Query Windows Search Indexing database

Question

Hey guys,

I broke one of my external HDDs yesterday, it fell to the floor and now its not being detected at all..

Is there a way to query the Windows Search Indexing database to get a list of G:/paths/file names that were previously residing in drive letter "G" ?

That way at least I'd be able to get a list of things I've lost, so I can try to at least partially recreate on a new disk.

I've tried "Get-IndexedItem -Path G:/ -Recurse" however it outputs an error: resolve-path : Cannot find drive. A drive with the name 'G' does not exist. So.. I don't think it would do the job.

Windows 10 22H2 19045.2364

Hopefully someone would be able to help...

Regards,

D

Answer 1

It's not pretty, but try this PS script. (I hacked this together years ago. Don't remember where I got the initial code.)

# use this query to see all items.   
#$query = "SELECT System.ItemName, system.ItemPathDisplay, System.ItemTypeText,  System.Size FROM SystemIndex"   
   
# use this query to search on a word  
#$query = "SELECT System.ItemName, system.ItemPathDisplay, System.ItemTypeText,  System.Size FROM SystemIndex  where contains('kawasaki')"  
  
# https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/search/-search-sql-folderdepth   
# SCOPE='file:C:/users/'  
  
# use this query to search on a directory  
$query = "SELECT System.ItemName, system.ItemPathDisplay, System.ItemTypeText,  System.Size FROM SystemIndex  where SCOPE='file:G:/'"  
  
$objConnection = New-Object -ComObject adodb.connection  
$objrecordset = New-Object -ComObject adodb.recordset  
$objConnection.commandtimeout = 30000  
$objconnection.open( "Provider=Search.CollatorDSO;Extended Properties='Application=Windows';")  
$objrecordset.open($query, $objConnection)  
$i = 0  
Try { $objrecordset.MoveFirst() }  
Catch [system.exception] { "no records returned";return }  
do   
{  
    $i = $i + 1  
    $typ = ($objrecordset.Fields.Item("System.ITemTypeText")).value   
	$fn = ($objrecordset.Fields.Item("System.ItemPathDisplay")).value  
    #"$i -  $typ - $fn"  
	$fn								# just display file name  
    $size = ($objrecordset.Fields.Item("System.Size")).value   
	$in = ($objrecordset.Fields.Item("System.ItemName")).value  
    #"       $size - $in"           # additional fields   
  
    if(-not($objrecordset.EOF))   
    {  
        $objrecordset.MoveNext()     
    }  
} Until ($objrecordset.EOF)  
  
"Record count $i"  
  
$objrecordset.Close()  
$objConnection.Close()  
$objrecordset = $null  
$objConnection = $null