What changed

Version 0.1.2

October 2, 2026

• Under-the-hood bug fixes

---

Version 0.1.0

October 1, 2026

The biggest update so far: a rebuilt Mac app, a safer library, an encrypted companion connection, and a companion that works without your Mac.

⚠️ Before You Update

• Your library is updated the first time 0.1.0 opens. A backup is saved first, in Application Support/DriveIndex/Backups/. Earlier versions of DriveIndex cannot open the updated library.
• DriveIndex Companion must be updated too, and paired again. The companion connection is now encrypted; older companions are told to update and can no longer browse.

🎉 Features

A New Main Window

• Files show as a table, a thumbnail grid, or by folder, with one search field, one filter bar and a details inspector shared by all three
• Search every drive or only the ones you select; narrow a search to a drive by typing its name
• Quick Look, drag files out, copy paths, reveal in Finder, and edit tags and notes with Undo
• Settings is now a standard Settings window with one tab per topic; the menu bar item brings the window back
• A short introduction on first launch, and new drives are asked about one at a time

Faster, Safer Indexing

• Re-indexing no longer removes the old index first: the previous index stays searchable until the new one is complete, and a cancelled or failed run leaves it untouched
• Only read files that have changed (Settings → Indexing): a re-index keeps the details and thumbnails of files that have not changed. A 270,000-file drive that took over five minutes now re-indexes in about half a minute
• A drive is searchable as soon as its files and details are read; thumbnails finish afterwards
• Much faster folder scanning on large drives
• Network volumes (SMB, NFS, AFP, WebDAV) can be indexed
• Indexing can be cancelled, and failures are shown instead of passing silently

Faster Search

• Text search uses a new full-text index, so searches across hundreds of thousands of files answer immediately
• Browsing a large drive no longer loads every file into memory

Encrypted Companion Connection

• Pair an iPhone or iPad once by scanning a code in Settings → Companion; the connection is encrypted and only paired devices can connect
• "New Pairing Code" unpairs every device at once
• Each app tells you when the other needs an update: the Mac shows a notice when an older companion tries to connect, and the companion says when the Mac is running an older DriveIndex

DriveIndex Companion 0.1.0 (iPhone and iPad)

• Works without your Mac: file names, folders, sizes and dates are copied to the device whenever your Mac is reachable, so you can find which drive a file is on from anywhere
• New layout with Drives, Search and Settings tabs, and a sidebar on iPad
• Browse a drive as a list or as thumbnails
• Ask Siri or Spotlight: "Find a file in DriveIndex" answers which drives have it
• Copy and share a file's location; choose which drives are kept on the device and see how much space the catalog uses

Catalog Export and Import

• File → Export Catalog… saves your whole library to one file; Import Catalog… brings it into another Mac

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed duplicate drives appearing in the library; duplicates are resolved when the library is updated
• Fixed stalls and timeouts while reading MXF files, and thumbnails for ARRI ProRes MXF and very short clips
• Fixed two indexing runs starting on the same drive at once
• Fixed the companion server failing to start when its port was already in use
• Fixed false "changed" detection for files whose dates differed only by fractions of a second
• Audio files are read with the system's own frameworks, which is faster and more reliable
• Fixed several problems at launch, including a brief freeze and layout warnings
• The trial and license check can no longer be reset locally

🔧 Under the Hood

• Bundled ExifTool updated to 13.55; ffmpeg and ffprobe rebuilt as universal binaries (FFmpeg 8.1.3)
• Sparkle updated to 2.10
• Diagnostics pane in Settings shows whether the bundled tools can run
• Usage data can be turned off in Settings → Privacy

---

Version 0.0.6

May 12, 2026

🎉 Features

CSV Drive Export

• New "Export as CSV…" command (⌘⇧X) in the Drive menu
• Selection sheet lets you choose individual drives or export all at once with a single toggle
• Exported columns: drive number, name, root folder structure, file count, first indexed date, last indexed date, oldest file date, newest file date, total size, and free space
• Root folders show actual top-level folder names rather than volume mount paths
• Dates export in a clean, locale-independent format

First Indexed Date Tracking

• Each drive now records when it was first indexed
• Date persists across subsequent re-indexes and appears in CSV exports

