Check out http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Locate/1044509669/1
Publisher's Description:
Locate saves names of all files in your hard drives to file database. After that you can locate files. This program works like updatedb and locate in Unix systems. Win32 based locating program also included.
If you install the 3.0 Beta make sure to install the full 2.99 version first (read the readme in the archive you download).
Is that the perfect replacement for Windows' Win+f search? It looks that way!
I didn't test Locate for a long time and it's unbelievable how great it works now! :D
Lots of new options too, I just didn't yet find out
a) how to do searches like *URL.txt;*lol*.jpg (to search for several files in one single search) like they are possible in the Windows search.
b) how to set Locate to 'activate' the first found file when the search is done (like in the Windows search) or maybe even already when the first file is found.
Anyone knows?-brotherS (November 01, 2005, 09:17 AM)
Very interesting software here, specially this 'Locate' thingie...Hi there! You need to test way more stuff, especially mouser's Screenshot Captor and skrommel's Coding Snacks on this very site!-dpierron (November 11, 2005, 08:21 AM)
However, I'm wondering why nobody mentionned the excellent Total Commander (http://www.ghisler.com/) with its almighty all-powerful search feature ?Then you should consider donating a few bucks here to enjoy this LOAD of great programs! :) Makes forum usage more fun too btw!
It's one of the few shareware I actually bought 8)
It's old school, however. Based on the powerful, but venerable Norton Commander it's for those of us who were weaned on DOS & if a mouse was ever spotted next to our computers we knew it was time to set out traps. 8):D-Innuendo (November 11, 2005, 12:58 PM)
Icons, menus, and toolbars can all be custom-crafted to taste. All hotkeys are changeable. It supports skinning by programs such as WindowBlinds & StyleXP. Its looks can be changed to suit one's fancy.I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much) and don't want to use WindowBlinds. So there's no way to improve the look, right?
I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)
Yeah, I know, but when I decided what to use for this PC XP was still waiting for SP1 and I prefer an OS that's most stable and secure for the user. There were some other reasons too, don't remember right now.I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)
Can I ask why? (Just curious). If it is the 'blue theme' that can easily be turned off, and you can revert the Start Menu etc. so it all looks like 2000.-CarolHaynes (November 13, 2005, 08:04 PM)
It's old school, however. Based on the powerful, but venerable Norton Commander it's for those of us who were weaned on DOS & if a mouse was ever spotted next to our computers we knew it was time to set out traps. 8):D-Innuendo (November 11, 2005, 12:58 PM)
I'm using keyboard only whereever possible, but still prefer programs with a nice UI, that don't look like coded in 1992 ;)-brotherS (November 12, 2005, 12:29 AM)
I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)
I swapped from W98 to W2k and then WXP and I must say I was reluctant at each step (familiarity I suppose) but I have grown to like WinXP.-Carol Haynes (November 13, 2005, 08:04 PM)
Give Seeker (http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=104)a try and tell me what you think..
* Regular expression support-Veign (November 01, 2005, 12:26 PM)
A masterpiece!
I have been using this utility for a while now. As others have remarked, it is impressively quick. It usually delivers results before you've even finished clicking the Search button, and makes XP's Search tool look very poor.
Janne's decision to make it freeware was smart. It has gained her a lot of recognition and kudos as a programmer.
I gave it "5 (high)" but it deserves "high 5" :)
unrelated, but... "rainy day" windows theme, eh? Thought I was the only one ;)Huh? :D-f0dder (March 07, 2006, 12:15 PM)
"Rainy Day" color scheme, not windows theme, sorry :) (ie, desktop properties -> apperance tab -> color scheme dropdown).unrelated, but... "rainy day" windows theme, eh? Thought I was the only one ;)Huh? :D-f0dder (March 07, 2006, 12:15 PM)
I suppose you are talking about the first image in my first post in this thread? If so, read that line above that image again :)-brotherS (March 07, 2006, 12:25 PM)
"Rainy Day" color scheme, not windows theme, sorry :) (ie, desktop properties -> apperance tab -> color scheme dropdown).Ah... :)-f0dder (March 22, 2006, 02:38 PM)
Veign,Give Seeker (http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=104)a try and tell me what you think..
