Cheerleading for dtSearch

September 30, 2014

Short honk: Want to read how one dtSearch user just loves the desktop search system to death? Navigate to “dtSearch: How to handle Big or even Biggish Data.” What strikes me is the write up’s creation of a new buzzword: biggish. dtSearch has been around since 1991 and is now at version 7. The system was once Microsoft centric, but a version for Android is allegedly in beta testing.

The write up states:

The performance of dtSearch is truly impressive and the fact that it’s not only fast but can handle Big Data makes it ideal for all sorts of heavy lifting searches as well as digital forensics; indeed, the company has extensive advice on how to use dtSearch for just that purpose.

There a a few, apparently minor downsides:

There are some things dtSearch doesn’t do such as exporting the data from only one or more indexed fields (for example, just “Sender” and “Date”) although exporting to CSV and importing into Excel allows you to slice and dice the data with ease. My only other criticism of dtSearch is that its user interface looks a little dated.

No information about the time required to add additional content to the index. What happens when dtSearch hits a Drobo with a terabyte of text? Answer: it takes days to index the content collection.

The big plus for dtSearch is not mentioned. In my opinion, dtSearch is one of the few remaining commercial personal desktop search solutions. Exalead and ISYS Search Software have left the field of battle. Freeware and shareware products have an odd predilection to crash and burn.

Check out dtSearch at www.dtsearch.com.

Stephen E Arnold, September 30, 2014

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