• Google Desktop Search Using Up Too Much Memory

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    #417605

    Hi people,

    A while ago I was reluctant to install GDS, but as a result of reading more and more good comments, I decided to go for it. I have to say the only two times I had to use it it gave accurate and fast results.
    But, today I came across a folder called “Google Desktop Search Data” in my slave D: drive. Surprisingly, the files contained therein amounted to 443 MB exclamation

    I understand there’s a lot of information GDS needs to keep track of, and it seems somewhat reasonable that the plain text equivalent of 90% of my PC’s information makes that number. I suppose that resigning to some of the search topics (e.g., Email) should get it down a bit, but I wonder if anyone has some info on how to cut the 443 MB down before losing this type of data and having to have GDS reindex my Outlook information again in case I might regret it some time later.

    Thank you

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    • #937599

      From what I’ve read 443MB is not very much. Several other places I’ve read multi-GB reported used. Short of limiting what you index I believe there is not much you can do about it.

      Joe

      --Joe

      • #937732

        Thanks, Joe.

        I’ll try not to disable any search topic until absolutely necessary. It’s hard to imagine how the program would work without using so much memory anyway.

      • #941025

        Well, the 443 MB in 03/27/2005 have shot up to 492 MB as of today. So I had re-started thinking about disabling a search category, when the GDS Preferences Help clouded the idea. From the Preferences Help:
        [indent]


        Does turning off a search category remove previously copied items of that type from the Desktop Search cache?

        No, it doesn’t. While a type is turned off, Desktop Search won’t return items of that type. But items of that type already in your cache will stay there. If you turn that item type back on, those cached items can again show up in your search results.


        [/indent]Which can be good or bad news. It’s good news if you want to retain the indexed information. It’s (very!) bad news if, like me, you want to free some disk space. Check this link from the GDS Google Group. Quoting the last guy:[indent]


        At present my GDS database is using 938 megabytes. I can live with that for now though have heard I’ll need to delete and rebuild the index from scratch should I need/want to exclude large sections of my disk drive from indexing.


        [/indent]Another related link here.

        One think I thought of is trying to identify which files in the index folder belong to each item category. So I’d disable an item category, maybe shut down GDS for a minute, delete the corresponding index file, and ready. But, for example, can anyone tell me which of these files (see attached) belong to the “E-Mail” search category?

        • #941185

          Ok, I had to keep a very close eye on the index size and GDS became more of a worry than an aid, so I killed (uninstalled) the critter. Thanks anyway.

          • #941203

            At least there are several others to try. grin

            Joe

            --Joe

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