* Regular expression support-Veign (November 01, 2005, 12:26 PM)
Regexps are nice, but I'd prefer Boolean searches for extracting information from files. Also, I often want to make lists of files for use in other processes; can it save its "hit lists?"-rjbull (January 10, 2006, 03:38 AM)
Having removed both desktop search apps I had installed on my system, I've come to rely on Veign's Seeker (http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=104) to find stray or lost files. It's fast, easy, and leaves my computer alone when I'm not using it.Err... did you even try Locate for a day or three? It's a *totally* different approach, you can't really compare those two programs.-zridling (April 14, 2006, 05:14 PM)
Also, please turn up your volume, as this is my first screencast, I have yet to perfect the microphone usage so volume is really low. Anyways, enjoy!You also might want to use a headset microphone (I read ones with background noise cancelling aren't expensive anymore) and increase the "mouth to mic" distance a bit for improved sound quality.-Josh (May 26, 2006, 08:29 PM)
how blazing fast Locate is :)-brotherS (May 27, 2006, 04:14 AM)
Of course that has to be done, but - as you say - that's all done automatically. I let Locate update its databases about every two hours and once at night, and that's good enough for >95% of my searches. If I really need to search for newer/changed content, I just press a button to update the databases right now.how blazing fast Locate is :)But you have to keep its indexes up to date, which takes time. OK, you can schedule that, but it still has to be done.-brotherS (May 27, 2006, 04:14 AM)-rjbull (May 27, 2006, 02:43 PM)
I finally got around to installing Locate, and I must say it's a treat. I don't think I'm going to use it as my only file-search app, because of the database update issue, but it certainly is nice for doing fast finds of "archived" material.No issue here, see above 8)-f0dder (May 27, 2006, 03:55 PM)
For "bleeding edge" :P searches, the built-in search of xplorer^2 full seems to do the trick.-f0dder (May 27, 2006, 03:55 PM)
Not blindingly fast,Not too surprising, especially not on the first run of it after you've started windows - it's a DOS program, and NTVDM does take a bit to start :)
Not blindingly fast,Not too surprising, especially not on the first run of it after you've started windows - it's a DOS program, and NTVDM does take a bit to start :)-f0dder (May 28, 2006, 03:52 PM)
The command-line locate from locate32 has a nice bunch of options as well, btw - regular expressions and whatnot.
wow, Locate is really fast, thanks brotherS.Yes! :Thmbsup:-kimmchii (June 16, 2006, 03:40 AM)
Update: I asked "how to set Locate to 'activate' the first found file when the search is done (like in the Windows search) or maybe even already when the first file is found." - thanks to the nice coder this features has been added!-brotherS (November 01, 2005, 09:17 AM)
How do you do that? I have v. 3.06.6060 but cannot see it in the options...-urlwolf (June 28, 2006, 05:07 PM)
Update: Searches like *URL.txt;*lol*.jpg work in the latest beta now!-brotherS (November 01, 2005, 09:17 AM)
It works and always worked here, I use exactly that feature several times every week. In the "Advanced" tab, I have only the first option checked - you too?Update: Searches like *URL.txt;*lol*.jpg work in the latest beta now!-brotherS (November 01, 2005, 09:17 AM)
I must have misread that. I thought you meant that it would search for both *URL.txt and *lol*.jpg at the same time. It doesn't seem to, using Version 3.0 beta 5.10100. Is that correct?-rjbull (August 04, 2006, 05:16 AM)
In the "Advanced" tab, I have only the first option checked - you too?-brotherS (August 04, 2006, 05:24 AM)
But why are you using an old beta? I use 2.99.6.7240.
