File too big to open?

I'm trying to open a very large (525mb) TIFF file (A2 drawing scanned at 600dpi) but keep running into 'not enough RAM' errors. My computer is a Pentium D 3.2GHz with 2GB of RAM and I have tried several memory settings in Photoshop (55%-90%, about 960mb-1580mb of available RAM according to PS).

I'm aware that I probably do not have enough physical RAM to work comfortably with such a big file but I do not understand why I can't even open it! And: if I can't open it how can I resize it to a more manageable resolution? What do I do? Is there another piece of software that is particularly good at dealing with large image files? Any advice would be appreciated!

DB

Additional information to my own message:
The two files I cannot open or convert (tried Photoshop, ACDSee Pro and iView) are 11812x16503, the smaller one I can open is 9924x7023 (A3 drawing scanned on same machine and at the same resolutions as the A2 ones). Is there maximum image file I'm not aware of or is there something wrong with the large files?

DB

danielbaars wrote:

I'm trying to open a very large (525mb) TIFF file (A2 drawing scanned at 600dpi) but keep running into 'not enough RAM' errors. My computer is a Pentium D 3.2GHz with 2GB of RAM and I have tried several memory settings in Photoshop (55%-90%, about 960mb-1580mb of available RAM according to PS).

I'm aware that I probably do not have enough physical RAM to work comfortably with such a big file but I do not understand why I can't even open it! And: if I can't open it how can I resize it to a more manageable resolution? What do I do? Is there another piece of software that is particularly good at dealing with large image files? Any advice would be appreciated!

DB

I have 2 gig on my core 2 duo machine & open .tifs in the 700+ meg range while running a browser & email client (just opened one of 800 meg as a test, with firefox & thunderbird running, as well as firewall, antivirus, etc.) took about 70 seconds to open in PS 7. You may have other issues, but the 1st thing I'd do is make sure nothing unnecessary is running. If you haven't actively kept your startup programs & services to a minimum, you'd be amazed at the crap that is likely running in the background sapping resources. Open task manager to see what's running (ctrl alt delete or right click the task bar & select task manager). Under the above conditions, mine says PS7 is using about 915 meg of ram.

Dan

Thanks for sharing your experience with opening large files. I'm using PS CS2 and on average I have about 900-1100mb of RAM left over for Photoshop use. Judging from your description I should be able to open a 500mb TIFF or...? Is your 800mb TIFF uncompressed?

Adobe Bridge gives me the following info on the files:

ImageWidth 11812
ImageLength 16503
Compression 5
PhotometricInterpretation 2
Orientation 1
SamplesPerPixel 3
XResolution 600/1
YResolution 600/1
ResolutionUnit 2
Make Oce
Model TCS400

Perhaps a dumb question but does 'Compression: 5' mean that the uncompressed file would be five times bigger (i.e. 2.7GB)? Does that explain why I can't open the files?

Dan wrote:

I have 2 gig on my core 2 duo machine & open .tifs in the 700+ meg range while running a browser & email client (just opened one of 800 meg as a test, with firefox & thunderbird running, as well as firewall, antivirus, etc.) took about 70 seconds to open in PS 7. You may have other issues, but the 1st thing I'd do is make sure nothing unnecessary is running. If you haven't actively kept your startup programs & services to a minimum, you'd be amazed at the crap that is likely running in the background sapping resources. Open task manager to see what's running (ctrl alt delete or right click the task bar & select task manager). Under the above conditions, mine says PS7 is using about 915 meg of ram.

Dan

"danielbaars" wrote in message

Thanks for sharing your experience with opening large files. I'm using PS CS2 and on average I have about 900-1100mb of RAM left over for Photoshop use. Judging from your description I should be able to open a 500mb TIFF or...? Is your 800mb TIFF uncompressed?

Adobe Bridge gives me the following info on the files:

ImageWidth 11812
ImageLength 16503
Compression 5
PhotometricInterpretation 2
Orientation 1
SamplesPerPixel 3
XResolution 600/1
YResolution 600/1
ResolutionUnit 2
Make Oce
Model TCS400

Perhaps a dumb question but does 'Compression: 5' mean that the uncompressed file would be five times bigger (i.e. 2.7GB)? Does that explain why I can't open the files?

