Huge search index file

Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb file
grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In some
instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

edevils wrote:
Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb file
grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In some
instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

If it's that big, I think I would rebuild it rather
than compact it.

Paul

On 08/12/2015 00:27, Paul wrote:
edevils wrote:
Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb
file grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In
some instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

If it's that big, I think I would rebuild it rather
than compact it.

Yeah, that' what I did. After rebuilding, it's 300 MB, but I guess it's
going to grow again. I guess they should add a rebuild task in Windows
task scheduler, let's say once a week as maintenance. That would be an
easy fix.

I also moved its location to a separate partition, so I don't have it
inside my backups anyway.

edevils wrote:
On 08/12/2015 00:27, Paul wrote:
edevils wrote:
Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb
file grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In
some instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

If it's that big, I think I would rebuild it rather
than compact it.

Yeah, that' what I did. After rebuilding, it's 300 MB, but I guess it's
going to grow again. I guess they should add a rebuild task in Windows
task scheduler, let's say once a week as maintenance. That would be an
easy fix.

I also moved its location to a separate partition, so I don't have it
inside my backups anyway.

I did that on my laptop, but it seemed to get
invalidated under some conditions, and start
rebuilding itself (without my help).

It also used to have a policy of rebuilding itself
every three months, to avoid latent faults. Since
in essence the inverted index is being constantly
built, there is a danger that errors could creep in.
And your case would be the "mother of examples" :-)

One way to make it grow without bound, would be
to have it read its own database file (... infinite loop).
But that probably isn't what happened in your case. It
knows about the default location, and shouldn't look in
its own folder.

Paul

On 08/12/2015 09:16, Paul wrote:
edevils wrote:
On 08/12/2015 00:27, Paul wrote:
edevils wrote:
Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb
file grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In
some instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

If it's that big, I think I would rebuild it rather
than compact it.

Yeah, that' what I did. After rebuilding, it's 300 MB, but I guess
it's going to grow again. I guess they should add a rebuild task in
Windows task scheduler, let's say once a week as maintenance. That
would be an easy fix.

I also moved its location to a separate partition, so I don't have it
inside my backups anyway.

I did that on my laptop, but it seemed to get
invalidated under some conditions, and start
rebuilding itself (without my help).

To move its location, I had to edit the registry key where the path is
stored, as doing it in Control panel - Advanced Index Settings didn't
seem to work.


I changed the DataDirectory value
from %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\
to D:\Indexing\Search\Data
in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search\

I noticed there is a DefaultDataDirectory key too, which I left as it
was (%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search\Data\). Maybe I should change that
too, to avoid Search index location being restored to its default value
under some circumstances such as for instance

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...w8itprogeneral


But, is it safe to change the default value?



It also used to have a policy of rebuilding itself
every three months, to avoid latent faults. Since
in essence the inverted index is being constantly
built, there is a danger that errors could creep in.
And your case would be the "mother of examples" :-)

One way to make it grow without bound, would be
to have it read its own database file (... infinite loop).
But that probably isn't what happened in your case. It
knows about the default location, and shouldn't look in
its own folder.

Agree. By the way, it's not even indexing the "Program Data" folder,
where the index file is located by default.
Actually, it's only indexing personal folders, start menu, "Program
Files" folders, and (part of) System32.

edevils wrote:
On 08/12/2015 00:27, Paul wrote:
edevils wrote:
Just found out I had a 30 GB windows.edb
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\ Windows\Windows.edb

Looks like it's an old bug carried to Windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2838018
"In Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, the Windows Search Service may
bloat the Windows.edb file. When this issue occurs, the Windows.edb
file grows to a very large size and consumes lots of disk space. In
some instances, the file size can be larger than 50 gigabytes (GB)."

If it's that big, I think I would rebuild it rather
than compact it.

Yeah, that' what I did. After rebuilding, it's 300 MB, but I guess it's
going to grow again. I guess they should add a rebuild task in Windows
task scheduler, let's say once a week as maintenance. That would be an
easy fix.

I also moved its location to a separate partition, so I don't have it
inside my backups anyway.

After 4 months of Win10 mine is 800 MB and I've a boatload in addition
to the default folders added to indexing.


--
....winston
msft mvp windows experience