Local volume search engine?

[adamvjackson 0]

I'm looking for a search engine for a local PC/hard drive that can search and index in a similar manner to Lookout.

 

I'm aware of the indexing service, but it seems only accessable via a MMC template.

 

Ideally, it would be free (open source an extra plus), and be fully capiable of searching contents/keywords for most all common document files, such as Excel, Word, Adobe PDF, etc.

 

TIA!

[jmmijo 1]

I wish I knew of something besides the Indexing service

 

BTW - what you want to do sounds a lot like what Microsoft envisions for their Longhorn release don't you think ?!?

[adamvjackson 0]

I've used Grep before, and I really like it, but do you know if it creates an index or catalog so that future searches would be faster?

 

Thanks for the input so far, too

[adamvjackson 0]

I found this, which looks really nice. It's free, with the only limitation being 5,000 documents indexed.

 

http://www.copernic.com/business/enterprise-search/index.html

 

Beyond that 5,000 document limit, it gets expensive, FAST!

 

Note that it looks like it requires 2000/2003 Server, as it intergrates with IIS.

[adamvjackson 0]

If you can query by filename, partial filename, or file type, then Ava Find looks really nice.

 

It's partially freeware, there are some features that will timeout after 30 days, but it looks like a good application. On c|net download.com, it has a 93% positive rating, for what that's worth.

 

Only downside, it does *not* search for strings inside of files.

[adamvjackson 0]

Hate to keep "bumping" my thread, but it looks as though I've found the perfect FREE solution:

 

Filehand!

 

Indexes, searches with the following filetypes: doc, xls, ppt, wpd, txt, html, pdf, mp3, Outlook 2000-2003 items, etc.

 

The search for the perfect search is over!

[adamvjackson 0]

May as well add here that Google has released a beta version of their Google Desktop Search.

 

Supported files:

 

Outlook / Outlook Express

Word

AOL Instant Messenger (prior conversations)

Excel

Internet Explorer (history, cached pages, etc.)

PowerPoint

Text

 

Again, once this product matures, it will likely be the best, at least until a SQL-based FS becomes a reality...?

 

[DosFreak 2]

The email search works, need to read up on how it does what it does.