An indexing system provides a more efficient and effective interface to display and manipulate large amounts of trace data from computer data and storage networks that is captured and stored in the trace memory of a protocol analyzer. An index of the trace data in the trace memory is generated by reading a selected percentage of the trace data in the trace memory. Hardware circuitry selectively identifies locations in the trace memory of trace data for desired portions of the trace data. A processor utilizes the locations identified by the hardware circuitry to generate an index for the trace data stored in the trace memory. Preferably, the hardware circuitry searches for a first time stamp encountered in each of a series of blocks of trace data and the processor utilizes the first time stamps to build a time index for the series of blocks of trace data.