Ram Error Message

JD
Posted By
Jimmy_Day
Dec 6, 2008
Views
287
Replies
7
Status
Closed
I am running PS CS4 Win Vista.I have 3G RAM and have designated plenty of available space for scratch disks(298G on C:\, 66G on J:\ and 231G on M:\, the latter two being external HDs).

When I attempt to use some of the advanced features of CS 4, especially Content Aware Scaling, I get the insufficient RAM message every time without fail.

MY HD is regularly defragmented and I have purged, lowered the History states allowed, and cleaned out all temp files from IE.

Any deas how I can avoid the RAM message and use the features in CS4?

TIA,
Jim

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Wolf_Eilers
Dec 7, 2008
Vista 32-bit or 64? What % of RAM is allocated to Photoshop (see preferences)? How large is the image file?
JD
Jimmy_Day
Dec 7, 2008
Vista 32-bit, with 90% RAM allocated to PS.The latest image I was working on was 40M, which is a normal-size image for me. This same problem shows up ANY TIME I use the Content Aware Scaling; I do not think it is actually a RAM problem, but am will to try any reasonable suggestion.

Thanks for replying, Wolf Eilers.
JJ
John Joslin
Dec 7, 2008
90% RAM allocated to PS

Cut it back to 55% (the default) and work up incrementally from there.

Other apps and plug-ins need some RAM too!
JD
Jimmy_Day
Dec 7, 2008
Thanks for the reply, John. At install, the RAM allocation was at default. When I began experiencing this problem I began incremently boosting up.

It sounds as if you have experienced people who, having nothing better to do say, "Hey, I think I’ll crank up my RAM allocation and watch this sucker fly!"

My way of working is to enjoy the serenity of well-designed software perform as intended, avoiding the tendency to bumble around punching switches and poking buttons.

Anyway, thanks for your reply. I will ret the RAM back and see what else I can think of as a solution.
F
Freeagent
Dec 7, 2008
Scratch disk is a frequently overlooked bottleneck. If the scratch space is crowded and fragmented it will also throw an "out of RAM" error message. This happens even if you have enough RAM, because Photoshop continually writes to scratch from the moment you open the file, regardless of RAM status.

have designated plenty of available space for scratch disks(298G on C:\, 66G on J:\ and 231G on M:\, the latter two being external HDs).

I take it that means C is primary scratch – in which case you need to keep it religiously defragmented – and the two others are second/third. But if external means USB, that’s next to worthless. USB is just too slow. FW is much better, and eSATA best – essentially equal to an internal.

The optimum scratch disk is a first partition on a fast drive other than the system drive.
JD
Jimmy_Day
Dec 7, 2008
Thanks for responding, Freeagent. My primary HD (C:\) is defragged each Wednesday@ 1:00 AM and my other drives are on a weekly defrag schedule also. The external HDs are via USB/Firewire and have never been a problem before, but I will consider your recommendations.
F
Freeagent
Dec 7, 2008
I forgot one word in that last line. It should read "dedicated first partition", meaning don’t put anything else there.

Anyway, "Out of RAM"-problems come up quite often here. Usually a combination of lowering the percentage and optimizing scratch disk will clear the problem.

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