Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

golinux · 2017-12-19 19:18:00

My system indexes several times a day. Moving files around triggers it which makes sense but does it have to do it so often? It's not only annoying (at the most inconvenient times), it makes the system unusable until it finishes doing it's thing. I can't remember exactly when this started but it's been happening for a while. I've just been lazy about attending to it. Is there a conf somewhere to regulate this behavior?

cynwulf · 2017-12-20 12:35:22

It's not (usually) a file system thing, so I'd imagine you have some kind of 'indexing service' running? Without more details, it's going to be difficult to say. If it's something which starts with a particular desktop you're running, just disable it.

golinux · 2017-12-20 18:03:08

cynwulf wrote:

It's not (usually) a file system thing, so I'd imagine you have some kind of 'indexing service' running? Without more details, it's going to be difficult to say. If it's something which starts with a particular desktop you're running, just disable it.

If I did have an indexing sevice I wouldn't know how/where to find it. AFAIK it's just a standard Xfce. I do have catfish search tool installed. That's the only thing I can think of that might be responsible. If anyone knows of a better GUI search tool, please do share.

greenjeans · 2017-12-20 21:22:45

golinux wrote:

cynwulf wrote:
It's not (usually) a file system thing, so I'd imagine you have some kind of 'indexing service' running? Without more details, it's going to be difficult to say. If it's something which starts with a particular desktop you're running, just disable it.
If Idid have an indexing sevice I wouldn't know how/where to find it. AFAIK it's just a standard Xfce. I do have catfish search tool installed. That's the only thing I can think of that might be responsible. If anypone knows of a better GUI search tool, please do share.

Doesn't thunar have a search function?

To kill unwanted start-up services, try Boot-Up-Manager (BUM) from the repo for a nice GUI tool to enable/disable services at startup and/or kill/start them during session.

golinux · 2017-12-21 00:01:39

greenjeans wrote:

Doesn't thunar have a search function?

Nope. Not a native one. An external search function can be added as a thunar custom action. This from the archwiki:

Search for files and folders
To use this action you need to have catfish installed. The optional dependency mlocate should be installed as well.
Name Command File patterns Appears if selection contains
Search catfish --path=%f * Directories

To kill unwanted start-up services, try Boot-Up-Manager (BUM) from the repo for a nice GUI tool to enable/disable services at startup and/or kill/start them during session.

Thanks for the suggestion.

fsmithred · 2017-12-21 01:19:45

Keep a terminal open with top running and look at it when the thrashing starts. Or click on the cpu activity monitor in the panel - it will open a terminal with top.

golinux · 2017-12-21 06:27:36

Thanks to fsmithred, I found the culprit with top - tumblerd! I work with a lot of graphics and video (not so much these days) and that app creates image icons. fsr confirmed that it "causes some serious thrashing". If I can ever get the theming for ascii finished, I'll do some reading about how to deal with it - SP produced plenty of reading.

ralph.ronnquist · 2017-12-21 12:01:05

# apt-get purge tumbler

golinux · 2017-12-21 17:51:48

Problem is that the thumbnailer is useful . . .

greenjeans · 2017-12-21 23:53:45

golinux wrote:

greenjeans wrote:
Doesn't thunar have a search function?
Nope. Not a native one. An external search function can be added as a thunar custom action.

Wow, kinda lame that. Even Pcmanfm has a built-in search function (not a very good one but it's there). Best native search function that i've tried is in Caja (Mate file manager), it works really well for me.

fsmithred · 2017-12-22 12:40:21

You could try editing /etc/xdg/tumbler/tumbler.rc to reduce the priority of the image thumbnailers. The range is -20 to 19. Try something like -17. (or +17 if I'm wrong about which way the scale goes.)

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#1 2017-12-19 19:18:00

Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#2 2017-12-20 12:35:22

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#3 2017-12-20 18:03:08

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#4 2017-12-20 21:22:45

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#5 2017-12-21 00:01:39

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#6 2017-12-21 01:19:45

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#7 2017-12-21 06:27:36

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#8 2017-12-21 12:01:05

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#9 2017-12-21 17:51:48

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#10 2017-12-21 23:53:45

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

#11 2017-12-22 12:40:21

Re: Frequent indexing thrashes HDD

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