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Posted on 26/04/07 10:32:26 AM |
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Graham Walker
* Posts: 20 Reply |
Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Hi I am told and I have read that it is best to use an extra hard drive external or otherwise so that the program can use it as a Scratch Disc,making the program faster.I have used an external drive for this.What I would like to know is HOW do you know it's working and using it as a Scratch Disc.Can I look somwhere whilst I am using it to see this ? Regards, Graham. PS By the way do other members have problems loging in ? The times I have had to re-register. |
Posted on 26/04/07 1:47:05 PM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply  |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Graham, You need to tell Photoshop to use it. This is done through preferences. As for checking to see if it's working, it will create one or more temporary files on the drive. You may need to change the folder view settings to show hidden and system files. David _________________ If you hold on to the past, sooner or later you'll lose your grip. |
Posted on 26/04/07 8:03:15 PM |
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Graham Walker
* Posts: 20 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Thanks David.It gives me four options the first is "Startup" and then three which I have cosen as J:/ which are partitions in my external drive I am running windows Vista whic has a Duel H,Drive can I change the first to J:/ as well as the other three ? Graham |
Posted on 30/04/07 4:54:06 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7052 Reply  |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Crikey! You can see what I always buy Macs! |
Posted on 30/04/07 5:04:11 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply  |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Aaaahhhh MACs! Thank you God for giving us Steve Jobs |
Posted on 01/05/07 8:06:36 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
I always have a seperate partion on my hard drive(s) for Photoshop's scratch disk. Saves defragmenting other drives. |
Posted on 01/05/07 8:55:21 PM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
I'm not up on Vista but I can only assume it's the same as previous Windows versions. Avoid Startup like the proverbial. That will be competing with the OS's own virtual memory and nobody will win. If you have a completely blank partition, use that. It'll never need defragmenting. I have mine (albeit using a superior OS  ) set to use a 20Gb partition as its primary followed by my data partition as the secondary.
_________________ If you hold on to the past, sooner or later you'll lose your grip. |
Posted on 05/05/07 12:18:59 PM |
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Graham Walker
* Posts: 20 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Thank You all I avoided the "Startup" and put my scratch disc to the external drive.I can not believe how it has speeded up the CS2 it is now a pleasure to use regards and thanks Graham |
Posted on 10/05/07 5:11:10 PM |
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Dave White
* Posts: 19 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
You can also get an overall system performance increase if you set the Windows system page file to run on its own partition too - and preferably on a different disk to the OS. That way, it can fragment all it likes without affecting everything else. |
Posted on 13/05/07 2:27:53 PM |
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Steve Cain
* Posts: 18 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Sounds interesting Dave, how would that be done? Cheers, Steve |
Posted on 13/05/07 7:36:29 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
Right click on My computer Properties Advanced Settings Settings Advanced Virtual memory Then change the page file to where you want it. |
Posted on 13/05/07 10:59:40 PM |
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Dave White
* Posts: 19 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
I said that without moving my lips! Thanks, vibeke! The point is that PS likes contiguous memory, whilst Windows scatters its virtual memory far and wide (fragmentation) You can defragment your files in WIndows (Start ==> All Programs ==> Accessories ==> System Tools ==> Disk Defragmenter. But there's no Windows way of defragmenting the paging file. So if the Windows page file is on the same partition as the PS Scratch Disk, the two argue . If you can do it, the ideal set up (I stand to be corrected) is to have two hard drives. HD 1 is your Startup drive on which your system files are installed. Give it plenty of spare room, though, because it has to have free space on it at all times as well as room to install all of your progs. I set mine at about 40GB and partitioned the rest for storage. Using a programme like Partition Magic, you can alter the size allocations later. HD 2 has three partitions: Partition 1 - storage Partition 2 - Windows paging file (used to be called the Swap File) I gave this 10GB Partition 3 - Photoshop Scratch Disk. Again, I gave mine 10GB, but it depends on what kind of size files you are working with in PS. The important thing is not to use this for ANYTHING else. This speeds up Windows because when it needs to use the paging file (when it runs out of real RAM), it doesn't have to keep moving between places on the same disk to access system stuff and the paging file. Incidentally, if you are convinced you've got loads of RAM and won't ever need the paging file/scratch disk, right click the Task Bar and click Task Manager (or press Ctrl Alt Del), switch to the Processes tab and have a look at the Commit Charge figure at the bottom right when you're running a few bits and pieces. It'll show you just how much memory you're ripping through. Make sure you don't stop anything in here, though, cos you can cause grief. Hope this helps! It never hurts to be informed. _________________ To strive for perfection for yourself is laudible. To demand it from others is not. |
Posted on 14/05/07 06:45:00 AM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Photoshop CS2 and Ext Hard Drive
thanks Dave, When I was programming years ago, I was working for a guy who believed in splitting the hard drive into several patitions, something I still do. Makes it easier to backup data/ photos etc, without backing up programs. I still split my hard drives, so it's easy enough to have page file and windows scratch on different partitions that aren't used for anything else. |