Scratch Disks on high Resolution

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Posted By
formsite01
Sep 2, 2008
Views
680
Replies
25
Status
Closed
I know, a million people have asked this. but I’ve read absolutely everything possible on the matter, and tried everything short of closing my document, which describes my problem.

I am creating an extremely large file to be printed @ over 20 feet long. I’ve been in touch with the printer who told me that my original file, at 1/4 scale and 100 DPI was not high enough resolution, 1/4 would have to be 400 PPI, which is where I am now.

It took me about 8 hours to complete, saving all the way through.

Now that I’m finished I cannot save my document. "could not save because the scratch disks are full"

I’ve deleted every layer I possibly could, I’ve hidden every single layer I could, just so I could at least save & close the document to attempt to resolve the problem. It will not let me save, it will not let me merge layers. I have 298GB of free space free on my hard drive. I have 4GB of running memory. I have nothing else open. I’ve defragmented my drive. I’ve set the memory usage all the way up to 99%. I’ve tried everything recommended by the Adobe FAQ on this matter, but can not close photoshop.

I’m trying not to lose my work here, it’s finished I just need to save it and be done. Even if I restarted I fear the same problem would arise.

Please tell me something I haven’t tried, Adobe Team.

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

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Freeagent
Sep 2, 2008
I’ve set the memory usage all the way up to 99%

No no no. Set it back to 75%. You’re starving the OS.

You’ve defragmented OK, but if this is the C drive there may still be files scattered all over the place. You really need a separate drive for scratch if you’re going to work on files this big. Really.
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Freeagent
Sep 2, 2008
What is this thing you’re making anyway?

As Julianne Moore said in Boogie Nights, this is a giant file…
JJ
John Joslin
Sep 2, 2008
Please tell me something I haven’t tried, Adobe Team.

This is just a user to user forum.

As Freeagent says you need to decrease the memory allocation.

Bear in mind that the temp file on the scratch disk will be many times the size of the file shown in Photoshop.

I’m not sure whether history states affect scratch disk requirements – maybe someone can come in with more information.

I presume you already read the entry in PS Help about saving large files.

Out of curiosity, what is the end use for this image?
B
Buko
Sep 2, 2008
try purging the history
H
Ho
Sep 2, 2008
I don’t know what preferences you can change in Photoshop that will take effect without restarting. I don’t know if it’s possible to export the clipboard (copy and paste) to a different app and save from there…
JJ
John Joslin
Sep 2, 2008
He says "saving all the way through", so he should only lose the last 10minutes work. 😉
B
Buko
Sep 2, 2008
purge history to clear the scratch
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formsite01
Sep 2, 2008
please describe in more detail the process of purging the history.

I would lose more than a couple of hours, and I’m worried that if i just restart that I will end up in the same situation again.
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Freeagent
Sep 2, 2008
In Photoshop, Edit > Purge > History

Or better yet Purge > All
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formsite01
Sep 2, 2008
done but still can’t save =[
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formsite01
Sep 2, 2008
oh, forgot to answer, the design is for a large truck.
H
Ho
Sep 3, 2008
So how big is this thing? Are you sure PS hasn’t filled up your HD? Can you do an image>duplicate and save the dupe?
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formsite01
Sep 3, 2008
could not duplicate because the sratch disks are full x__X

the document is 16000×8200 pixels @ 400 PPI.

about 35 layers. mostly color fills & text. I could merge almost all of them if PS would let me..

thanks again for helping guys.
BH
BILL_HUNT
Sep 3, 2008
It might be time to purchase some additional HDD’s to use as nothing but Scratch Disks. For files of similar size, I have 4x 1TB 7200RPM SATA II’s, that are empty, except for Scratch Disk space. Since CS, PS can use all of the Scratch Disk space that you can feed it. If you did a 4×4 1TB RAID 0, giving you 16TB, seen as 4x Scratch Disks, it would use it all, if needed. There is a limit, but I forget what it is. Let’s just say that PS (as of CS) will take ALL the Scratch Disk space that one could likely throw at it.

In the old days, when a 1GB disk was considered large, I’d often have to backup to tape, and delete every program except for the OS and PS, just to work on triple-truck ads at 300-400 ppi. I could only Save once, and then have to back THAT file up to tape, delete it, and begin work again. I’d just make a pot of coffee, drink it and come back as my tape backup was done! Thank God those days are long gone.

You can get some additional real estate, if you can hook up a couple of externals (go for eSATA or FW-800) to do your Save_As files onto. They’ll work well for backups. If you do have to work on one of the saved files, you will probably be best to Copy it back to the internal, though with eSATA, or FW-800, you should be able to actually work FROM the external. I have done so with video and Premiere, so I think PS would handle it OK, just maybe a touch slow to load.

Fry’s Electronics (Western US) just had 1TB 7200RPM ATA-300 HDD’s for US$119. If you can stick a few of these into your system, you *should* be able to get by. Otherwise, you can always add a SATA II controller card (if you have a PCIe/PCI slot) and stick 4x 1TB HDD’s in.

