# Spotlight on a disk

> Whether Spotlight searches a BeamDisk disk: off by default, on for Time Machine disks, and how to turn it on or off for a disk, or when you format it.

Spotlight doesn't search the disks BeamDisk connects unless you turn it on. The exception is a Time Machine disk: Time Machine keeps Spotlight on for its backups.

Searching a disk has a cost: Spotlight reads the files on it to index them, which adds network traffic, mostly when it first scans the disk and when files change.

## Turn Spotlight on or off

1. Open the disk's page in BeamDisk's window. The **Spotlight** row is in the Disk card, while the disk's volume is mounted.
2. The first time, click **Turn On…**, and BeamDisk asks you to select the disk's volume, once, so it can change Spotlight's setting there: select it and confirm.
3. After that, the row is a switch: turn it on or off. The change applies at once, and the sidebar's message line confirms it, such as **Spotlight is on for Projects.**

While Spotlight is on, a note under the switch says what it costs. If the row reads **Changing…**, macOS is still applying the change. **Not available** means Spotlight doesn't index that volume, or macOS didn't say; hover over it for which.

Selecting the volume once also lets [Test Speed](https://beamdisk.app/docs/performance/test-speed/) write its test files there, and the other way round.

## When you format a disk

BeamDisk's **Format** sheet has **Let Spotlight search this disk**, unchecked. Check it to have Spotlight on from the start: after formatting, BeamDisk asks you to select the new volume once, then turns Spotlight on. If you don't select it, the disk is formatted all the same, with Spotlight off.

## Time Machine disks

A disk that holds Time Machine backups shows **On**, with no switch: Time Machine needs Spotlight for its backups and doesn't let it be turned off. The note says the network traffic comes from Spotlight reading what's backed up.

## Related

- [Format a new disk](https://beamdisk.app/docs/disks/format/)
- [A disk's page](https://beamdisk.app/docs/using/disk-page/)