I've used alot of hard drive file finding programs, and spent days looking for one several years ago. The one that I found that did most of what I want is FileTracer. It's not perfect, and it's not free, but it works great. It works in real-time and I've never noticed a system slowdown because of it.If you like it so much, please consider to write a mini-review about it. If "works in real-time" means that it doesn't index files it's not really comparible to Locate, since you don't have the blazing speed then.-tim254 (October 20, 2006, 12:47 PM)
One of it's coolest features is the capability to work with "open file" and "save file" dialogs. I can find any file on my system and paste it's path within seconds with FileTracer, no wasting time browsing to the file via the "open" dialog box.I'm not sure I understand 100% what you mean, but Locate offers lots of stuff around 'making your life easier with files and paths' too.
I really only have one issue with it ... if you add / remove external hard drives all the time and you reboot, it wants to re-index your hard drives. However, if you press ignore it'll still work since it didn't delete the database. One last thing, the developer is not very responsive, at least he hasn't been with me.Hm... so you have to pay for FileTracer, there's a severe bug and the coder won't fix it? That's 3 more reasons why I love Locate! :D
I've evaluated Locate 3.0 (plus dozen of other programs) and I didn't like the way it work in comparison to FileTracer.Please share what you missed in Locate, it just might be added! :)
i'd like to make a suggestion, if i may be so bold, for improving 'Locate'...Since real time system monitoring is slowing your system down by default (even if only a bit), I doubt it will be added to Locate. I don't miss that btw, I only rarely need to update my Locate databases manually between the scheduled intervals.
if the real time system monitoring was implemented (like in 'filetracer'), i'd also like to see something similar to the way 'find and run robot' displays the search results, i.e. real time sorting/displaying of the results as you type.-nudone (October 23, 2006, 03:52 AM)
Real time monitoring and "display result as you type" have been in the program's todo list for a long time. Both will be implemented so that those can be turned on and off.
btw. RC2 is out: http://www.uku.fi/~jmhuttun/files/locate32-2.99.6.10220.exe-jmj (October 24, 2006, 01:05 AM)
There is one feature I have been wanting for a long time, but have never taken the time to speak up about it. It would be quite helpful if the main search window (Name & Location) had a 4th dialog box below "Look In:" Essentially what it would do is, whatever you type into that box is like a live filter of any search results that have been returned to you. So it, wouldn't take up any processing power or run in the background, but as you type characters into that box it filters down the search results that were returned to you. That way if i knew I was looking for a text file, but not sure which exactly, and had a bunch a different combinations to search, I could just search .txt, then, saving myself alot of searches and leaving every possible file I'm looking for (.txt) in front of me, I could continuously try different typed combinations to narrow down my results (and they narrow as i type in that box), just without having to execute more searches.-vegas (October 24, 2006, 01:26 AM)
I know i'm bump'n an old thread,but this looked like the purest locate thread ...
