Index Spotlight folder folder 81gb all since Sequoia - how do I get rid safely?

[madeirabhoy]

My M2 Air only has a 256gb SSD, and since installing the beta my available space has shot down, at the moment I only have 6gb space. From looking, the index spotlight folder is the culprit. theres basically 5 big files.

live.4.indexposting 14 June 34,36gb
tmp.merge.1.indexpostings today 17,18gb
live.14.indexpostings 16 June 17,18gb
live.10.indexpostings 16 June 8,59gb
live,17.indexpostings today 2,15gb

plus another 429 small files that

Apart from anything, im drawn to the file sizes, weird that the 2nd and 3rd file sizes are identical and half the size of the first, then the fourth is half the size of the 2nd and 3rd. and the 5th is a quarter of the 4th.


google tells me to add my whole hard drive as a folder that spotlight shouldn't index. did that, no change. google also tells me not to just delete the files, some say to use terminal commands which look scary, and some say to use Onyx, which I can't as the latest version doesnt work under Sequoia.

 

[gilby101]

Erase the disk, reinstall macOS 14.5 and restore from the TM backup you made (you did didn't you?) before upgrading to macOS 15 beta.

 

[madeirabhoy]

Erase the disk, reinstall macOS 14.5 and restore from the TM backup you made (you did didn't you?) before upgrading to macOS 15 beta.

I have to admit I never backup. Don’t have a lot of files that I’d worry about and use iCloud for most things.


Thinking about copying the files onto an external drive and then deleting them. And if it goes tits yo I can copy them back

 

[Fishrrman]

My suggestion:

TURN OFF Spotlight.

Then... just delete these files (provided that you can "see them" in the finder)...

 

[Ben J.]

I had an issue with spotlight index growing some time ago, and I also found the advise about disabling drives in the spotlight system settings, and re-enabling them, forcing a rebuild of the indexes. Worked for me. Maybe if you re-enable the drive in spotlight the index files will rebuild?