🚀 Performance

Indexing Speed

• Eliminated a full second filesystem traversal that previously ran before every index — the drive is now scanned once instead of twice
• Reduced database round-trips during metadata saving from one query per file to one query per batch, significantly faster on large drives
• Same batch query improvement applied to thumbnail path saves
• Metadata extraction concurrency is now properly capped to the system-tuned limit, preventing resource contention on drives with many media files
• ExifTool batch size and flush interval now scale with system capabilities rather than using fixed values
• Metadata extraction processes that finish early no longer hold a background thread for the full timeout duration
• Redundant second pass over extracted metadata results removed — results are accumulated correctly in a single pass
• File attribute reads reduced from two per file to one, eliminating a duplicate filesystem call during metadata extraction
• Thumbnail generation no longer waits for an entire group of files to finish before starting the next — slots fill immediately as completions arrive
• Thumbnail cache is pruned after each drive completes rather than accumulating indefinitely across re-indexes

App Launch

• Fixed temporary unresponsiveness at launch caused by drive index count queries running synchronously on the main thread — counts now fetch on a background thread and update the menu bar item asynchronously
• Verbose per-file progress logging suppressed in release builds, reducing string formatting overhead during large indexing runs

🐛 Bug Fixes

License Activation

• Fixed intermittent HTTP 404 errors when activating a Gumroad license caused by incorrect URL encoding in the activation request

App Startup

• Fixed a warning caused by the Core Data model being loaded more than once at startup, which could produce duplicate entity registration errors
• Fixed a startup race condition where internal services were initialized twice in quick succession, causing redundant work on launch

Local Network Server

• Fixed a race condition where starting the local network server twice in rapid succession could result in an "Address already in use" error

Settings

• Fixed blank rows appearing in the Metadata Enrichment section of Settings
• Updated copyright year to © 2025–2026 Neon Media, LLC

🔒 Security

App Data Storage

• Thumbnails and drive icons now stored in Application Support rather than the system Caches directory — Application Support is not subject to OS cache purges
• One-time background migration automatically moves existing cached files to the new location on first launch; no user action required
• Existing thumbnails from previous versions continue to display during and after migration

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Security-scoped drive bookmarks now keyed by volume UUID rather than mount path, improving reliability across drive remounts and renames
• Automatic migration of legacy bookmark keys runs transparently on first launch for existing users
• Telemetry now correctly reports the number of files indexed per drive (previously reported zero)

---

Version 0.0.5

December 20, 2025

✨ Enhancements

Unified Search Experience

• Implemented unified search with scope controls (All Drives / This Drive)
• Eliminated confusing dual search boxes - one search field handles both global and drive-specific search
• "Clear Filters" now returns to global search and clears drive selection
• Search prompt dynamically updates based on context
• Fixed threading issues causing QoS warnings and UI freezing during large searches
• Implemented debounced filter application to prevent race conditions
• Search results now remain stable during rapid filter changes
• NEW: Added always-visible segmented control toggle for switching search modes
• NEW: Toggle positioned right before search box for intuitive context
• NEW: Bidirectional sync between toggle and drive selection
• NEW: Intelligent auto-selection when switching to "This Drive" mode without drive selected

Search Functionality Overhaul

• NEW: Fixed critical issue where drive-specific search only searched filenames/paths, not metadata
• NEW: Local drive search now searches all metadata fields: camera make/model, lens make/model, codec, scene, take, reel
• NEW: Directory tree view now applies metadata search filtering (previously ignored search queries)
• NEW: Search behavior now consistent between flat list and directory tree modes
• NEW: Fixed double-filtering bug where DirectoryTreeView would show 0 results despite FilteredIndexView finding matches
• Search results now properly display in tree structure when local search is active

UI Polish & Professional Design

• NEW: Repositioned search mode toggle from far left navigation to right before search box
• NEW: Applied .controlSize(.small) to segmented control for tighter, more professional appearance
• NEW: Reduced toggle width from 200px to 180px for better space utilization
• NEW: Removed redundant external drive selector button (replaced by unified toggle)
• NEW: Cleaner toolbar organization: navigation controls left, search controls right
• Toolbar layout now follows macOS design patterns (Settings, Photos, Music apps)

