Scratch Disk……

FP
Posted By
Franklin P Patchey
Dec 15, 2003
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This is similar to the thread above…what is the Scratch Disk and how big should it be (I have created a 10Gb partition on my drive dedicated to this scratch thingy, but don’t really know what it’s for!)

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JG
James Gifford
Dec 15, 2003
Franklin P Patchey wrote:
This is similar to the thread above…what is the Scratch Disk and how big should it be (I have created a 10Gb partition on my drive dedicated to this scratch thingy, but don’t really know what it’s for!)

It’s a digital "scratch pad" for PS and other apps that work with large amounts of data (such as Premiere, some database managers, etc.)

It is a large (multi-GB) clear space that can be used to write buffer, overflow and backup files and permit very quick read/write access so that operations with those files don’t unnecessarily slow the app.

While a separate partition on the application drive is good – it means that the data space will not be cluttered with other, immovable files that will force large working files to be fragmented – it really should be on a separate drive. If you work with large PS files, throw a 40-60GB drive into your system, format it and keep it empty, and point PS to it as the primary scratch drive. For $100 or so, you’ll see a marked improvement in performance. Other apps may be able to make good use of it as well, but only one scratch-disk app at a time should be running for best performance.

Occasionally look at it with all apps shut down, and delete any remaining files found there. Undeleted tag ends of files will force fragmentation and slowdowns.



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