Photos on external drive. Is it quicker for Photoshop?

[MixPix]

I have a new external 5TB USB3 drive and was told best practice is to store all photos on an external drive and import originals or smart previews into Lightroom or Photoshop for editing from there. This is to keep my iMac 1TB HD free apart from apps, docs and settings and use it as a scratch disk. All intended to make it all faster. Any thoughts?

 

[PRESTON]

Never put everything on an external drive
because in the past I lost everything due to a break in hd
I use two

 

[MixPix]

I have three external drives with Photos on one and backed up on another. The third has Carbon Copy Cloner which backs up the whole system as directed plus Time Machine. My question was does all this make the Mac run slower or it it beneficial. I was told that if you keep all photos on the Mac HD it reduces the scratch disk speed because of the space taken. Just wondered what the pros do.

 

[IamSam]

I use three different externals. One for general storage, one for backup (via Time Machine), and one for a scratch disk. It does not slow my Mac down in the least. Ps has no lag in any process or tool. I also run 16gb of ram.



My best advice for Ps performance is to stay clear of any and all upgrades for at least a year after it's release.