Dan wrote:

I have 2 gig on my core 2 duo machine & open .tifs in the 700+ meg range while running a browser & email client (just opened one of 800 meg as a test, with firefox & thunderbird running, as well as firewall, antivirus, etc.) took about 70 seconds to open in PS 7. You may have other issues, but the 1st thing I'd do is make sure nothing unnecessary is running. If you haven't actively kept your startup programs & services to a minimum, you'd be amazed at the crap that is likely running in the background sapping resources. Open task manager to see what's running (ctrl alt delete or right click the task bar & select task manager). Under the above conditions, mine says PS7 is using about 915 meg of ram.

Dan

CS2 has a max image size of 300,000 x 300,000 pixels. (500 inches at 600ppi) What is your scratch disc set up?
Is there enough room on them?
Are they defragmented?
MH

Mike Hyndman wrote:

What is your scratch disc set up?

First scratch disc is D: (Photoshop and Windows are on C:). Lots of space (180+GB) but not defragmented. Other scratch discs have less space and are also not defragmented.

"danielbaars" wrote in message

Mike Hyndman wrote:

What is your scratch disc set up?

First scratch disc is D: (Photoshop and Windows are on C:). Lots of space (180+GB) but not defragmented. Other scratch discs have less space and are also not defragmented.

D,

Scratch discs should never exceed 85% capacity and be defragged regularly (I know NTFS does not suffer in the same way as FAT, but it does make a difference) Another post also mentioned other progs running in background, check this.
Will the files open in Windows Image and Fax Viewer?
Could they be corrupt?

MH

danielbaars wrote:

Thanks for sharing your experience with opening large files. I'm using PS CS2 and on average I have about 900-1100mb of RAM left over for Photoshop use. Judging from your description I should be able to open a 500mb TIFF or...? Is your 800mb TIFF uncompressed?

Adobe Bridge gives me the following info on the files:

ImageWidth 11812
ImageLength 16503
Compression 5
PhotometricInterpretation 2
Orientation 1
SamplesPerPixel 3
XResolution 600/1
YResolution 600/1
ResolutionUnit 2
Make Oce
Model TCS400

Perhaps a dumb question but does 'Compression: 5' mean that the uncompressed file would be five times bigger (i.e. 2.7GB)? Does that explain why I can't open the files?

The file I mentioned is uncompressed. As to the PS specific aspects, I'm sure there are others here who know more than I do, so I'll let thme comment. You might look at this site to trim your services using "services.msc", which can be accessed by typing that term into start/run. For startup items, start/run msconfig.exe & look in "startup" (note that msconfig also has a services tab, but don't modify services there, use services.msc). Again, just about everything you load puts unneeded junk in startup. Easiest way to go is look up each item you don't recognize one by one on google & kill the ones you don't need. If you've never done this before, there will be plenty. Even if this doesn't address your PS problem, it will help your PC run better & is good periodic maintainence.

Hope this helps.

Dan

Dan wrote:

You might look at this site to trim your services using "services.msc", which can be accessed by typing that term into start/run.

Woops, forgot the link. It's http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

Dan

On Oct 8, 4:01 pm, "Mike Hyndman"
wrote:

Will the files open in Windows Image and Fax Viewer?
Could they be corrupt?

I just tried this and they do open in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer! When I clicked the 'Actual Size' icon it said 'Drawing failed'.

DB

"danielbaars" wrote in message

On Oct 8, 4:01 pm, "Mike Hyndman"
wrote:

Will the files open in Windows Image and Fax Viewer?
Could they be corrupt?

I just tried this and they do open in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer! When I clicked the 'Actual Size' icon it said 'Drawing failed'.

DB
Had a look for any info re max file size in Windows Picture etc., viewer but couldn't found anything, only this,

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=921048

This link is a shareware graphics format "converter"

http://amethyst-cadwizz-max.download-50-9311.programsbase.co m/

HTH
MH