Scratch Disk

[Lynny]

Hi, my partner is having problems with brush and eraser presets turning themselves off... when she changes tools, and changes back, the shape of the brush size has changed to the precise mode, when she looks in the preferences it still says she in brush size mode, only way to fix it is to actually reboot, closing and opening PS doesn't fix it....... does she need more scracth disk space, she has 7 gigs only for photoshop, separate partition. How much space do you use for scratch disk??

Anyone have this problem, and know the answer, she's just done a defraged c and her scratch disk partition, any other suggestions...

Lynny

 

[MindBender]

99% chance that she needs to turn off CAPS LOCK.

Ante up, how many of us have freaked out trying to solve this one the first time?

 

[wbiss]

Right on MindBender!
Here's my Canadian "loonie" for the pot! [honesty]

 

[AppleCider]

CAPS LOCK off should do it

(rant) This is a very very common problem because for some strange reason Adobe set that thing to Caps Lock, something people inadvertently leave on a lot (/rant)

7 gigs for a scratch disk should be more than enough, unless your friend works with many huge files open at the same time.

 

[pdog182]

[shhh] I was so baffled by the caps lock secret, I reinstalled Photoshop.

 

[Guest]

There is a option to check the efficiency of Photoshop (attachment)

The importance of a large scratch disk is highly overestimated if you ask me. Many people who I ask why they need a 10GB scratch disk, can't come up with a really good answer. Scratch size, efficiency and timing...they all help you to improve the performance of Photoshop, yet few people use that information.

Other important thing to know for people who have win2k/XP;

Press CTRL+Shift+Escape; this will show the task manager.
Click on the performance tab, look under Physical Memory (K); beside the word "available" you will find how much physical memory is available (very important information).

If you always have hundreds of MB free on your system under any circumstances, then there's isn't any need for a large scratch disk.

 

[wbiss]

Excellent info, Gauss!

 

[sfm]

hey didn't know that Gaus...... just quickly opened ps and a recent doc...... efficiency says 97%........ how does one change that? I wonder why it is 97 and not 100?

of course when I clicked on reply here I was going to ask you how do you get that screen Gaus with 98.......... but like I said I opened ps and thought wonder what happens if I click on the arrow ....... what happened? the screen you showed above poped up
sfm

 

[Guest]

Yes, 97%...weird number.

I have a different problem myself. Windows says that Photoshop uses 135MB, but at the same time I lost 250MB, so where did the other 115MB go? [confused]

I have some ideas, but let me do some research first and I'll share with you my experiences

 

[Erik]

Sue, aren't you on Win98? That os is a real horrorshow when it comes to memory management...if I'm not mistaken, it simly takes a % of your Ram, not what it really needs. More that 128Ram is simply not recognised. (or was it 256?) Anyway: for PS it is not really fit.

 

[sfm]

yeah Erik I am on 98SE........ when I installed ME my system crashed all over the place........ when I installed (actually hubby he he he) XP my system went haywired and crashed so I formated and went back to 98 and now everything is fine......... except memory......... when I work with files I will have open........ mail (outlook), dreamweaver 4, and ps...... the images that I work on are pretty big as I do my templates in ps now then slice them up............ eventually my system goes so slow with changing from one program to another so I reboot to release the ram

I find that I have to do this more often depending on what I have installed during a week.......... my font manager thingy had to go as did JAlbum, I usually only install one thing per week to see how it effects my system but even with a p4 2.0 256DDR ram and a fast 80 gig hard drive it goes slow and reboot is necessary......... I usually do this 3 or 4 times a day

someone has given to me a release ram program where I click on the icon and it gives me back my ram that has been lost some where but I haven't installed the program yet

I don't have screen savers......... or kazza or anything like that and I continually check my start up file to make sure that I have very very little running as I only want these few programs (as above) open all day every day

Hubby is looking into a dual processor system for me as I complain all the time about restarting and feel as though I am the only one going through all of this......... perhaps it is the programs that I have installed but at some point I need them or want to try them so I want to keep them but surely I thought a p4 2.0 is not such a slow system but for some reason my boggs down and is frustratingly slow for me - but then I like instantaneous results and is probably why I have stayed away from Bryce, max 4 and cinama 4D....... mainly got all of those for my son not me he he he
sfm

 

[Erik]

Yeah...the big problem...
In your place, I would add more ram. 256 is not really much, and if you have several apps open at the same time, it's trouble time.
A dual processor won't really help, neither will hyperthreading. Calculating speed may go up when your processor it working at full speed, but only with some apps. And not with 98 or that little monster ME.

Your processor is three times as fast as mine. I have 512 SDRam which is much slower than yours. Yet I never have problems with anything.
Probably because I have Win2K Pro with SP3. The best os for PC ever made. Yet, for hyperthreading, you need XPPro. (that's what I read everywhere).
So it should work. Just add some ram, and get Win2K.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Erik.

I would go with either Windows 2000 or XP, even if your system crashed after installing XP.
Sue, lots of crashes on the older operating systems (windows 3.x, 9.x, ME) couldn't always be explained.

