You should update to 10.4.11
First thing I would do is trash the prefs. If you don’t know how its in the FAQs
I trashed the prefs by simultaneously holding down the Shift+Option+Command keys, and PS is still spinning while reading the preferences.
what happens in a new user?
Sorry to be dense, but I don’t understand your question.
Not to answer for Buko, but he may be asking what happens if you were a brand new install? In other words when the PS application first creates the preference files.
I have similar issues with PS and Illustrator CS3, more than any time before. Frankly they load a lot of crap. I noticed that this was especially pronounced for CS3 applications.
Denise, my main machine is a G5 Quad Processor running at 2.5 Ghz and I have 16 gigs of RAM. It takes PS and Illustrator about 30 to 40 seconds to load. My point is that we have very similar machines but that I have a bit more muscle and I am getting a comparable time. Imagine if you had my machine you might get the slightly reduced start time. Its not a happy situation but our machines are getting slightly long in the tooth.
A lot of modern apps on the Mac are now using XML files for prefs and they have a habit of getting damaged and corrupted. I would manually locate them in your User directory and remove all of them by hand. Then you should do something that most do not consider.
Optimize your drives with a tool like Tech Tool or Disk Warrior. A fragmented drive severely affects PS operation in 3 ways:
1st: If you watch the PS splash screen as it loads, its loading a long list of pieces, if those are scattered across many disconnected sectors, thats slow.
2nd: If your scratch drive is pooched, that will slow down Photoshop. Don’t forget what a scratch really is, its virtual memory, in other words fake RAM. BTW it never a good idea to have Photoshop and/or your OS on the same partition as your documents and scratch drive. If your hard drive is big enough, partition it or spring for another drive, they are cheap.
3rd: If your image/PS documents are on fragmented drives, again slow pokes. PS struggles to pull the sectors together.
Your info above was helpful but I could not tell what how much RAM you have, is it really 1 meg? Thats really small, more RAM will help a lot, then there is less scratch disk usage.
Finally another factor in speed, what is your dives spindle speed and access time? Faster is better.
Much luck.
Wow, Garrett, thank you so much for taking the time to itemize your suggestions! My goal is to get more memory and upgrade to Leopard. In the interim, I’ll start working and begin incorporating your ideas! Thank you, again!!
Make a new user account. start photoshop.
what happens.
She has one gig of RAM. Nowhere near enough for a G5 and Photoshop. Hard drive is 67% full, of course PS takes a long time to load. It’s not frag that is slow. Macs don’t throw files all over the disk. Move 75 gig somewhere else and buy another HD. You can get 500gig FW800 for less than 200 bucks.
You should have 4 gig of RAM minimum, and preferably all the machine will hold. RAM and HDs are unbelievably cheap. Don’t go to Starbucks for a month and you’ll have what you need.
Plenty of people are using G5 very nicely. You evidently bought the low end config.
I was going to say set the dial to wash, but you need real help.
Yup what Lundy said. and update to 10.4.11
I realize you think thats where you are at but the system info you copied says you are at 10.4.9
My concerns pretty much mirror those already stated, with emphasis on these:
Mac OS — download and update to Mac OS X 10.4.11
RAM — 1 GB won’t get you a ticket for speeding. You need at least 4GB. Crucial, OWC, RAMJet all offer RAM exactly matched to your computer at prices far less than directly from Apple.
Run Disk Warrior and Disk Utility
You need a larger/additional hard drive. External drives should be FireWire 800 or at least FireWire 400. USB2 is slower and does not make for an external startup disk, should you need it.
Reset Photoshop preferences upon application launch.
Check for duplicate or corrupted fonts (Use Font Agent Pro).
Neil
That G5 will hold 2 SATA drives. I just got an internal 500GB for about $100 + shipping.
Actually I believe G5s will boot from USB, but forget it. Anyway, you could be in business for 400 bucks.
Follow all the advice above.
Thank you all for your replies. Today, I purchased a 500GB drive, and will move 75MG.
Neil, thank you for the tips about Crucial, OWC, RAMJet. Next month, I hope to purchase additional RAM along with upgrading to Leopard.
There seems to be some confusion about what I’m running. The cut & paste I did above was from PS. When I go under the apple and choose "About this Mac," it tells me that I am running 10.4.11. I’m not sure why PS is only seeing 10.4.09.
Lundberg,
I’ve read that it is possible to have a setup that will boot from USB2, but IIRC, not with the reliability of FireWire; and certainly not the speed.
Speaking of which, if you simply look at the raw throughput speeds of USB2 v FireWire, it would appear that the former is faster. But as it has greater management overhead, the net result is slower throughput. Although USB2-only drives may have more attractive pricing, I think the downsides are enough to avoid that for external Mac drives. External SATA is even faster, but, aside from price, I don’t know of its limitations offhand.
Neil
USB is optimized for Windows and I have seen reports that it is about the same as FW400 on a Winbox, but on a Mac, file transfers in FW400 take only 60% of the time that USB2 does, and i have both.
There is absolutely no reason to buy anything less than FW800, and you can upgrade your old box with a LaCie FW800 card for 60 bucks, which I am about to do and add a 1TB drive for about 200. I believe g5 has FW800 native.
USB 3.0 is alleged to be about 3gig transfer but what kind of setup you need to drive it is not clear at this time. No device for about two years yet.
DON’T GO TO LEOPARD YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can buy enclosures for a hard drive that feature USB2, FW, and SATA connections, but i can tell you that if you put a USB drive in one, and use the FW connector and cable, it is still USB and will NOT boot. No idea about SATA, speed, boot, anything.
Lundberg,
I believe g5 has FW800 native
Yep. At least my Dual 1.8GHz G5 has one.
Neil
I’m not sure why PS is only seeing 10.4.09.
Its not Photoshop. This is what you posted.
Here’s a cut & paste of the system info:
Adobe Photoshop Version: 10.0.1 Operating System: Mac OS 10.4.9 System architecture: PowerPC G5 with AltiVec
Physical processor count: 1
Processor speed: 2000 MHz
Just go ahead and download the 10.4.11 combo updater and reinstall it, it won’t hurt.
You are running a slow machine with a very small amount of RAM. but a second internal SATA drive and 4 GB or RAM will definitely help out.
Discussion of USB booting is like New Zealand or middle aged women, everyone knows where it is but no one ever goes there.
