change)

Do you think this issue would disappear if I upgraded to Leopard?

Submitted by Robert on Fri, 2009-06-26 09:40.

This is pretty weird. After you entered the command, BetterZip does no longer interfere with the original files. They are copied to a temporary folder and only these copies are used. Have you tried restarting your Mac?

I'll do a few experiments with my 10.4 installation and write them up here.

Regarding the system update: You have endured over one and a half years with the old system and Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) is scheduled for release after the summer. If you can wait another three months, then leave out 10.5 completely.