Just letting fans of this application know along with a new update,the author of locate looks like he's kicked it into hypermode and now has a new site w/ forum.I see alot of visitors in the stats at the bottom of donationcoders forum and would highly recommend all you "lurkers" out there to give locate a try. :Thmbsup:-tinyvillager link=topic=1385.msg87 :Thmbsup:764#msg87764 date=1196107913
Does anybody use Locate alongside any of the content search engines such as GDS? I like the content search but love the speed of Locate. Any problems running both?No problem.-edbro (November 30, 2007, 01:11 PM)
I've used Locate32 and really liked it but then I tried File Tracer, just out of curiosity. Locate is a more refined program - far better GUI, way more customizable. I have to say though, when it comes to sheer power and low resource consumption File Tracer is God! Locate pushed my CPU to 40% and beyond whenever it indexed the drives.Strange, I just had Locate update one DB and CPU usage never went above 10%, most of the time it was more like 4%.-nosh (November 30, 2007, 12:52 PM)
Locate consistently sat at 1.5% CPU in my case even when it was not doing a thing.That's strange too, Locate here is idling at 0% and jumps to 2% now and then. No idea why, might be a bug.-nosh (November 30, 2007, 12:52 PM)
maybe it was indexing through deep sub-folders..-lanux128 (November 30, 2007, 03:48 PM)
any ideas/suggestions? Basically want to make it easy to find all server files quickly for different users but with only 1 update transaction.-vixay (January 04, 2008, 01:47 AM)
vixay, Howabout if you create one database for IT, another for HR and third for OP and keep database files in server?That's what I was trying to say :)-jmj (January 06, 2008, 04:57 AM)
vixay, Howabout if you create one database for IT, another for HR and third for OP and keep database files in server?well, that's a faster response than Janne's own forums.. :)-jmj (January 06, 2008, 04:57 AM)
:huh: it took two days here? Typically I'm not so slow.Nope, just meant per-user folders&shares on the server, still keeping locate indexing and the database files on the server. But I can see that my post wasn't very clear :)
f0dder: ahh ok, I though that you meant user's own folder-jmj (January 06, 2008, 08:37 AM)
vixay, Howabout if you create one database for IT, another for HR and third for OP and keep database files in server?That's what I was trying to say :)-jmj (January 06, 2008, 04:57 AM)-f0dder (January 06, 2008, 06:26 AM)
I find everything runs fine when they are all switched on but as soon as some of the paths are not available Locate takes ages to load - worse even if I remove the network paths from the index or even rebuild my DB from scratch using only local discs Locate still waits ages when you try and load it.Yeah, I'm bitten by this thing as well, since I spin down the harddrives on my fileserver - when using locate, they spin up. It should be possible to run locate in a "don't check if the files still exist, only return results" mode...-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2008, 05:41 AM)
I find everything runs fine when they are all switched on but as soon as some of the paths are not available Locate takes ages to load - worse even if I remove the network paths from the index or even rebuild my DB from scratch using only local discs Locate still waits ages when you try and load it.Yeah, I'm bitten by this thing as well, since I spin down the harddrives on my fileserver - when using locate, they spin up. It should be possible to run locate in a "don't check if the files still exist, only return results" mode...-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2008, 05:41 AM)-f0dder (January 11, 2008, 07:06 AM)
Sorry but that didn't answer the question really. I understand why it needs access to specified locations to update the database but why does it need to access anything just to open the search window (I am not talking about during the search - literally just opening the window to enter search criteria is incredibly slow).That does sound weird.-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2008, 09:34 AM)
Also even during a search why does it need to access anything - surely the whole point about have an index database is precisely to avoid looking at disk/network content to do a search ???This one is simple - if you want accurate, up-to-date information about timestamp, size etc. of files, since they could have been changed since last index. Personally, I'd prefer fast-but-possibly-outdated, though, just haven't figured out how to tweak settings properly for that :)-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2008, 09:34 AM)
Sorry but that didn't answer the question really. I understand why it needs access to specified locations to update the database but why does it need to access anything just to open the search window (I am not talking about during the search - literally just opening the window to enter search criteria is incredibly slow).