Windows 2000/XP are totally different operating systems. They might look like Windows 98/ME on the outside, but that's about the only thing they have in common.

The basis of 2000/XP is Windows NT, built from scratch and not an evolution of windows 9x or whatever. Even the letters NT tell us enough what it's all about; New Technology

If an operating system like 2000/XP crashes, then it's in almost all cases caused by bad drivers and that is quite easy to fix, either by different drivers or hardware (cards in most cases).
And of all the drivers that cause a problem, the graphics drivers is the #1 troublemaker.

Always make sure that you do a clean install and no update.
Be patient if the first test of win2000/XP causes a crash, because it can easily be solved by every computer expert.

I hate it that you live so far away, otherwise I would take my car and fix your PC troubles for once and for all! [slick]

 

[sfm]

oh Gaus........ go on clean........ this means formatting....... no can do as I have emails that I have to keep, addresses and bookmarks that I don't want to loose again

I am going to back up all of my work today and hubby tells me has had a stick of ram up there for the last 3 days for me but hasn't had time to put it in so I will end up with 512 2700 ddr ram, he also has an upgrade for xp...... now I am willing to take the risk but if it deletes my emails and address again I am going to screem ha ha ha

hubby by the way Gaus is a Techy as this is our business but thanks for the offer of driving over and fixing my system even though you live so far away it is very sweet of you.

I really really want to sort my system out and if it means that I can only have installed office, photoshop, dreamweaver then so be it as like Erik.... this is a work machine not a play machine

any other suggestions will be gratefully recieved as I go through all of this I want everyone's fingers crossed that I don't loose the lot ha ha ha
sfm

 

[Guest]

Sue, you will agree with me that nothing will be lost if you copy the whole system to a network share or a temporary hard drive.

I'm not going into too much details since it's quite technical.

Make sure that who ever is going to install a new clean operating system, makes a reliable backup.

Nothing can go wrong when you do it like this, I've done it hundreds of times. IE favorites, E-mails, addressbook, etc, they can all be imported in this new system.

You might try an update, but every experienced computer tech will advice you not to do so.

Good luck!

 

[sfm]

yep will do Gaus........ I have the ram in now and I am just testing it ....... efficency is now 98% [confused] getting there he he he
sfm

 

[sfm]

interesting Gaus.......... just changed my memory in ps to 50% and now I have 100% when I changed it to 60% I had 87% changed it to 49 and I had 93% ......... what is this efficency thingy? what does it really mean? do you know?
sfm

 

[Guest]

Efficiency shows you how much Photoshop is using the scratch disk. Ideally this value is 100% (i.e. all work is being done in memory).

And I tried it out. I opened a 30 MB file with the following results

PS Memory setting 50% Efficiency 100%
PS Memory setting 70% Efficiency 100%
PS Memory setting 30% Efficiency 53%

In my last example I reserved less memory for Photoshop, only 30%.
I opened a 30MB file and Photoshop started to use the scratch disk, which caused the efficiency number to drop.

In most cases the efficiency should read 100% when you don't have any files open. That is understandable, since no scratch disk is in use, maybe created, but not in use.

If I had a 50% memory setting and a 200 MB file open, then my efficiency would have dropped too, since I have;

a) not enough memory reserved in Photoshop

or/and

b) just not enough memory available

I can't understand why you get those contradicting numbers. Like Erik said, must have to do with the lousy way that Windows 98 manages its memory, because these numbers really make no sense to me.

Important is that you test with the same file though.

 

[Erik]

I agree with Gaussian (this is becoming suspicious... )

I have a spare HDD, and if I have to do a complete reinstall, I ocpy everything from the puters drives to that HDD. As it is FAT32 formatted, I always can reach the info with dos etc. I have a spare and ampty partition on it on which I can easily install an OS, so nothing can happen.
If all goes well that is. [confused]

An aeroplane takes off, and once they're comfortably flying a voice says: "Welcome aboard this flight. This plane is completely automated, so there is no captain or stewardess on board. Everything you need will be brought to you by our robot when you press the buttons in front of you. Because there's no captain, no fatigue can come into play, and our computers have every possible problem under control, even before it manifests itself. So relax, and enjoy your flight. There is nothing to worry about, worry about, worry about, worry about,...

 

[sfm]

funny joke Erik he he he not much one can do about it so many thousands of feet in the air ha ha ha

Gaus that was the reading with the same file that I had been working on the day before......... I kept watching as I did some work yesterday they all read 100% since the new ram 512 DDR 2700 perhaps it was my ram? I have had no crashes, no slow downs (where it was painful to watch a program minumise he he he), I did not have to restart the system for the rest of the day nothing it just worked liked it was supposed to and I haven't even changed over to XP yet......... I am going to test the system today with ps, dreamweaver and dreamsuite oh and IR as when I normally would have all of these open switching from one to the other after about an hour it would slow down beyond my patience and I would have to restart again......... if it does this then I know it will have to be something to do with 98 and not the ram ......... all I want is a fast machine so that I can work all day........ yes I run out of puff too but I keep going so should my system GOT IT! my system needs COFFEE like I do ha ha ha
sfm