Scratch memory?

M
Posted By
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
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571
Replies
13
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Closed
I’m well aware that photoshop takes up a hell of a lot of memory, as does working on bigger pieces in photoshop. So I upped my RAM (I have 1.5 gigs now) but it’s still really slow.

Now, a window popped up earlier saying I had my scratch memory on the same directory – could that be the problem? And how would I fix it?

Thankyou for your time in advance x
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memory scratch

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J
Jim
Oct 2, 2006
wrote in message
I’m well aware that photoshop takes up a hell of a lot of memory, as does working on bigger pieces in photoshop. So I upped my RAM (I have 1.5 gigs now) but it’s still really slow.

Now, a window popped up earlier saying I had my scratch memory on the same directory – could that be the problem? And how would I fix it?
Thankyou for your time in advance
Perhaps.

What they are talking about is the scratch folder. PS creates temporary files in the scratch folder. You can specify the location, but PS runs better if the scratch folder resides on a different disk that does the OS.

As for how? The Help file tells all.

Jim
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 2, 2006
Memory Usage

However much memory is fitted into your computer you’ll need to tell Photoshop how to handle it.

Go to EDIT>PREFERENCES>MEMORY_&_IMAGE_CACHE. Here you can allocate a percentage of your computer’s memory to PS.

Hey we’ll just give it the lot shall we? NO! If you allocated 100% to PS poor ole Windows wouldn’t have anything to run in and would be reading and writing to virtual memory all the time just to keep your computer running. This would slow things down dramatically. Adobe ships Photoshop with a default allocation of 55% which is just fine if you’ve only got 2GB of on board RAM.

Set up your Scratch Disk

When Photoshop needs more memory to work on an image (typically six to seven times the file size) it will use your hard drive as temporary ram.

For maximum speed this should not be the same drive as your operating system (drive C) otherwise both windows and Photoshop will be fighting for read/write time. Ideally (and this might sound extravagant – but it’s not) this should be a new, fast, empty hard drive set just as the PS scratch disk.
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
Right, so everything at the moment is on my C: – which is about 60gb. I have a D: but that’s unuseable – it has all my backup stuff on (apparently).

So do you think an external harddrive would be worth investing in purely for photoshop useage?
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Oct 2, 2006
Further to Chris’ explication:

Consider the scratch volume as Photoshops RAM, and the physical RAM as the cache for it.

I make a habit of defagmenting all internal drives (including the scratch drive) at computer shutdown. Then upon subsequent boot PS can grab a contiguous scratch space when launched.

Rob
L
LenHewitt
Oct 2, 2006
Mollinda,

Take a look at http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.2cd05650
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Oct 2, 2006
do you think an external harddrive would be worth investing

Yes but then use the external one as your backup and the internal as your scratch disk. (the latter is very important; the access times must be very short).

Rob
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
That’s a great idea but doesn’t that take a heck of a long time every day?
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
Right okay, so the answer really is to get more RAM?

I mean I have a lot of spare memory on my C: so that’s not a huge problem at the moment, but I’m guessing if I’ve not got enough RAM then it will slow things down?
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
Thanks for that – I have to admit it confused me more than anything – I’m not too great with the technical stuff!
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Oct 2, 2006
That’s a great idea but doesn’t that take a heck of a long time every day?

Defragmenting, you mean? Not if I do it this often, and not if there’s enough free space on the disk in question.

Besides, I do it at shutdown, I don’t have to wait till it’s finished.

Rob
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
Hmm I didn’t know you could do that, defrag at shutdown I mean.

Is there a specific way to do that or do you just tell it to shut down when it’s defragged?
RK
Rob_Keijzer
Oct 2, 2006
Hmm I didn’t know you could do that, defrag at shutdown I mean.

You can do it anytime, as long as Windows is running.

I simply start defrag the particular disk, treat myself to an Irish Whiskey (the fact that I can shut down means I worked very hard), and by the time I return I can switch it off.

Maybe it’s possible to write a script, or batch with all this, ending with a power-off command.

Rob
M
Mollinda
Oct 2, 2006
Excellent idea!

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

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