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I'm searching for specific files on a Windows 2003 server directory that contains thousands of files. The directory is part of a network volume that's mounted on my Mac.

Right now I'm using find:

find . -name \*STRING\*

But it's still not very fast. Is there a way to make this more fast/efficient?

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2 Answers

Install Locate32 on the server (http://www.locate32.net/), then RDP (remote-connect) to the server so you can search using the tray icon.

It will create a database of all files on the server, and searches are almost instantaneous.

I even use it in an XP VM to point to multiple server shares.

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Wow, Locate32 is fast. Though a workaround, this is definitely helpful—thanks for the tip. –  Dan B Aug 6 '10 at 21:58
@DanB: Remember, if the answer fixed it, mark it as accepted with the checkmark next to the answer. –  Wuffers Jan 30 '11 at 18:13
@Mark I was looking for a solution that would run on Mac and/or Mac-accessible command line client, so while this was an acceptable workaround—and one I'm glad to know about!—it didn't answer my original question. –  Dan B Feb 23 '11 at 8:22
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It looks as though you're looking from your Mac at a shared directory from a Windows 2003 server. If that is the case, then yes. The short answer: List the files to a temporary file on the Win2k3 server using a program local to the Win2k3 server. Transfer that file to your Mac.

You're getting killed by the latency of requests to/from the server; the above will mitigate that. I don't know exact commands; I just know you need to do the search locally to the Win2k3 machine and transfer the result to the Mac.

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You've guessed correctly... I've updated to reflect the actual setup. –  Dan B Aug 6 '10 at 22:01
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