Scratch Disc Questions using Firewire External Drive & Imac

Hello. I've read through the existing questions regarding scratch disc and Photoshop, yet can't seem to find an answer to my questions. I would greatly appreciate any tips/advice. Here is my setup and situation:
I am running an iMac with a 2.16 intel core 2 duo processor, 3 GB memory, and running OS X version 10.6.4. I am currently using versions cs3 and cs4 of Photoshop, but plan to upgrade to cs5 soon.
The problem I am having is when running Photoshop, my computer becomes very slow. After reading about possible reasons, I came across a couple of sources (including Adobe themeselves) mentioning that the scratch disc should be a designated drive seperate from the drive containing the operating system. Since I am using an iMac that only allows for one internal drive, my only apparent option seems to be an external drive.
Many people say don't use an external drive, but if you are going to; use an eSATA or firewire. The imac does have firewire 800 capabilities. Should I consider this?
Now I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to purchase a macbook for my next computer (what I wanted to do) because it will also only have one drive, not allowing for a seperate drive for the scratch disc. Any thoughts? I've read around the net but haven't found any definitive answers.

Designer,
Photoshop benefits greatly from having a scratch disk on a separate physical drive, not on the boot disk or on another partition of the boot disk. It's almost not worth connecting via Firewire 400 because the transfer limitations don't allow much performance improvement. But using a Firewire 800 connection gives excellent performance.
Running Photoshop on a one-drive machine is a little frustrating due to the performance hit without the separate scratch drive.
Rich

Similar Messages

  • Want to use a Firewire external drive as my boot drive, few questions thoug

    I have an old second gen ppc mini. My hard drive just died. It's been on it's last legs for months, but today it finally stopped booting totally. Ran a hardware test and the drive is bad.
    Instead of having to open it, I'd rather just buy an external firewire drive. The prices are easily comparable to an internal anyway. That brings up a few questions.
    1. From research on the apple discussions and just good old google, I'm finding it's mostly viable to use an external drive as a boot device, anything I should know?
    2. From what I remember, when OS X is installed, the installer asks for drive to install OS to. If I select the firewire drive will it then remember that drive as the boot device, after the install is finished? I don't want to have to select it each time the machine reboots.
    3. What happens with the bad internal hard drive? Can it just stay there? Since it's bad will it interfere with the mini operation? I'd rather not have to open the case.
    4. Anything special about the external drive that I need to know? I found this one on buy.com...
    http://www.buy.com/prod/fd-titanium-ii-firewire-usb-2-0-hard-drive-320gb-7200rpm -ieee-1394a/q/loc/101/203405880.html
    Any problem with that one?
    I guess if there's anything I'm not thinking of, please let me know.
    Thanks...

    If I were going to use an external hard drive, I would buy the case from http://www.macsales.com (one example is http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/ ) then buy a hard drive and put it in. The hard drive, depending on manufacturer, will have either a 3 year or 5 year (Seagate is the only one warrantied for 5 years) warranty, unlike the prepackaged units that have a 1 year warranty. Also, if you can get an external case which uses any of the Oxford chipsets, they work well with our macs. Also, some people like the ministack for mac mini usage: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/
    You can define in system preferences, in startup disk, which hard drive you want the system to boot from.

  • How to share iPhoto library among users on same iMac without using an external drive?

    How can I share my iPhoto library with another user on the same iMac for use with iCloud. I do not want to use an external drive.
    Thanks

    For iPhoto 09 (version 8.0.2) and later:
    What you mean by 'share'.
    If you want the other user to be able to see the pics, but not add to, change or alter your library, then enable Sharing in your iPhoto (Preferences -> Sharing), leave iPhoto running and use Fast User Switching to open the other account. In that account, enable 'Look For Shared Libraries'. Your Library will appear in the other source pane.
    Any user can drag a pic from the Shared Library to their own in the iPhoto Window.
    Remember iPhoto must be running in both accounts for this to work.
    If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc.
    Quit iPhoto in both accounts. Move the Library to the Users / Shared Folder
    (You can also use an external HD set to ignore permissions, a Disk Image or even partition your Hard Disk.)
    In each account in turn: Double click on the Library to open it. (You may be asked to repair the Library Permissions.) From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
    However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.

