IMac scratching discs.

Ok so, I've got a 27" iMac and it's scratching discs. So today I've been trying too install something and the disc is scratched to much for use. This isn't a mistake of mine, I've researched it and the around the edge of the drive, the Aluminium is sharp, so when ejected, or inserted the disc gets scratched. I'm not sure what to do now, I've got software and various other things I cannot install because the discs has been scratched so much the data cannot be read. I've now got to work out how I'm going to install various things I've bought.

Yes. I just put in a new dvd and my 2010 imac ripped it apart. NOW I realize it's the case of the computer and that ALL my other media and substantial investment was pretty much destroyed. I thought it was because I was sloppy with the discs! But CHECK THIS OUT.
I called apple support and told them and also said it was a known issue on this "support" site and the supervisor said "that's just a blog, I don't take that seriously. Just a few people complaining about some isoloted issue."! Then I say "google it" it's all over this issue. Then he said "you can find anything on the internet." Unbelievable little snot this dude was. And apple, of course, is a terrible company for not issuing a notice for people on this (and for having slave labor in china etc. etc. etc.). The apple rep said that he didn't think this was an issue that would have required apple to notify its customers!
Total jerk. As is apple "geniuses" indeed - at ripping customers off with overpriced marketing gimmiks.

Similar Messages

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

Moving contents of FCE scratch disc to external Drive from an iMac Drive

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
FCE captured my original HDV on my iMac in the FCE Document folder. I thought I had specified my external Glyph drive for the captured video but discovered after editing and saving the project to the external GLYPH that the original capture was in the FCE document folder on the iMac --where I did not want it. The project is saved on the external GLYPH. Is there a way of moving the Scratch Disc (original captured video) for this project from the iMac Hard drive to the Glyph drive (in other words, after the initial capture) without screwing up the editing I have already done.
I had created a "Media" folder on the external drive for all media to be used in this project before capturing the video but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
This is my first time trying out FCE. Help would be appreciated.
macrobob

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
Yes, just copy the files to the folder(s) you want them to be in.
I normally capture to my internal drive (Final Cut Express Documents > Capture Scratch folder.) After capturing, I copy the clips to a folder on one of my external drives; usually give the folder the name of the shoot. That's my simple way of organizing clips on my hard drives; and it makes backing up easier too.
After you copy the clips, you should delete the clips from their original location (I assume that is your Capture Scratch folder on your system HD). Be sure to Empty the Trash. Very important - make sure you have successfully copied all your clips to the external drive; once you empty trash, the originals are gone.
When you open your project file the next time, all your clips will be offline and you will have to go through the Reconnect Media process to re-associate your clips with your project. After successfully reconnecting media, Save your project and all should be fine.
I highly recommend reading the sections of the manual (online help) about scratch disk locations; and reconnecting media.
but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
Scratch locations are not part of Easy Setups. You set your scratch disk location in FCE > System Settings.

How in the world can I select my external hard drive as a scratch disc for video? Please skip the obvious, like 'is it plugged in?'

At wit's end trying to select my external hard drive to load video on. Time Machine backed stuff up on it so the computer knows it's there but it won't show anywhere else, iMovie or FCE4.

Hi Eric and thanx for the fast response. I've had very little time to piddle around with this iMac and fce4 since I got it a few years back but I DO remember seeing an option back then--when capturing video from the camera--to choose some other scratch disc. Some time after buying and plugging in the ext. drive I clicked on Time Machine (not even knowing what it was--some window popped up and it looked good). I wonder if turning on Time Mach has locked me out of the ext. drive. It doesn't show up ANYWHERE ANYTIME now, not under system pref., user pref. in fce4 or iMovie or anything else EXCEPT when I click on Time Machine it does tell me I've 2.97 terrabytes of space (which has to be the ext. drive; the iMac has 500 gb). I'm thinking of uninstalling and reinstalling fce4 and starting over.

