Big Sur on iMac: Spotlight re indexing at each reboot

Hi sylvaink,

Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today. It sounds like after installing Big Sur, Spotlight reindexes every time the Mac boots up.

Have you tried forcing a rebuild without the reboot? Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac.

What happens if you boot up in safe mode? Start up your Mac in safe mode.

Let us know further details.

Have a fantastic day!

Every time macOS, including Big Sur boots, it will re-index Spotlight, and Time Machine will inherently run Spotlight for itself. There are considerable other customary (and necessary) system housekeeping chores that are initiated on a fresh boot, and these will (or should) all run their course within a few minutes. During this window, you will be painfully reminded of that slow Fusion drive choice over a much faster SSD.

You have options, such as purchasing a suitable capacity SSD in an external USB3/USB-C enclosure, performing a Time Machine restore to it, and then changing the startup drive in System Preference to the external SSD. You will be amazed at the performance improvement. I would recommend an SSD purchase via OWC, or Crucial.

I am echoing, this painful, constant reminder of the speed of this fusion drive. It simply can't keep up. Spotlight takes forever. Reboot takes forever. Constant problems.