scratch disc

[CL Graphics]

I have seen post on hear that talk about scratch disc. What does scratch disc actually do. I am under the impression that it will speed up the way photoshop processes files if I have the correct settings. I checked the preferences and it is set to "startup". I have an external hard drive. Will it help to change the scratch disc to that drive. I am looking to speed this thing up when dealing with big wrap files(over 500 mb). It takes forever to open and/or resave these files. BTW I have 2.5 gig of ram - pentium 4 2.8 processor - 120gig hard drive - 500gig external hard drive. Any suggestions appreciated.
thanks

 

[GK]

Right from Adobe.

Photoshop uses a temporary file for storing data and performing computations when there is insufficient RAM. It places this temporary file, commonly referred to as a scratch disk, on your hard disk, or it can spread it across several hard disks. When you exit Photoshop, this temporary file is deleted, and a fresh one is created the next time you launch Photoshop.

 

[GK]

Adobe recommends you use a separate drive other then your primary startup disk for your scratch disk. You should notice a difference in speeds, although it might not be a dramatic one. It should also be noted that it is not recommended to use your external hard drive for this purpose. You will cap your speeds because you will be limited by the USB/Firewire transfer speeds. People still do it, and say they have no problems, but its still not the same as an internal drive.

 

[gROUND cHUCK]

Is this what you're looking for...

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=316693&sliceId=1

 

[mark in tx]

Ideally, your scratch disc for Photoshop should be a dedicated internal drive, not the "C" drive, and not a drive you keep files on.

 

[CL Graphics]

So do I need to add a separate internal hard drive or just put a partition in the one I have. If I put in a partition how much space needs to be allocated

 

[WVB]

You need a separate internal drive NOT a partition... I use a external drive and have noticed a better performance boast from it...

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Raid 0 (at least two drives) scratch disks work best. The more drives, the faster it will go. PS uses scratch (kinda like a pagefile) when it runs out of usable RAM. NEVER use a partition, use a decicated drive (or RAID Array). It can dramatically improve PS performace if used correctly.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

oh yeah... almost forgot. You should defragment your scratch drive often as PS will only use unfragmented space for scratch. I was doing a wrap design the other day, and my scratch file got to be over 75GB. The faster I can transfer to and from that scratch file, the better.