  • HT201250 I've just used an external drive to back up my Mac with Time Machine. I have Lion, but didn't click and check the "Encrypt Backup Disc". What should I do? Can I delete the external drive and start again, or can I encrypt later?

    I've just used an external drive to back up my Mac with Time Machine. I have Lion, but didn't click and check the "Encrypt Backup Disc". What should I do? Can I delete the external drive and start again, or can I encrypt later?

    I guess if stolen or lost it would protect my "stuff", and if I'm travelling would protect my privacy.
    You must understand the purpose and implications of encryption before deciding whether to use it.
    Encryption locks your data with a password. If you forget that password, the data is lost beyond any chance of recovery. Neither Apple nor anyone else will be able to help you recover that data if you don't know the password.
    By the same token, the password must be strong enough to provide the security you want. For example, if you're the potential target of industrial espionage by a government or large corporation, you need the strongest possible password. To create and manage such a password safely is a task in itself, not to be undertaken lightly.
    If you're only concerned about casual snooping by someone with no special skill, a weak, easily-remembered password is appropriate.
    But regardless of the strength of the password, if you lose it, the data is gone forever.
    Another point to remember is that if you encrypt your data on one storage device, you must also encrypt it on all other storage devices that would be accessible to the same attacker. Otherwise the data isn't protected. For example, if you keep your computer and your backup drive in the same room, and the internal drive of the computer is not encrypted, then there's no point in encrypting the backup drive.

  • Using an External Drive for Time Machine and Other Things

    I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
    Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?

    rgraves wrote:
    I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
    Maybe. See #1 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
    Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?
    It's best to put such things in their own partition. See #3 in the FAQ.
    You may also want to make separate partitions for each Mac's backups, if you're backing-up either one directly (ie, not over your network). See #4 in the FAQ.

  • How to use an external drive with 2 Macs?

    Using an external drive for LR 5.4 files and can download and view without any issues on my MacBook.  However, when the same drive is attached to my iMac I cannot download or view any files on the external drive that were added after March of this year.  Any ideas on how to go about resolving this issue?

    The following screenshot might be helpful. It shows where in Lr preferences you can configure which catalog Lr uses as the default. If you need to direct it to an external drive then use the 'Other' option to point to this drive then next time Lr launches set it back 'Load most recent catalog'

  • Can I use an external drive as my main drive?

    My hard drive just died and I can't purchase a new one for about a month (I'm living in a mac-unfriendly place at the moment). Here are my questions:
    1. Can I install an OS on my external Maxtor drive and use it as my main hard drive? Even with a dead internal drive?
    2. If so, how do I properly install the OS onto the Maxtor?
    3. (extra credit) I've been using my powerbook (AC 100-240V 50/60Hz) for the last 8 months in a country that uses 50hz 200V power. Though the apple adaptor specs clearly state that it is okay to use here, I'm wondering if it could be the reason for my drive's failure (This is the second powerbook that I've had here that has died -- seems suspicious).
    Powerbook G4 15" 1.5Ghz   Mac OS X (10.4.2)  

    You can use an external drive as your main drive,
    although it's really not so hard to replace a drive
    and you could get a new one for a hundred or so
    dollars + mail order depending on what you go with.
    Bear in mind the actual drive will not be unique to
    Apple so that will be your best bet. Most drives are
    Hitachi or Seagate I think - you might even be able
    to upgrade to a faster 7200 drive - they start at
    $150 I think.
    As for the external drive, you can install the OS on
    to it - I've seen that work - Apple store will
    typically boot from an external firwire drive. I
    think you might be able to plug in the drive, start
    the machine with the install CD and then select the
    external drive as the target to load the operating
    system on - it should load on to it, assuming the
    drive is in mac os format first. Others will pipe in
    if I'm wrong. When you start the machine it should
    search for your operating system.
    You'll have no problems installing onto whatever drive you like, provided that it is powered-on during the boot process so Installer recognizes it. Once OS X is installed, holding down Option during power-on will allow you to manually select your external drive, since I think it will default to the internal until you tell it otherwise. Go into System Preferences --> Startup Disk and select your external as the new default.