🚀 Performance

App Launch

• Fixed critical performance issue causing 6+ second unresponsive startup with beach ball cursor
• Window now appears and becomes interactive in under 500ms (92% faster)
• Implemented non-blocking startup with progressive loading and professional loading UI
• Eliminated main thread blocking through async initialization of Core Data, services, and volume monitoring
• Reduced memory usage from potential 1GB+ spikes to ~200MB through batched file loading
• Deferred update checks and telemetry by 10 seconds to avoid blocking launch

Startup Optimization

• Fixed excessive duplicate drive checks on app launch (200+ redundant checks reduced to ~10)
• Startup latency improved from 2-3s to <0.5s (4-6x faster)
• Implemented 4-part optimization: publisher deduplication, single-publish model, 2-second mount status cache, early-exit checks
• Eliminated CPU spike during app launch
• Optimized Combine publishers to eliminate redundant triggers
• Added drive mount status cache eliminating 80x repeated IOKit lookups

Search

• Dramatically improved search speed with query cancellation, result caching (LRU with 60s TTL), and parallel execution
• Reduced debounce from 300ms to 200ms for snappier response
• Cache hits now return in <5ms instead of 200-500ms
• Increased initial page size to 1500 results
• Optimized batch rendering with larger batches and longer intervals for smoother scrolling

Filter Loading

• Fixed critical issue causing 2-3 second beach ball cursor when loading filter dropdowns
• Implemented proper Core Data background contexts with parallel execution
• All filter queries now run simultaneously on background threads without blocking UI

🐛 Bug Fixes

Search

• Fixed multi-word search returning zero or incomplete results (e.g., "arri alexa", "red helium")
• Implemented proper tokenization with cross-field matching
• Fixed drive selection accidentally filtering all searches when "Restrict to Selected Drives" was disabled
• Search now correctly includes all indexed drives by default
• Fixed search flicker where results would temporarily drop to 0
• Fixed issue where "Clear Filters" would leave user stuck in drive-specific mode
• NEW: Fixed critical bug where searching for camera metadata (e.g., "alexa", "arri") in drive view returned 0 results
• NEW: Fixed search only matching filenames/paths when it should search all metadata fields
• NEW: Fixed directory tree view not displaying filtered results (showed all files regardless of search)
• NEW: Fixed race condition where filtered results would be calculated but not rendered in UI
• NEW: Fixed double-filtering issue in tree view causing valid search results to be hidden
• NEW: Search queries now properly passed from FilteredIndexView to DriveDirectoryTreeView

Security & Permissions

• Fixed app requesting drive permission on every reindex
• Implemented consistent path normalization for bookmark keys
• Permission dialog now appears only once per drive (on first index)
• Bookmarks persist correctly across app restarts and reboots
• Better handling of marker file permission errors with sandbox
• Falls back gracefully to serial number matching when marker files are inaccessible

Drive Identification

• Fixed app incorrectly showing multiple drives as mounted when only one connected
• Implemented hierarchical drive matching: hardware serial → hardware fingerprint → volume UUID
• Added self-healing to correct stale volume identifiers in database
• Physical drives now uniquely identified by serial numbers

Network & Connectivity

• Fixed iOS app connection timeouts when fetching large drives (18k+ files, 7k+ directories)
• Increased client timeout from 10s to 60s, resource timeout from 30s to 120s
• Added cooperative task yielding in recursive tree building
• Large drives (up to 50k files) now load successfully in 20-40 seconds
• Fixed iOS app unable to discover macOS host in TestFlight and distributed builds
• Added missing network entitlements for proper Bonjour functionality

Camera RAW Thumbnails

• Added support for 13+ additional camera RAW formats (Kodak, Minolta, Mamiya, Leica, Samsung, Epson, Casio, older Canon, Pentax, Panasonic)
• Total of 30+ RAW formats now supported for thumbnail generation

UI & Navigation

• Fixed directory tree not rendering when switching from list view
• Fixed drive selection not triggering view switch
• Fixed thumbnails not loading in Drive View
• Fixed "Clear Filters" button to clear all filters, not just file type

