Setting a PS scratch partition on a iMac?

PS
Posted By
Paul Schilliger
Nov 24, 2008
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708
Replies
12
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Closed
Having drops in speed when I work with both LR and Photoshop, I want to replace the 250GB drive that came with a white iMac Intel. Would it be worth it to set a scratch partition on the new 750GB drive, how big, and is there a way to set it on the fastest tracks? I had a software (FWB) to do that with OS-9, but don’t know of any now. Thanks!

Paul

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JJ
Jim_Jordan
Nov 24, 2008
Use a separate drive for scratch. Even if you set a scratch partition on the single internal drive, the drive heads are going to need to dance back and forth between the system/apps/documents partition and the scratch partition. Don’t bother with a scratch partition in an iMac internal drive.

For fastest response with an iMac, install as much RAM as it will take and use an external FW drive for your system/apps/documents. The internal 250 GB drive could be used for your scratch drive. That is the best way to get the most speed. A step slower would be to use an external FW drive as the scratch drive and keep the system/apps/documents on the internal 250 GB drive.
PS
Paul Schilliger
Nov 24, 2008
Thanks for the hints, Jim.
It makes sense to set the scratch on another mechanical drive. Since I have come to love the silence of the iMac, I will probably take the second option so that the external will be turned on only when I need it. I have a Lacie FW800 that I could use for that, but a few years old. I should test and see how it compares to a recent FW400 or even USB2. Thanks!

Paul
AW
Allen_Wicks
Nov 24, 2008
What Jim said. But note that most of us use other apps in addition to PS, so IMO on an iMac it is probably best to keep apps and the OS on the single internal drive and set primary scratch up on a fast external drive.

In general IMO graphics users do not give enough attention to hard drives setup that really is very, very important for graphics performance optimization. A few comments:

• More and more PS users are handling larger and larger batches of increasingly larger-sized image files due to the proliferation of still and video digicams. The fact that you have invested in LR implies that you are or may become one of those folks, and for those of us in that category our mass storage needs tend to increase very quickly.

• The location, size/speed/fullness and connection method of hard drives can have a huge impact on performance within any given specific setup. Internal better than external; with external eSATA (not an option on Imacs) better than FW800 which is better than FW400, and USB2 unacceptable except for backup-only.

• Hard drives slow as they fill. A good rule of thumb is not to fill any drive more than 70%, and for best speed keep important drives no more than 50% full.

• Without careful management a single internal 250 GB iMac hard drive will become overfilled above the ~125 GB maximum necessary to maintain optimum performance.

• Your iMac allows up to 1 TB (or maybe more) internal drive size. Since drives slow as they fill, an option is to replace the internal HD with a 1 TB drive and keep it less than half full to optimize operation (it is much easier to stay within 500 GB max on the internal drive than it is to try not to exceed 125 GB max). The existing iMac drive could be placed in a FW800 enclosure and used for scratch (separate 250 GB drive for scratch often is about right).

• Hard drive setup discussions must include on/off site backup protocols. I suggest all drives be backed up daily on site and minimum weekly off site but with photos and other irreplaceable data backed up immediately on and off site. Note that good backup means that RAID0 solutions can be included in consideration; RAID0 is fastest as well as cheapest per GB.

• Actual drive and array performance includes both throughput (RAID0 excels) and latency (RAID irrelevant, expensive fast drives required), and different workflows are more sensitive to throughput or to latency but real needs are seldom simple.

• The fact that hard drives slow as they fill applies a very real speed cost to buying smaller drives such as 750 GB rather than 1 TB size. And currently the 1 TB size is often cheapest in cost per GB.

• Do not partition. It just adds complexity and is largely a waste of time in a world where mass storage needs and maximum drive capacities both are constantly growing.

One good source of hard drives including preconfigured external RAID arrays is OWC: <http://otherworldcomputing.com/>.

Pretty much everything impacts graphics app performance, so the more things you optimize the better. The maximum 4 GB RAM of iMacs, although quite workable, will always be limiting. Like Jim said max the RAM, and good policy is to restart or at least close as many irrelevant applications (especially browsers!) as necessary prior to an extended graphics work session.
NK
Neil_Keller
Nov 24, 2008
As a note, despite USB2 specs appearing to be faster than FW400, USB2 connections have greater overhead on Macs, making them slower. In addition, you generally cannot use an external USB2 drive as a startup drive — the concern here is, what happens if your internal drive will not boot or if you need to reformat.

