Scratch Disk/File Storage

H
Posted By
Hans
Oct 6, 2004
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648
Replies
8
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Closed
I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

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N
noone
Oct 6, 2004
In article , says…
I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

Yes you can. However, CS can use all of it, unlike previous versions, so partitioning for the sake of CS is not necessary. Depending on the speed of the second HDD, there might be a small bottle-neck when saving a file it, regardless of the logical disk structure, when CS has a big swap file. I have no info on this, but doubt that one would even notice it in their workflow.

I’d urge you to get the fastest disk(s) that you can for both your OS & CS, and for your Scratch Disk.

Hunt
J
jjs
Oct 6, 2004
"Hans" wrote in message
I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

Oh heck, Hans, get another disc to make it three.

e: – new drive – sources (image files)
f: – new drive – scratch #1
d: scratch #2 (which is probably a partition of C)
TT
Tom Thomas
Oct 7, 2004
Hans wrote:

I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage.

No need to worry about it. You’ll never find a copy of "CS 7.0" so you’d be wasting your time and money buying a new drive. ——————————-
Tom

Unsolicited advertisements cheerfully ignored.
BW
Bob Williams
Oct 9, 2004
Hans wrote:
I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

You are on the right track.
H.D. are so inexpensive today, consider getting at least a 60GB drive. Allocate 30 GB to each partition. I doubt seriously that you will ever need 30 GB of scratch space unless you work with lots of layers of BIIIIG images.
But for maximum speed (if your OS permits) go for 1 GB of RAM. That will give you the most bang for the buck.
BTW, Photoshop CS is V 8.0
Bob Williams
T
thcaadoc
Oct 10, 2004
By the way –

Can you folks point me towards some reputable websites with information about how to optimize a computer for Photoshop?

I am searching for information about partitioning strategies for multiple HDDs (not RAID) in a computer used primarily for Photoshop.

Sites I’ve stumbled across include
Rad’s "Guide to Booting from a SCSI Drive"
(http://scsi.radified.com/)
James Eshelman’s "Planning Your Partitions"
(http://www.aumha.org/a/parts.htm)

I’m almost finished assembling a new computer (a SCSI-IDE hybrid, like http://scsi.radified.com) with three SCSI drives (36-GB each) for OS, programs and pagefile/scratch disk, and with two serial-ATA drives (120-GB each) for bulk storage. The motherboard’s BIOS already recognizes the three SCSI drives, but cannot boot any further because I haven’t yet partitioned and installed the OS (i.e., I haven’t yet learned what constitutes "best practices" for Photoshop).

Your suggestions for partitioning the three SCSI drives will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for pointing me in the right direction.
D
Doppleganger
Oct 11, 2004
In article
wrote:

I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

Photoshop looks at both your ram and your scratch space when it boots, so even massive 250 gig drives completely dedicated to PS will still be slower if you’re running too little ram, and slower ram.

Max your ram, and then give it some decent scratch disks that are physically seperate (partitions don’t count). I’d give PS the whole drive with one partition instead of 2 – I have 3 scratchs assigned to PS here at home (2 160 SATAs and an external 120 Firewire), and it rarely if ever hits the third. At work I have one spare 20 gig assigned just to scratch, and none other assigned, and it’s just as fast as with 3 more – and I work in 100-300 meg CMYK files.

Go ahead and store files on the scratch partition, as long as they’re not files you’re working on at the same time in PS. I put long term storage stuff on my scratchs when I have to, but never current files, anything the system keeps track of (fonts, music, whatever).

Also keep in mind PS will *always* access the scratch disk, as it stores the history of the file while it’s open, it’s undo state, and other bits of data. With enough ram, you should hit the scratch less, but it *will* hit it. Scratch is crucial, but your ram, processor and video card are just as important – and some of those cards that rock for games flat out suck for 2-d, and can be a bit of a bottleneck for PS.
PP
Philip Procter
Oct 13, 2004
I don’t see that two partitions would help speed. The key seems to be to have the Windows swap file on one drive and the Photoshop scratch disc on another.

An interesting question would be: If you have three HDs, which would be faster, Windows on the third drive or Photoshop? I would think that there would be some speed improvement if the Photoshop files, and all the plug-ins, etc, were not on the same physical drive as the swap and scratch discs.

Anyone know?

Philip
Hans wrote:
I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.
H
Hans
Oct 13, 2004
Doppleganger wrote in
news::

In article , Hans
wrote:

I am getting a copy of CS 7.0 and am trying to determine a strategy for my scratch disk and file storage. I plan to get a second internal hard drive and use it for my scratch disk. Could I also use the 2nd drive to store files without affecting the performance of the scratch disk processing too much. I would setup 2 separate partitions on the 2nd drive.

Photoshop looks at both your ram and your scratch space when it boots, so even massive 250 gig drives completely dedicated to PS will still be slower if you’re running too little ram, and slower ram.

Max your ram, and then give it some decent scratch disks that are physically seperate (partitions don’t count). I’d give PS the whole drive with one partition instead of 2 – I have 3 scratchs assigned to PS here at home (2 160 SATAs and an external 120 Firewire), and it rarely if ever hits the third. At work I have one spare 20 gig assigned just to scratch, and none other assigned, and it’s just as fast as with 3 more – and I work in 100-300 meg CMYK files.

Go ahead and store files on the scratch partition, as long as they’re not files you’re working on at the same time in PS. I put long term storage stuff on my scratchs when I have to, but never current files, anything the system keeps track of (fonts, music, whatever).

Also keep in mind PS will *always* access the scratch disk, as it stores the history of the file while it’s open, it’s undo state, and other bits of data. With enough ram, you should hit the scratch less, but it *will* hit it. Scratch is crucial, but your ram, processor and video card are just as important – and some of those cards that rock for games flat out suck for 2-d, and can be a bit of a bottleneck for PS.

Thanks, that clarifies things a lot. I have 1.25gb of RAM and am getting an 80gb drive for the scratch disk. That should work for me.

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