Char Jackson wrote:

On Tue, 3 Jul 2018 02:46:57 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jul 2018 22:14:07 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

no wrote:

I want to search more than directory on multiple drives for movie
files.
I would like to copy a title to the clipboard and pass it to a batch
file that will give me a hit if I get a match.

I have no batch file skillz.
Anyone care to write one for me?

Why not use a file search tool?

Search Everything from voidtools
Builds a database of filenames only (no contents of files). Very fast.

FileLocator Lite (aka Agent Ransack)
Can search on title and/or contents in files. Slow on first search
since it actually has to do a search instead of building up a filename
cache. Just as fast as Everything on 2nd and subsequent searches
(performed within the same instance of FileLocator) because it builds a
temporary cache. Its cache is discarded when you exit the program.

Mini-hijack: When I do a baseline search of my data drive, the search
completes in 59 seconds. If I immediately do the same search again, from
the same instance of Agent Ransack, it takes 42 seconds. The 3rd, 4th,
and 5th searches each also take 42 seconds.

Like I said, File Locator (aka Agent Ransack) builds a filename cache on
its first run, so each subsequent search is lightning fast.

Actually, that's why I jumped in. I don't see that behavior here on
Windows 7, 8.1, or 10. Subsequent searches in Agent Ransack are faster
than initial searches, but still very far from "lightning fast".

Maybe because I'm using an SSD for the Windows and app drive that
FileLocator's subsequent runs looks just as fast to me. Maybe there is
a difference where FileLocator is slower on its cached runs than
Everything but I doubt I'll notice a fraction of a second difference.
On an HDD, especially a slow one (like a blue instead of black WDC
disk), it would be noticeable.

In my test described above, the initial search times for Everything and
Agent Ransack were 0 seconds and 59 seconds, respectively. Subsequent
searches took 0 seconds and 42 seconds, respectively. Unless I'm
misunderstanding, I think you're saying that subsequent searches in
Agent Ransack can also be 0 seconds, or very close to it. So far, I can
only force that behavior by drastically restricting Ransack's search
scope, so I must be missing something.

FileLocator will still have to scan the file system to check for folder
timestamp changes to determine if any files under them have changed. It
still has to do a lot of file I/O. Everything is monitoring file
changes as they happen. That's why I said Everything, as an indexing
service, will be faster than FileLocator even on FileLocator's cached
searches. However, on an SSD, that file system scan in FileLocator on
its cached search is so fast that I cannot see it taking longer than
Everything.