Neil
PS
Paul Schilliger
Nov 24, 2008
Allen,

Wow, there isn’t much matter you left uncovered! Thanks! The weak point on the older iMac 24" is the 3GB RAM limit. As you say, it is easy to run out of RAM due to many apps being open. My internal disk has now 45GB left and that’s not enough. I ran a defrag process on it the other day, but with the new larger drive this should get much better. I got the Samsung F1 Raid 750GB, hoping that it will be more reliable than the previous F1 series (the 1TB version was twice the price). Still have to roll up my sleeves and accept to void the extended warranty to install it…

All my RAW files are stored on USB2 drives ranging from 500GB to 1TB. This is bad I know (USB2) and I see it every time I hit "command-s" on large files, otherwise OK and cheap. The old Lacie FW-800 drives I had were noisy, got hot with vibrations and were not that reliable on the long term (two drives in raid array), so I kept them as backups for the USB2 drives, which is just the opposite of what it should be, but…

You say it’s a waste of time to partition. Probably these days where we run many drives simultaneously. In the past however I was glad to have two partitions with two systems so when one would crash due to memory failure or corrupt repertoire, I could boot from the other one to repair the main. I still set a second small volume with system, main apps and utilities on the iMac in case of emergency and to run DiskWarrior from it, but leave the larger volume whole.

Thanks, good points and matter for thoughts!

–––––––––

Neil,

No doubt that the speed of USB-2 is slower than anything. However, most USB-2 drives CAN boot current Intel Macs – no problem there, just use GUID partition map. But they will not boot a Powerbook G4 for instance where a FW400 is required (I don’t know about the MacBooks).

Paul
AW
Allen_Wicks
Nov 24, 2008
Still have to roll up my sleeves and accept to void the extended warranty to install it…

No problem. Just reinstall the Apple drive if you ever need to make a warranty claim.
PS
Paul Schilliger
Nov 24, 2008
No problem. Just reinstall the Apple drive if you ever need to make a warranty claim.

Yeaaah! Thanks for the tip! 😉
NK
Neil_Keller
Nov 24, 2008
Paul,

Thanks for the clarification with USB2 boot drives. Speed issue alone is good reason not to use it as such.

The old Lacie FW-800 drives I had were noisy, got hot with vibrations and were not that reliable on the long term

I had such a LaCie drive (250GB, d2 triple interface) until what appeared to be the power supply went south about a month ago after 2.5 years of good use. I didn’t feel like troubleshooting further due to its relatively small size, so I bought another LaCie (750GB, d2 quad interface). It has improved heat dissipation and no fan. Aside from the big blue light, you don’t even realize it’s running. (BTW, when I bought it, there was a significant step-up in price to 1TB, and no real need for the extra capacity at the moment. And another external LaCie (250GB) still has enough room to shoot some hoops.

Neil
PS
Paul Schilliger
Nov 24, 2008
Neil,

There are lots of big external drives on the market these days. The problem with Lacie is that they fit just anything in their enclosures, as market opportunities occur. In the double then triple interface d2 drives I have found 3 different brands (WD, Maxtor, Seagate). I had puchased some Lacie black drives earlier this year which included Seagate 750GB drives, which for me were the best.

The problem is that they get so cheap (just bought 3 x 1TB Lacie Neil Poulton USB-2 for the equivalent of 120 bucks each) that you wonder what quality standard is backing them. As a matter of fact, when I formatted them I found that they include a Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ. I typed the model in Google and got some scary reports mentioning that one of two of those drives is going south after few months. I had already ordered a new Samsung HE753LJ F1R for my iMac and I hope that those, designed for entreprise servers, will be reliable. I had previous good experiences with Samsung, but it seems that you cannot rely on brands anymore, each particular model having some faulty batches. Even Seagate had some have I read.
NK
Neil_Keller
Nov 25, 2008
Paul,

I checked with System Profiler and Disk Utility, and see that LaCie has masked the name of the drive manufacturer. Short of taking apart the enclosure, how are you determining the manufacturer?

BTW, I found that the 250GB LaCie drive I replaced was a Western Digital, and it was the power supply, not the drive, that failed.

Neil
PS
Paul Schilliger
Nov 25, 2008
LaCie has masked the name of the drive manufacturer

Happens for some drives, and in all cases when the enclosure contains two drives. As far as I know there is no way to identify a drive whose manufacturer code is hidden apart from opening the case, which requires breaking the warranty seal…

I had a defective power supply too. The blue light would blink and the drive would not mount on the desktop. Lacie replaced it at no cost. I have to say that their service here is very good (CH). They replaced 3 drives for me, no question asked.

Paul
NK
Neil_Keller
Nov 25, 2008
Paul,

I found LaCie to be pretty good to deal with as well.

I could have gone for another power supply. But I had used that old drive extensively over time. It’s capacity was now small for my specific needs, and it was now an older drive that much closer to the end of its life.

New drives are bigger and cheaper. And LaCie gave me a decent credit towards another LaCie drive which I’ll be buying in a few months.

Neil

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