Scratch Disk to Full

JW
Posted By
Joshua_Wethington
Feb 2, 2007
Views
361
Replies
12
Status
Closed
Hi, I’m using a Mac Book Pro with a 100GB hard drive (30.79GB still available) and two gigs of ram in it. When I edit image in Photoshop CS2 I’m being told that it can’t complete what I am doing because my scratch disk is almost full. I went into my preferences and boosted the amount of memory Photoshop can use to 50% (about 950MG’s) restarted my computer and even cleared the P-Ram just for kicks. I still get this error message when I’m trying to do something as simple as cropping a picture. Is there anyway you can override this or tell Photoshop to only warn me when I have like 8GB left?
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Allen_Wicks
Feb 2, 2007
Um, you badly need more mass storage. Hard drives start slowing down at 50% full and by 70% the slowdown is significant. Buy yourself a FW800 external drive, now. Then set the FW drive as your primary scratch.
B
Buko
Feb 2, 2007
You are using a laptop. It has only one drive. Not only is photoshop writing scratch files to the hard drive but the system is also writing SWAP files. depending on the size of your Photoshop files this can get used up real fast.

Solution is to follow Allen’s advice.
JW
Joshua_Wethington
Feb 2, 2007
I have an external drive that I use for editing. I’ve had to use it in a bind a few times while I was editing for my photoshop work. I’m just upset because I got a lab top so I could work at home, the office or when i travel. I don’t want to carry around a 250Gb external hard that also has it;s own power supply.
Would a small 80 USB drive be a problem? I don’t think photoshop would need the speed that video would.
R
Ram
Feb 2, 2007
Would a small 80 USB drive be a problem?

It would and it is.

I’m just upset because I got a lab top…

There are laptops with a lot more storage space.
P
PECourtejoie
Feb 2, 2007
"I still get this error message when I’m trying to do something as simple as cropping a picture."

Are you sure that you are using the good units in the crop tool? 30GB seems good for regular-sized images.

Check for old Photoshop temp files, and clean your HD. Making a backup is always a good idea!
JW
Joshua_Wethington
Feb 2, 2007
I cleared about 20GB off my computer last night and put it on my external. Would the photoshop temp folder be in the library-Cache folder or is it located somewhere else.

I guess using a USB drive as a scratch disk wouldn’t transfer the data fast enough for photoshop to write the files? Even if I was just using it as a second scratch disk? I found a 160GB drive for a lab top last night so I’m going to see how much trouble it would be to install and transfer my files from my original drive.
B
Buko
Feb 2, 2007
Joshua its lap top

not lab top
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Allen_Wicks
Feb 2, 2007
Limited 100GB – 200GB single drive mass storage in laptops is indeed a problem, esp. for DSLR or video capture folks who process huge amounts of image data. MCE’s OptiBay <http://www.mcetech.com/> allows two internal HDs by moving the DVD drive to an external enclosure.

Initially an OptiBay was my plan but instead I added a portable FW800 drive from OWC to plug the external drive into various computers and also secure backup independently of the laptop (e.g. in my pocket during wedding shoots). What I still hope for is Apple to facilitate two hard drives into 17" MBPs.
M
Mousewrites
Feb 3, 2007
Ah, cropping!

Ok, see, cropping in PS is special. PS automatically adds a unit to your crop size (if you type one in). So… if you type in 800 x 600, wanting 800 px by 600 px, and crop… PS fills in with whatever unit is selected… by default inches.

So that 800 x 600 crop… ps crops it to 800 IN x 600 IN… and tries to upsize the picture. Which would max out almost anyone’s system. Just make sure you type in the PX part of the size when you do a ‘type sized crop.’

Just FYI. That might not be your problem, but I thought I’d mention it.
JM
Jelle_Mellema
Feb 4, 2007
I have a 5400rpm 160gig drive in my Powerbook and a 7200rpm 80gig in my external 800 firewire case that powers of the Powerbook; works like a charm! Just make sure the drives never go to sleep when you are working.
P
PECourtejoie
Feb 4, 2007
Hence my post number 5, Mousewrites 😉
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Allen_Wicks
Feb 5, 2007
I guess using a USB drive as a scratch disk wouldn’t transfer the data fast enough for photoshop to write the files? Even if I was just using it as a second scratch disk?

Like Ramón said, a USB hard rive is a bad idea. USB is a poor mass storage connection method. You want an external FW800 or eSATA drive and you want the external drive to be your primary PS scratch disk, not a secondary scratch disk. The OWC link I provided above has portable FW800 drives that can even run off the FW bus for power if necessary (but a/c power is much preferable).

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