  • HT201250 How can I revert to my internal drive for time machine backups after using an external drive?

    Hi. I've been using an external drive for time machine back ups and decided to revert to my internal drive, but it isn't available in the time machine options. The only available option is to set up a time capsule, which I don't own.
    Is it because not enough space is available on my internal drive (approx 50GB)?
    Thanks!

    50 Gb free on your internal drive is relly very low and of course not enought for a any kind of backup.
    How big is your internal HD ?  If you have left only 50 GB free it is probably 90% full. Let's imagine you have a 500 Gb. This means 450 Gb data and 50 Gb free.  How can you backup 450 into 50 ?
    Second point. The backup on your internal HD is a nonsense evenif it is big enough. If it stops working you will have no bakup.
    Do you have an iMac or a portable ?
    The portable automatic uses the internal HD if the external is not connected, but this is intended for a short time.
    This could give you some more links to read about  https://discussions.apple.com/message/20726927#20726927

  • Best way to use an external drive

    Hello all,
    I have several photos.
    I also have three computers that I regularly use: my Windows PC, my Macbook Pro, and a very new iMac.
    Rather than place all my photos on each computer... I thought I could place them on a Western Digital Passport portable ext. drive. Then somehow use the drive from computer to computer to edit/play with my photos.
    How do I best use iPhoto 08 to do that? I'm not sure... do the photos have to be on the computer in order to make albums, libraries, folders, etc? Or are those things more of thumbnails that POINT to certain files?
    Please help a newbie understand the best way to use his external drive.
    Thanks for any and all help!

    Hello, and welcome, Theodore!
    I must first say that I don't yet have iPhoto 8.
    I do, however, have a lot of experience with external drives (I have two). I have a huge amount of music in iTunes, so I keep a copy of it on each external drive. Then, when I need to access my music , I turn on either external drive, up comes the External Drive symbol on my display, then I go over to my dock, and select iTunes. I must remember to first open up the External Drive BEFORE I open iTunes (or iPhoto). I then add or subtract music (or photos), edit, and work on my collection. When I'm finished, I just close the application, then select the Hard Drive symbol, and choose File/ Exit Hard Drive. Reach over and turn off my Hard Drive, and it's all good. I just always remember to open the Hard Drive FIRST, before opening the application.
    The same would work for iPhoto. If you place iPhoto onto your external drive, you could probably use any of your computers to connect to it. I would suggest you think about backing up your external drive's contents with either another external drive (which was my choice), or other alternate storage methods.
    I only have one PowerBook, not multiple computers, but, other than that, the situation's the same. You want to keep your iPhoto collection off your computers, and onto one external drive. I hope this information can be of some help to you.
    All best wishes... Cea

  • Going from xp to windows 7 64 bit using an external drive for music storage

    Greetings Techies!
    I hope you all are well.
    I need to move my iTunes from an XP machine to Windows 7 64 bit. On the XP machine I am using an external drive for music storage and the iTunes database is stored on the internal drive. I am looking for advice on how to transfer all of this over to my new Windows 7 64 bit machine. I know iTunes can be picky about everything and I don’t want to take and chances and loose my playlists or music.
    Any help would be much appreciated.
    Blessings,
    paul

    You are right about it being picky. I just upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and was forced to format my drive. I had all the music backed up, but when I imported it, I have 2 or 3 copies of some songs, art work missing, and have lost my playlists. I hope someone responds to your question, because I could use similar help! Best of luck to ya . . .

  • Time Machine backup with firewire external drive

    I am having issues with a brand new firewire external drive and I am not sure if it is a drive issue, a configuration issue or what.
    I have a 6tb Firewire hooked up to my machine. This is the drive which is being used as the destination for Time Machine. I have had this drive for awhile and seem to be having no problem with it and have not had an issue with Time Machine previously. I have a new added a second firewire drive (2tb) in daisy chain to the first (the 6tb). Whenever this drive is included in my TM backup profile, TM fails. Whenever I remove it, TM seems to work. I am wondering if the issue is the sequence of the drives (the TM drive perhaps needing to be the last in the chain), an issue with TM or perhaps an indication of a hardware problem with the new drive itself. Anyone got a clue?
    Thanks.

