Configuration for removable drives?

General discussion related to "Everything".
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Siress
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 5:35 pm

Configuration for removable drives?

Post by Siress »

So, I use several encrypted file containers that are read as removable drives, and I access these from multiple systems. Rather than saving the indexed data to each system - which might even be missed if I mounted it to a different drive letter - I thought it'd be possible to use the portable edition of Everything saved within each 'drive'.

I just tried, but when I opened the executable it launched the version of Everything that I have installed on the running OS.

Is this use case supported at all? If so, any insight on how I should configure it?

Thanks
NotNull
Posts: 5167
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Configuration for removable drives?

Post by NotNull »

Siress wrote: Wed Dec 02, 2020 5:52 pm Is this use case supported at all? If so, any insight on how I should configure it?
Yes, that use case is supported. And you almost got it working already :-)

Everything likes to re-use a running window / instance, as you already noticed
To prevent that, you can use a named instance of Everything by starting it with everything.exe -instance "disk 4"
(you should replace "disk 4" with something that better suits your situation)

That will create a separate INI-file and database for this instance.


EDIT:
This might be an alternative for you:
Index This : Index any folder or drive.

If you don't mind using Folder Indexing instead of NTFS indexing for NTFS drives (NTFS Indexing is often faster), there is another alternative that does exactly what you want.



@void
:
Is there is a way for NTFS indexing a volumeto automatically adapt to a new driveletter (Q:-drive on PC1 is P:-drive on PC2 for example).
So: Volume GUID stays the same, but volume path changes. I hoped auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes=0 should do the trick, but it didn't.
void
Developer
Posts: 15096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Configuration for removable drives?

Post by void »

@void:
Is there is a way for NTFS indexing a volumeto automatically adapt to a new driveletter (Q:-drive on PC1 is P:-drive on PC2 for example).
So: Volume GUID stays the same, but volume path changes. I hoped auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes=0 should do the trick, but it didn't.
If auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes is enabled (set to 1), and Everything detects an online volume (same guid) with a different drive letter, the old drive letter is removed from the index.

auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes should be enabled by default.

Even with Automatically remove offline NTFS volumes disabled, Everything should still detect moved volumes and remove the old drive letter.

To enable auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes:
  • In Everything, type in the following search and press ENTER:
    /auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes=1
  • If successful, you should see auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes=1 in the status bar for a few seconds.
Does enabling auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes help?
NotNull
Posts: 5167
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Configuration for removable drives?

Post by NotNull »

void wrote: Thu Dec 03, 2020 9:54 am Does enabling auto_remove_moved_ntfs_volumes help?
Unfortunately, it didn't. Probably because Automatically include new removable volumes was disabled.

What I was trying to accomplish was a stand-alone, removable disk bound Everything that only indexes that disk and would automatically adapt to changing circumstances.
The easiest way would be a "pre-processor" script that (1) makes an inventory of the changed circumstances, (2) changes Everything.ini to reflect these new circumstances and finally (3) starts Everything.
(Got that already workng)

The challenge - at least for me - is to create an INI file that doesn't need to be changed whan circumstances change.
Works well for folder indexing, but haven't got it working (yet) for NTFS indexing.

For clarification I attached the current, not fully functional code. That will explain it better, I hope.
Attachments
Install-USB.zip
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void
Developer
Posts: 15096
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Configuration for removable drives?

Post by void »

It's tricky to lookup the Path from the GUID as there could be multiple drive letters and mount points.
Maybe using the first path found would be sufficient. I'll add this to my TODO list.

The idea is to only run the cmd once?
-I can run the cmd multiple times from different devices and it works fine.

Note: You can leave the GUID blank and Everything will look up the GUID from the path. (the opposite of what you want)

Are you planning to run Everything with the ini on different devices? -the GUID may change between devices.

With Everything 1.5 you will be able to specify \ for the path to use the current drive from where you run Everything.exe.
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