✨ Features

Drive View Enhancements

• Complete directory tree overhaul: now shows ALL directories regardless of pagination or filters
• New persistent search bar for searching within selected drive
• Filters now apply only to files, never hiding directory structure
• Visual design alignment with Search View (frosted glass, rounded corners, animations)
• Filter toggle (⌘F) for cleaner workspace
• Drive View now defaults to directory tree view

Search View Improvements

• Removed confusing directory tree mode from global search
• Clearer separation: Search View for cross-drive search, Drive View for single-drive exploration
• Added context menus to all file rows (Reindex, Add Notes, Add Tags, Remove)

Filter Improvements

• New toggle-based date range filter with clear on/off state
• Date pickers only appear when filter is enabled
• All filters now use consistent 200ms debounce
• Complete filter clearing with one click

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Implemented Swift 6 concurrency compliance throughout
• Converted DriveHardwareInfoResolver to actor for thread-safe caching
• Progressive volume classification (basic info → hardware → classification)
• Service singleton pattern eliminates redundant initialization
• DiskUtil cache actor replaces NSLock for better async/await integration
• Immutable concurrency patterns with withTaskGroup
• Enhanced bookmark lifecycle logging with clear success/failure indicators
• Improved diagnostic logging in drive detection
• Code cleanup: removed ~300 lines of obsolete code
• NEW: Introduced unified search mode architecture with SearchMode enum (.allDrives / .currentDrive)
• NEW: Implemented bidirectional state synchronization between toggle UI and internal state
• NEW: Created intelligent mode switching with auto-selection fallback for edge cases
• NEW: Unified metadata search logic across FilteredIndexView and DriveDirectoryTreeView
• NEW: Comprehensive search field matching now includes: name, path, directory, extension, tags, camera make/model, lens make/model, codec, scene, take, reel
• NEW: Added extensive debug logging for search filtering lifecycle and race condition diagnosis

---

Version 0.0.4

December 14, 2025

🎉 Features

License Management & Trial System

• 7-day free trial with full feature access (no credit card required)
• License activation via Gumroad ($19.99 one-time purchase)
• Secure license storage in macOS Keychain
• 30-day offline grace period after initial activation
• Up to 2 device activations per license
• License management in Settings (view status, activate, deactivate)

File List Pagination

• File lists now load in batches of 2,000 files for improved performance
• "Show More" button for directories with more than 2,000 files
• File count status shows "Showing X of Y files"
• Dramatically faster initial load for large directories (10,000+ files)

QR Code Enhancements

• "Print All Labels" option for batch printing QR codes for all indexed drives
• Improved QR code generation reliability and scanning accuracy

🐛 Bug Fixes

Drive Identification

• Fixed critical cache bug causing multiple drives to show the same serial number
• Changed cache key from BSD disk name to volume mount path
• Cache now properly invalidates when drives are unmounted
• Fixed new drives incorrectly matching to existing drives via volume ID
• Improved hardware serial number verification in all drive identification flows

Window & Application Management

• Fixed duplicate windows when clicking dock icon or reopening app
• Fixed window restoration from minimized state
• Improved window lifecycle handling for better macOS integration

Media & Network

• Improved thumbnail extraction reliability across all media types
• Better handling of camera RAW formats
• Enhanced thumbnail streaming to iOS app
• Improved iOS network connection stability
• Better handling of server disconnections and reconnections

Permissions & Security

• Better handling of marker file permission errors with sandbox
• Falls back gracefully to serial number matching when marker files are inaccessible
• Improved diagnostic logging for permission issues

✨ Enhancements

• Clean welcome screen on first launch with trial, license, or purchase options
• License status clearly displayed in Settings
• Trial countdown shows days remaining
• License validation with Gumroad API (server-side, secure)
• Minimum macOS version updated to 13.0 (Ventura)

