Finding Files (QUICKLY) On a Mac?

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Finding Files (QUICKLY) On a Mac?

Hey everyone!
So I’m just making a switch over to a MacBookPro (not a super fancy one–a buddy had one from 2010 he sold me cheap when my PC laptop fan went out).

anyways–I’ve worked on Macs side-by-side with PC’s for 15 years in the printing industry–but this is my first foray into DJ’ing with one–and I’m not really digging so much how slow OSX is when searching for files…

I’m running off an external HD (formatted NTFS, but I’ve got the MacBook set up to read & write to NTFS just fine). I add new tracks on a weekly basis and haven’t ever dug using Traktor’s built-in search function–as I found it clunky. my workaround was using this great, ultra-lightweight portable PC app called “Locate32” where you build your own “databases” by specifying your music folders and updated them when you start the app (super fast)–so I would just tab over to that program, do a quick search with instant results, and have the window positioned to drag the track into my left or right decks. I can’t seem to find ANY piece of software like this for Mac and Finder (and other versions of it I’ve tried–I like Path Finder–but it’s search capabilities are still way too slow).

I’ve done the whole ‘Spotlight’ add the drive to privacy and remove it so it rebuilds the index and still no dice. it still takes a good 3 minutes to see the song i’m searching for pop up… I mix far too sporadically to get held up like this!!! any ideas?

Thanks!!!

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Your Problem is that spotlight does not work with NTFS drives.

If you need to use the drive windows compatible for other machines I would advise a FAT32 partition solely for music.

In other news … iTunes actually works as a music management system really well with DJ software for instant results, and if its a non-dj app (e.g. Ableton) you can simply drag tracks from itunes into the app of your choice.

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OS X doesn’t natively support NTFS and any of the plugins you can buy may work but they’ll be slow and unreliable.disk

If you need your external HD to work on Windows and OS X then format it as ExFAT, if you can use it exclusively in your MAC format it as Mac OS X partition.

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Spotlight is also not reliable with ExFAT.

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Can’t say i’ve noticed any issues.

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I’ve been frustrated with how slow my mac searches for files on my external HD as well. If a file is on my hard drive, I don’t have any problems. If it isn’t, my mac has to think and think and think. My only fix has been using virtual DJ for all of my file management.