Also even during a search why does it need to access anything - surely the whole point about have an index database is precisely to avoid looking at disk/network content to do a search ???-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2008, 09:34 AM)
f0dder: "Disable updating (...)" option is there for, did you try that?Yup, "Disable updating (file information from database)" checked, "Do not add directoris (except local drives) to the list" checked, "Use default icon for directories (use with...)" checked.-jmj (January 11, 2008, 09:58 AM)
f0dder: "Disable updating (...)" option is there for, did you try that?Yup, "Disable updating (file information from database)" checked, "Do not add directoris (except local drives) to the list" checked, "Use default icon for directories (use with...)" checked.-jmj (January 11, 2008, 09:58 AM)-f0dder (January 11, 2008, 10:11 AM)
I can brush up the modification a bit and commit to the repository, since unicode display would be nice to have for console users nonetheless.-f0dder (January 12, 2008, 07:12 AM)
But anyway, I tried to unplug my server and opened Locate32. Locate32 did hang on couple of seconds! I'll check that what Locate32 it is doing.-jmj (January 11, 2008, 10:56 AM)
For me, a very nice feature of locate32 is that it can run completely from it's index-database, without accessing files on disk (thus possibly spinning up harddrives, and definitely slowing down a bit compared to not accessing files).-f0dder (February 19, 2008, 03:33 AM)
Depends on your settings - if you want to track whether files have been deleted since database creation (the default, iirc) it needs to access files on disk. Same goes for icon extraction...For me, a very nice feature of locate32 is that it can run completely from it's index-database, without accessing files on disk (thus possibly spinning up harddrives, and definitely slowing down a bit compared to not accessing files).Doesn't it already do this? As in, when you search, doesn't it access just the database?-f0dder (February 19, 2008, 03:33 AM)-nosh (February 19, 2008, 03:45 AM)
You can't even compare the two coz IIRC Locate doesn't index content.Nice list nosh. That would indeed be cool. (as options, of course)
My wishlist for Locate (which IMO, would make it the best file search tool on the planet):
- Realtime indexing - very low on resource consumption, better (perfect) results, no CPU spikes as with scheduled indexing.
- Thumbnail mode for graphic files (would give it an outright advantage over other FS tools that do realtime indexing, none that I know of have this implemented)
- Panes for listing recently added/changed & recently launched files (like with Ava Find)
- Popup window showing files being added/modified (like in Filetracer)
-nosh (February 19, 2008, 03:23 AM)
- Realtime indexing - very low on resource consumption, better (perfect) results, no CPU spikes as with scheduled indexing.
- Thumbnail mode for graphic files (would give it an outright advantage over other FS tools that do realtime indexing, none that I know of have this implemented)
- Panes for listing recently added/changed & recently launched files (like with Ava Find)
- Popup window showing files being added/modified (like in Filetracer)
-nosh (February 19, 2008, 03:23 AM)
btw. this is not the best place to make suggestions.-jmj (February 19, 2008, 12:01 PM)
Maybe popup window for that list?Yes, a popup window. Do take a look at FileTracer which does this. Ava Find shows the changed files & recently launched files panes.
hmm... it'd be great if dopus had locate built into it! as it is it's search is superfast, but it takes a while for the first search to complete each time you open it...Then don't close it! 8)-vixay (March 27, 2008, 05:50 AM)
see this post https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=4849.msg86938#msg86938
Is locate better than XYplorer or not? What is the difference in their implementations? This is intriguing. If it turns out that a file manager indexes files as well, then it might be easier to use that one combined utility!...-vixay (March 27, 2008, 05:50 AM)
new beta supports thumbnails as well-kartal (April 03, 2008, 03:04 PM)
new beta supports thumbnails as well-kartal (April 03, 2008, 03:04 PM)
new beta supports thumbnails as well-kartal (April 03, 2008, 03:04 PM)
OMFG! Gotta try it (again) now. I installed the latest Copernic Desktop Search just for this feature yesterday and no matter how much they harp about speed gains I still find it s-l-o-w!-nosh (April 07, 2008, 06:28 AM)
Edit: The program's home page lists a slightly old beta (it didn't have the thumbnails feature).
