Finding specific things

Searching an unplugged drive

Updated 2026-08-05 · 5 min read

The worst version of a lost file: you know it exists, you know it is on an external drive, and you own six of them.

The problem

Plugging in each drive and searching it is an evening's work. Doing it every time you need an archived file is untenable, and it is the reason people stop using their archives.

What makes it solvable

A file index is just records. Nothing requires the volume to be present for those records to be readable — only for the file to be *opened*. So a finder that indexes a drive and keeps the records after it is unmounted can still tell you:

• the file exists
• what it is called and how big it was
• which volume it is on
• where on that volume

That is everything you need to walk to the right drive.

Which tools do it

Cling Pro maintains persistent indexes for USB, external and network volumes that keep working when unmounted. It is a Pro feature, not in the free tier.

Everywhere keeps external volume records after unplugging as standard. Ours — and worth stating that this took a proper implementation to get right: every external file was initially tagged as belonging to the boot volume, so there was nothing to carry forward and the feature was quietly untrue until each volume was scanned as its own tree.

Spotlight does not. Unmount the drive and its files leave your results.

What you have to do first

The drive must have been indexed at least once while connected. There is no way around this — nothing can index a disk it has never seen.

So: plug each archive drive in once, let it index, and from then on you can search them all whether they are attached or not.

The Time Machine exception

Do not index a Time Machine drive. It holds a complete copy of your Mac for every backup ever taken, so the file count is not large but effectively unbounded, and every entry is a duplicate of something you already have indexed from the original.

Any tool worth using skips these automatically. If yours is scanning for hours and the percentage keeps sliding backwards, a Time Machine volume is the first thing to check.

Naming your drives

Whatever tool you use, this pays for itself: name drives distinctly. Archive 2019 and Photos RAW 2020 tell you where to go. Three drives called Untitled do not, and the index cannot fix that.

Common questions

Can I search an external drive that is unplugged?

Yes, if the drive was indexed while connected and your tool keeps volume records after unmounting. Cling Pro and Everywhere both do; Spotlight does not.

Does the file open if the drive is not connected?

No. The index tells you the file exists and which volume it is on; opening it requires connecting that drive.

Should I index a Time Machine drive?

No. It contains a full copy of your Mac for every backup made, so indexing it is effectively endless work for duplicates.