windows 10 search bar only searches indexed locations

[Ex Nihilo]

Hi. The search function of the Start menu is not working as it should. When I enter a program's or setting's name, it retrieves results almost immediately, but if I search a document or another file (like capture.png or settings.cfg), it fails to find it.

I've tried running the search within the File Explorer to make sure it's not related to something else. This way I can retrieve results almost immediately. Tried enabling/disabling Cortana, and checked the taskmanager. SearchUI is shown running when running a search, and turns suspended when I'm not searching anything.

Then I tried indexing the locations of those files that Start Search fails to find. After that, Start Search can find those files too. But here's the catch: I'm running the OS on an SSD and I don't want to turn it on since it's pointless & reduces the lifespan of the drive.

So my question is: Is it how start search supposed to work? Does it only search indexed locations and apps&settings? Or am I doing something wrong? I thank you all for your time looking into this issue and appreciate any help that you can suggest me. I hope I've been clear on explaining the problem and I can provide more info if needed.

 

[basroil]

But here's the catch: I'm running the OS on an SSD and I don't want to turn it on since it's pointless & reduces the lifespan of the drive.

Who told you that lie? Indexed searches are an order of magnitude faster than even SSD speeds! And Windows 10 is very good about keeping write rates lower than in past searches, but even then you would never see life cycle issues on modern SSDs. I've had my Samsung 830 with indexing on (~1.2 million files total across 7 HDD+the SSD, ~480000 on SSD alone) for five years now, and even with fairly rough use I barely cracked 13TB written, even though this drive can handle ~100TB without issue (and most tests show the drive can go above 500TB)

Just enable indexing for your SSD as well as any other drive.

 

[Ex Nihilo]

But here's the catch: I'm running the OS on an SSD and I don't want to turn it on since it's pointless & reduces the lifespan of the drive.

Who told you that lie? Indexed searches are an order of magnitude faster than even SSD speeds! And Windows 10 is very good about keeping write rates lower than in past searches, but even then you would never see life cycle issues on modern SSDs. I've had my Samsung 830 with indexing on (~1.2 million files total across 7 HDD+the SSD, ~480000 on SSD alone) for five years now, and even with fairly rough use I barely cracked 13TB written, even though this drive can handle ~100TB without issue (and most tests show the drive can go above 500TB)

Just enable indexing for your SSD as well as any other drive.

I will but first I'd like to know if the search bar will only search indexed files. also, aside from my original question; how did you manage to keep it under 13tb in 5 years? I only had my SSD for a week now and mine is already at 0.25 TB's written (which roughly equals to >14TB in 1 year). And the only thing I did was installing win10, and 2 games (25gb each).

 

[basroil]

I will but first I'd like to know if the search bar will only search indexed files. also, aside from my original question; how did you manage to keep it under 13tb in 5 years? I only had my SSD for a week now and mine is already at 0.25 TB's written (which roughly equals to >14TB in 1 year). And the only thing I did was installing win10, and 2 games (25gb each).

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/search-my-stuff <-- pretty clear about search bar requiring indexing

As for SSD use, how often are you going to install Win 10 and those two (massive) games anyway? After you set up your computer you'll be using next to nothing in terms of write. Reads are where it's at, and reading doesn't degrade SSDs. Check back in a year and you'll see you've used less than 5TB even without putting most of your files on a secondary disk.