MAC Terminal command to stop indexing external drive

sudo mdutil -i off /Volumes/YourExternalDriveName

Explanation:

• sudo: This command requires administrator privileges to modify system settings.
• mdutil: This is the command-line utility for managing the Metadata Server, which handles Spotlight indexing.
• -i off: This option tells mdutil to turn off indexing.
• /Volumes/YourExternalDriveName: This is the path to your external drive. You must replace “YourExternalDriveName” with the actual name of your drive as it appears in the Finder or in the /Volumes directory. If your drive name contains spaces, you’ll need to enclose it in quotation marks (e.g., /Volumes/"My External Drive").