Here's the link to the Locate32 Beta Page (http://locate32.net/files/betas/)-nosh (April 07, 2008, 06:28 AM)
3.1.8.3220 is the last beta linked from the main page, which I'm assuming is http://locate32.net-nosh (April 07, 2008, 10:32 AM)
Locate is designed to serve the same purpose on Windows that GNU locate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_locate) does on *nix boxes. It only indexes file metadata, not the contents of files.-tinjaw (October 30, 2008, 10:44 AM)
Yup, and that doesn't do "content-aware" search, it searches raw contents.Locate is designed to serve the same purpose on Windows that GNU locate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_locate) does on *nix boxes. It only indexes file metadata, not the contents of files.I know it does not index the contents, but you can search for files containing specific text, on the advanced screen - that's what I was using.-tinjaw (October 30, 2008, 10:44 AM)-kronhead (October 30, 2008, 11:26 AM)
Yup, and that doesn't do "content-aware" search, it searches raw contents.-f0dder (October 30, 2008, 11:30 AM)
And no wanting to beat a dead horse - altho I have probably already done that - I thought that a PDF file where you could SELECT the text (ie, not an image) would contain the text as text - with other stuff around it - so a phrase search might not work - but I thought a simple text search would. But ya' learn something new each day ...-kronhead (October 30, 2008, 04:05 PM)
waiting for TC plugins support in Locate32 (it is on its ToDo list).-fenixproductions (October 30, 2008, 05:42 PM)
Have you tried FSE? I don't have a URL, but it's in the TC forums.-rjbull (October 31, 2008, 12:15 PM)
Well with all the respect I thing there is no program on earth that can beat Everything 1.2 (http://www.voidtools.com/) in terms of speed for indexing and search through large amount of data. I talking about less than a minute to index 500GB with 360000 files and a fraction of a sec to search ANY file. Check the author's site for more info.
Otherwise I found Visual CD (http://www.boozet.org/visualcd.htm) far better than locate for indexing CDs, DVD and other removable media.-TGB72 (May 05, 2009, 09:48 PM)
Well with all the respect I thing there is no program on earth that can beat Everything 1.2 (http://www.voidtools.com/) in terms of speed for indexing and search through large amount of data. I talking about less than a minute to index 500GB with 360000 files and a fraction of a sec to search ANY file. Check the author's site for more info.
Otherwise I found Visual CD (http://www.boozet.org/visualcd.htm) far better than locate for indexing CDs, DVD and other removable media.-TGB72 (May 05, 2009, 09:48 PM)
Looks interesting, but no indexing of network volumes - unless you can run a server function on the remote system. But I am using Jungledisk to store data on Amazon's S3 cloud servers, and I want to index those files as well. Locate works on them.
Actually, the reason I came to locate in the first place, was becuase I used Copernic, and they dropped support for network drives in their free version. "Everything" might work for my home computers, but not for cloud files. I do miss indexing file contents - and I cannot index email with *anything* since I started using IMAP and left the mail on the servers ... Oh, well.
Dan-kronhead (May 05, 2009, 10:47 PM)
Dan,
Try IMAPSize (http://www.broobles.com/imapsize/index.php) for your IMAP mail accounts. It will backup all of your IMAP messages locally and it also has a really good search facility for those backed up messages.
Jim-J-Mac (May 05, 2009, 11:01 PM)
Well with all the respect I thing there is no program on earth that can beat Everything 1.2 (http://www.voidtools.com/) in terms of speed for indexing and search through large amount of data.That may be, but the UI looks a bit (too) simple to me. I don't want to spend the time to test it, but from looking at the screenshot and checking the FAQ, it doesn't seem to have presets (which I love about Locate). And is it usable with the keyboard only?-TGB72 (May 05, 2009, 09:48 PM)
Windows come with this built in? Windows built in Indexing Service is a laughable useless farce compared to Everything!You can't really compare the two, since Everything only searches based on filenames. It's good for what it does, though. I personally don't like it has to run with admin privs, but without separating to a LUA GUI app and a admin service, that's just how it has to be.-TurboJosh (October 06, 2010, 02:53 PM)
I personally don't like it has to run with admin privs, but without separating to a LUA GUI app and a admin service, that's just how it has to be.-f0dder (October 07, 2010, 02:06 PM)