PS Slow

CC
Posted By
Carlos C
Jan 1, 2005
Views
336
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

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N
noone
Jan 1, 2005
In article , says
….
I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

Carlos,

In very general terms, PS likes to have separate (physically separate HDDs for OS & Apps v Scratch Disk) HDDs to work with. The larger/faster the better. Next, it loves RAM, lastly, it uses the processor. Without more info, I feel that your best solution would be to have 2 physical (as opposed to "logical,"
i.e. partitions) HDDs and set up your OS and programs on one, reserving as
much of the other, as is possible, for Scratch Disk space. More RAM will help, as well. Beyond that, HDD additions (they are really cheap now), just for Scratch Disk is prudent. You might go a step further, and do a RAID for your C:\ and a RAID for your D:\, placing the Scratch Disk on D:\. Also, think about additional RAM, if your MB supports it.

Just some heavy generalizations,
Hunt
CC
Carlos C
Jan 1, 2005
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.

"Carlos C" wrote in message
I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.
CC
Carlos C
Jan 1, 2005
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.

"Hunt" wrote in message
In article ,
says

I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a
message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard
drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If
I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate
HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

Carlos,

In very general terms, PS likes to have separate (physically separate HDDs for
OS & Apps v Scratch Disk) HDDs to work with. The larger/faster the better. Next, it loves RAM, lastly, it uses the processor. Without more info, I feel
that your best solution would be to have 2 physical (as opposed to "logical,"
i.e. partitions) HDDs and set up your OS and programs on one, reserving as much of the other, as is possible, for Scratch Disk space. More RAM will help,
as well. Beyond that, HDD additions (they are really cheap now), just for Scratch Disk is prudent. You might go a step further, and do a RAID for your
C:\ and a RAID for your D:\, placing the Scratch Disk on D:\. Also, think about additional RAM, if your MB supports it.

Just some heavy generalizations,
Hunt
J
jjs
Jan 1, 2005
"Carlos C" wrote in message
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures?

No. Do not reinstall Photoshop. Do this: start Photoshop. Then go to Edit – Preferences – Plug-ins & Scratch Discs. Put the first one on D: (presuming your second hard disc is D) and the second on C:

Chances are, however, that your second disc is really just a partition of C, but that’s the best you can do.
BK
Brian K
Jan 2, 2005
Carlos, leave PS where it is on the C: drive. Make the primary scratch on the D: drive, secondary on the C: drive.

Brian

"Carlos C" wrote in message
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.
N
noone
Jan 3, 2005
In article , says
….
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.

"Hunt" wrote in message
In article ,
says

I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a
message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard
drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If
I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate
HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

Carlos,

In very general terms, PS likes to have separate (physically separate HDDs for
OS & Apps v Scratch Disk) HDDs to work with. The larger/faster the better. Next, it loves RAM, lastly, it uses the processor. Without more info, I feel
that your best solution would be to have 2 physical (as opposed to "logical,"
i.e. partitions) HDDs and set up your OS and programs on one, reserving as much of the other, as is possible, for Scratch Disk space. More RAM will help,
as well. Beyond that, HDD additions (they are really cheap now), just for Scratch Disk is prudent. You might go a step further, and do a RAID for your
C:\ and a RAID for your D:\, placing the Scratch Disk on D:\. Also, think about additional RAM, if your MB supports it.

Just some heavy generalizations,
Hunt

Carlos,

Sorry if I confused you. That was not my intent. As jjs points out, leave PS where it is, on C:\. Set your other HDD (from your post, it appears that it IS a separate physical HDD and not just a partition of a single physical HDD).

No, your "System Cache" is not the same as Scratch Disk, though both perform the same basic function, virtual memory – System Cache for your OS, and Scratch Disk for PS. PS likes to have the Scratch Disk on a separate physical drive from the program, the OS and the OS’s System Cache.

If I misread your reply, and you have only one physical drive, regardless of how it is partitioned, you might want to look into acquiring an additional HDD and set it up just for the PS Scratch Disk. One plus to having a separate physical drive as your Scratch Disk, is that when PS is done with a session, it removes the temporary files from that disk (or partition), so it is left empty, and you don’t suffer from fragmentation of files, which can slow you down quite a bit, over time.

If this is still not clear, let me know. Though it is fairly simple, and with the cost of HDDs falling, if I’ve muddied the waters for you, it won’t help a bit.

Hunt
D
Don
Jan 3, 2005
Further to Carlos’ questions. I have a spare 10gig hd with nothing on it. Would that be large enough for setting up as the "scratch" disk being discussed?

regards and Happy New Year

Don from Down Under

"Carlos C" wrote in message
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.

"Carlos C" wrote in message
I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

N
noone
Jan 3, 2005
In article <pL5Cd.101281$>, mackie.
says…
Further to Carlos’ questions. I have a spare 10gig hd with nothing on it. Would that be large enough for setting up as the "scratch" disk being discussed?

regards and Happy New Year

Don from Down Under

"Carlos C" wrote in message
Hunt,

Thanks for the reply.
I currently have two separate HD in my PC. I am not too familiar with some of the terms you use. Would it help for me to uninstall my PS copy and re-install it on the other physical HD where I only store/backup my pictures? This HD is a Seagate Barracuda 120Gig (currently only 19 Gig is taken) with a 8MB buffer.

Regarding "scratch disk" is this the same as the system cache? If it would be better to move this to my 120 gig HD, how can I do this? Appreciate your help.

Happy New Year!

Carlos C.

"Carlos C" wrote in message
I just installed PS CS for the first time. Right after installing it I got a message telling me that it would be better to install it in a separate hard drive since the one I was using already had (can not remember the note). If I decided to keep it where it was it may run slow. Well, I note that when selecting different tools my system is slow. I am running PS on AMD Athlon 1800 with 768 RAM.

Any similar experience out there? Does moving the application to a separate HD help?…a lot?

Thanks

Carlos C.

Yes. In the case of Scratch Disk(s), more is always better, as is faster. Depending on what version you are using, you may want to partition this HDD. Check out the various specs per version, but 7 would use 4GB of HDD space x 4 for a total of 16GB. In that case, you could partition as 4GB, 4GB, 2GB, setting the 2 4GB partitions as Scratch Disk 1 & 2, with the 2GB as 3, and then your C:\ as #4. In CS, it doesn’t matter, as PS can use virtually unlimited HDD space for Scratch Disk, so partitioning is unnecessary.

Hunt

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