    Okay,apparantly no one else seems to be having this issue. That being the case then, how do I find a log file to get an error code so I can try to determine *why* Time Machine is failing?

  • G'day.  I am using iMovie 11 and need to clear disk space.  How can I do that using an external drive, leaving me the option to go back and make changes or access old events or projects from that external drive?

    G'day.  I am using iMovie 11 and need to clear disk space.  How can I do that using an external drive, leaving me the option to go back and make changes or access old events or projects from that external drive?

    The slightly bigger question is whether you want to move all movie content to the external drive (essentially meaning that drive will always need to be attached when you're working with your videos), or whether you just want to archive older videos off to the external drive.
    If you want to move all videos, then just move the 'Movies' folder in your home directory to the external drive, then create an alias of the external 'Movies' back in to your home directory. Now the 'Movies' icon in your home directory will point to the external drive and everything will just work (as long as the external drive is attached when you launch iMovie)
    If you want to archive older movies then each Movie should have its own subdirectory within your Movies folder. These can easily be moved off to the external drive, and moved back should you ever need to work on those movies again.

  • FireWire external drives and bootable DVD's

    I have 2 Mac Pro running 10.5.2 with all recent updates:
    1) Mac Pro *****UXYL model MacPro3,1 (early 2008)
    2) Mac Pro *****00PX model MacPro1,1 ROM de démarrage : MP11.005D.B00
    On the second I can mount and boot with a FireWire external drive. I can also use an utility DVD or CD like DiskWarrior.
    On the first one, nothing of this is possible : I cannot mount a FireWire drive only an USB drive. I cannot use CD or DVD bootables except of course Install Disks (version 1.1)
    I tried to obtain an answer from Apple support without any success.
    <post edited by host>

    The ROM has been reported in the past to be one element of the issue, but in general Apple has made it abundently clear that you can't install an older operating system on a Mac nor boot from an older operating system than the Mac than came with it in these two articles:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303315
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517
    And as far as I know no one has been able to downgrade the ROM to an older version than it shipped with either to force boot an older operating system.

  • Sharing a Firewire external drive over Ethernet

    Sorry, this should be in the "Networking" forum, BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM TO EXIST. . .
    Have 500GB Firewire external drive hooked to G5 for backup. Just want to have it mount our other Mac's desktop so they can also use it over the network for backup. I CANNOT find ANY WAY to do this glaringly obvious desired feature within OSX!!!
    WHY isn't there a "Share this Drive on the Network" checkbox in "Get Info"? So you could easily share any USB or Firewire storage device instantly!
    Thanks!

    Sorry, this should be in the "Networking" forum, BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM TO EXIST. . .
    Have 500GB Firewire external drive hooked to G5 for backup. Just want to have it mount our other Mac's desktop so they can also use it over the network for backup. I CANNOT find ANY WAY to do this glaringly obvious desired feature within OSX!!!
    WHY isn't there a "Share this Drive on the Network" checkbox in "Get Info"? So you could easily share any USB or Firewire storage device instantly!
    Thanks!

  • Updated to Mavericks OS X but can't use my external drive by WD My Passport. The Mac reads it but I can't add/remove files to the external drive. Help?!

    Updated to Mavericks OS X but can't use my external drive by WD My Passport. The Mac reads it but I can't add/remove files to the external drive. Help?!
    The WD My Passport, I purchased back in early December 2013 & I just used it the other day after I updated my Macbook... & of course it says in the online manual it works for Mac Lion, Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard but not this new Maverick update. Is there anything I can do?

    I like the free demo of SuperDuper to make clones. It's free, Tiger and Leopard ready and is easy to use. If you buy the full version you can do incremental backups.
    You should use Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, booted up on your install disk, before you make a clone of it.
    I then partition my external disk, in Disk Utility, with a partition that is the same size , actually a tad bigger, as my system disk. I then use SuperDuper to clone my system disk over to that partition.
    With a clone on an external FireWire drive (USB drives are not bootable on some Macs) you can bootup on it to do your repairs or just run your Mac anytime you have trouble with your main drive. Be careful, there are a few external FireWire drives out there that are not bootable on Macs. Check the drive's manual to be sure.
     DALE

Maybe you are looking for