---

Version 0.0.3

December 12, 2025

🎉 Features

iOS Companion App

• Complete iOS companion app for browsing indexed drives from iPhone/iPad
• QR code scanning with deep link support
• Local network browsing via Bonjour/mDNS
• Directory tree browser with file metadata display
• Search functionality with metadata filtering
• Thumbnail streaming from Mac
• Recent drives list (up to 10 drives)
• Token-based authentication
• Camera autofocus optimization for 1"×1" QR labels

macOS Local Network Server

• HTTP API server on port 5050 for iOS companion
• Bonjour/mDNS advertisement
• 8 REST API endpoints (status, drives, drive details, thumbnails, search, filters)
• Token authentication with XXX-XXX-XXX format
• Auto-start server on launch option
• New "Local Network" settings tab

QR Code Label Generation

• Printable QR code labels (1"×1") for drives
• PDF export for label printing
• Deep link encoding with drive identity verification
• Batch label generation support

✨ Enhancements

UX Improvements

• iOS: Token visibility toggle, dynamic version numbers
• macOS: Readable XXX-XXX-XXX token format, large styled token display with copy button
• Developer mode toggle for unauthenticated API access
• Proper IPv6 URL formatting, IPv4 preference for compatibility
• Ultra-wide camera support for macro QR scanning
• Continuous autofocus with optimal lens positioning

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed 20+ main actor isolation errors for Swift 6 compliance
• Fixed Info.plist conflicts, duplicate package references
• Fixed hardware info display issues, PDF filename generation
• Fixed iOS black screen on launch, connection sandbox permissions
• Fixed macOS connection refused errors, cache migration crashes
• Fixed database migration path resolution
• Fixed thumbnail generation across various formats
• Fixed IPv6 URL formatting, QR scanner autofocus
• Implemented request throttling for stability under heavy load

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Created DriveIndexShared package for cross-platform code sharing
• Added proper @MainActor annotations throughout
• Enhanced Core Data operations with context.perform
• Prevented retain cycles with weak self captures

---

Version 0.0.2

December 11, 2025

✨ Features

• Improved access token management for API authentication
• Batch QR code generation for multiple drives
• Enhanced QR code stability and reliability

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Improved drive identity detection
• Fixed QR code generation edge cases
• Various UI polish improvements

---

Version 0.0.1

December 10, 2025

🎉 Initial Release

Core Features

• Index external drives and capture complete file metadata
• Full-text search across indexed files with advanced filtering
• Directory tree browser for intuitive file exploration
• Drive management with hardware fingerprinting
• Thumbnail generation and caching

Professional Camera Support

• RED R3D files via RED SDK
• Blackmagic RAW files via BRAW SDK
• ARRI formats with ALE sidecar support
• Sony, Canon, Nikon, and other cinema cameras
• Support for camera RAW formats (.cr2, .cr3, .nef, .arw, .dng)

Metadata Extraction

• Vendor SDKs (RED, Blackmagic) for native format metadata
• Sidecar file support (ARRI ALE, Sony XML)
• ExifTool integration for EXIF/QuickTime metadata
• MediaInfo/ffprobe for generic container formats
• Comprehensive camera metadata (make, model, lens, settings)

Supported Formats

• Cinema: .r3d, .braw, .ari, .arx, .mxf
• Video: .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mkv
• RAW Photos: .cr2, .cr3, .nef, .arw, .dng, and more
• Sidecar: .ale, .xml, .xmp

Technical Foundation

• SwiftUI for modern, native macOS interface
• Core Data for efficient persistence
• Combine for reactive updates
• Swift concurrency (async/await) throughout
• Sparkle framework for auto-updates

---

Project Information

Repository: DriveIndex
License: Proprietary
Company: Neon Media, LLC
Platform: macOS 13.0+ / iOS 16.0+
Language: Swift 5.9+

---

Notes

Version Numbering

• 0.0.x: Pre-release / Alpha
• 0.x.0: Beta releases
• x.0.0: Production releases

Categories

• 🎉 Major Features: Significant new functionality
• ✨ Enhancements: Improvements to existing features
• 🐛 Bug Fixes: Error corrections and stability improvements
• 📦 Code Structure: Architecture and organization changes
• 📊 Statistics: Quantitative project metrics
• ⚠️ Breaking Changes: Changes that require user action
• 🗑️ Deprecated: Features marked for removal
• 🔒 Security: Security-related changes

Contributing

This is a private project. For internal use only.