I’d work at least some of the equipment charge into the client’s bill.

Good luck

Hunt
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Curvemeister
Sep 3, 2008
I’m a little late to the party. Assuming your system is still sitting there with the pano, here’s how I would get un-stuck:

I recommend that you set your History States and Cache Levels to 1, resample down to 200 ppi. If this fails, set History States to 0 and try the resize again. Save the layered 200ppi version of your image at that point.

If History States 1 worked, use undo to get back to your original 400 ppi, otherwise resize to the printer’s desired 400 ppi, sharpen (try: USM 150 percent, radius .6). Whichever way worked, flatten the 400ppi image and save the as a TIFF, or whatever format the printer asked for.

If Photoshop is unable to do the resize down to 200ppi, I can think of two possible ways to save the layers. One is to use File>Scripts>Export layers to files. Another is to convert each layer to a Smart Object, grab the psb files out of the temp folder, and re-assemble them later. You might decide to try this first, to save the full rez version of your work. I would recommend against that for two reasons – the image is probably over-sampled at 400 ppi, and as you use scripting and smart objects you run the risk of hanging Photoshop and losing your work.
JJ
John Joslin
Sep 3, 2008
Have you tried enabling the Bigger Tiles plug-in by removing the ~ in

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Plug-Ins\Extensions\Bigger Tiles ?
BC
Bart_Cross
Sep 3, 2008
As some of the suggestions concern re-setting the prefs, the OP will lose his changes.

I was thinking that maybe, temporarily, you could split the file in two by creating a second file and moving some layers over to the new one so that you can save each one. Then implement the suggestions, including a new HD purchase, then re-assemble the file.
CF
chris_farrell
Sep 3, 2008
When I work on huge files the ‘bigger tiles’ plugin really slows things down – didn’t like it so I reverted back to default.

I’d get a big hard drive for a scratch only – mine is a 150gb raptor 10k and seems fine when I work on my large format projects – could get away with 74gb, currently

As a working process I ‘save as’ then flatten > build up layers > ‘save as’ then flatten etc – all layers are intact via a progressive file save system but you will avoid huge scratch disk files – I’ve recently seen my scratch file go up 40gb with multiple (x14) layers active….time to save as again…..
JM
John_Mensinger
Sep 3, 2008
There are a lot of ways to prevent this from happening, and I think the OP has learned most of them over the course of this thread. However, once Photoshop is kicking up the ol’ "scratch disks are full" message, I suspect there is no way out without losing unsaved changes.

In my experience, attempts at just about any operation will put up the message, and changing memory usage prefs is out, since that requires a restart to take effect. If Purge > All didn’t make a difference, I believe that’s the end of the rope.

There has been some contradictory indications of "saved all along," and "will lose a couple hours’ work," but in any event, I honestly think the only option is to close it up, and lose changes back to the last save, and pick it back up from there.
JJ
John Joslin
Sep 3, 2008
some contradictory indications

That puzzled me too!
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Freeagent
Sep 3, 2008
For now, I think John Mensinger summed it up well.

….and just to keep perspective on the upcoming CS4 release: With a file this size, this would probably have happened even with a 64-bit Photoshop on a 64-bit OS. That scratch file has to go somewhere, and 8 GB is only 2 times 4. Scratch disk will still be king.

Of course it’ll be a little faster. But we should really be looking at 16 GB and beyond now. Unfortunately not many mobos support it yet.
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PeterK.
Sep 3, 2008
edit-purge all, and delete any history states you don’t need. Each state is equal to the size of your file at that save point.
CF
chris_farrell
Sep 3, 2008
freeagent – They are filtering into the mainstream – I had to upgrade my mobo last weekend after a bad bios update * 🙁 but the Asus p5q deluxe supports dual channel 16gb ddr2 800mhz and OCZ have those (4x4gb) out for sale now as well for £270…..Cooool….and very tempting.

* HOT TIP: Never Ever Ever use the Asus windows bios update it WILL KILL your bios. and you will have to reinstall everything – Hardware / os/ software – took me 2 days – flippin thing….OOoops, sorry about that.

🙂
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Freeagent
Sep 3, 2008
Never Ever Ever use the Asus windows bios update it WILL KILL your bios

LOL! So you found out too…I have a dead board sitting over on the other side of the room. I keep it because it looks cool to visitors, like I’m a computer genius B-)

Yes, the Asus P5Q looks tempting. I can feel myself kicking into Homer Simpson mode…
CF
chris_farrell
Sep 3, 2008
LOL….lessons learnt.

I can now build a new computer from scratch, so it wasn’t all bad!! …and it was a good opportunity to get a new processor (q9650) too 🙂

Yeah, I’ve only just stopped ‘Homering’ but it may start again when the intel SSD’d come out ‘solid state scratch disks….ggggrrrrrr’

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