A critical issue affecting macOS Sequoia users has emerged: Spotlight’s indexing system is malfunctioning catastrophically, causing excessive disk writes that could severely damage SSDs.
The Problem
Users on the macOS Beta subreddit have reported alarming disk write rates - some machines experiencing up to 26TB per night being written to disk. This is a serious threat to SSD longevity, as modern drives have limited write cycles before degradation occurs.
The culprit appears to be Spotlight’s indexing process running uncontrolled in the background, generating unnecessary disk activity without justification.
Immediate Solution: Disable Spotlight
Until Apple resolves this, the recommended approach is to temporarily disable Spotlight. Run these Terminal commands:
sudo mdutil -a -i off # Disable Spotlight
sudo mdutil -aE # Delete existing indexLosing Spotlight functionality is inconvenient, but protecting your hardware from damage takes priority.
Alternative: Raycast
If you rely on Spotlight for productivity, switch to Raycast. It’s a lightweight alternative offering robust app launching and file searching without intensive disk indexing - plus additional features like AI-powered commands.
Re-enabling After a Fix
Once Apple addresses this in a future update, restoration is simple:
sudo mdutil -a -i onMonitor your disk write activity and stay alert for official fixes from Apple.