How to determine the scratch disc size?

hello,
once i was reading an adobe pdf "How to get better performance in photoshop cs5" - that was in 2009 or 2010, and may be outdated, but there was a calculation method
to determine the size of a scratch disc. (similar calculation see below, if i can remember right)
i am asking myself, how can i determine the correct size of an external SSD-scratch disc, only used by photoshop (completely empty):
should i buy a 128GB or 256GB or 512GB SSD which is only reserved for photoshop?
basic question 1 : i guess i should avoid to set the internal SSD as photoshop scratch disc, as it slows down everything?
basic question 2 : in sense of maximum performance: better buy an external USB3.0 or thunderbolt SSD? will photoshop really use the extra thunderbolt speed when swapping data?
secondary question:
can i calculate the size regarding my daily working habits?
i am mainly working like this:
- with my imac 27" late 2013 with 32GB RAM and 256 GB internal pci-e SSD (800 MB/sec), which will stay always half empty for performance reasons.
- OSX 10.8 mountain lion and 10.9 mavericks soon
- photoshop cs5, cs6 and cc (always without extended)
- 8bit and 16bit mode
- only RGB
- with latest phocus/Hasselblad and canon RAW Files which produce a basic .psb document at ...
- 10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi
- with average 10 - 40 main image layers and 20-50 adjustement layers (try to reduce that in 16bit)
- .psb file is 2-20 GB big (file in finder)
- 16bit file compression is off, when saving .psb files (faster handling)
- set photoshop to 70% ram usage (from 32GB RAM)
i wonder how to calculate ?
for example:
10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi needs for one image layer at 16bit: 2GB RAM in photoshop cs6 or cc (just as a number), this may be wrong
so lets take 2GB RAM and multiply with 10 image layers in my .psb file (16bit) = 20 GB RAM, and multiply with 20 adjustment layers (guess they need less ram, for one lets say 500MB) = 20GB + 10GB = this 16bit .psb layer file would need 30GB RAM, so when i have 32GB in my imac, i set cs6 or cc to 70% ram usage, it misses at least round 8-10GB RAM > can i guess that photoshop would swap these 8GB onto my scratch disc? or do i miss something important in my thinking?
tricky thinking
thanks for help

station_two wrote:
The rule of thumb I follow says to figure on 50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open. I have seen the scratch file exceed 300 GB once, an admittedly rare occurrence, but it often exceeds 200 GB when stitching large panoramas and the like.
As an example—and stressing that I'm aware that others have even more scratch space than I do—I keep two dedicated, physically separate hard drives as my primary and secondary Photoshop scratch disks and a lot of GB free on my boot drive for the OS. I also have 16 GB of RAM installed.
Additionally, if you only have a single HD, i.e. your boot drive, you'd need it to be large enough to accommodate both the swap files of the OS as well as Photoshop's scratch.
- i dont use HDD anymore only SSDs, both internal and external
- i set history state to only 5 or 6, to improve performance
- i set cache size to 4 and tiles to "big and flat" with 1028kb (there is no "big and much layers" option)
- is this still the rule of thumb? i read it in 2009 , too, guess it was outdated, as cs6 and cc have improved codes in terms of performance?
- if you say "50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open.":
i will not open more than one document at same time to prevent performance lags, so lets calc like: dokument size in finder (you mean in finder or doc. size shown in photoshop?) = e.g. 5GB x 100 = 500GB, so my external scratch disc SSD, i would buy now, should be at least 500GB, USB 3.0 or thunderbolt ... maybe better thunderbolt, yes? with usb 3.0 i could gain 300MB/sec if thats enough for photoshop?
thanks

Photoshop scratch disc (SSD), thunderbolt or USB3.0?

asking the adobe team photoshop engineers, if there is one?
which kind of scratch disc are you using? i think you must know it
i would like to know whether the difference of usb3.0 to thunderbolt is marginally or not?
reading that there is a difference between using the boot disc as scratch disc and using a dedicated separate disc,
i think using the boot disc as scratch is not a good decision, as it is used by the system already, although it would be very fast (700MB/s)
i am professionally working with photoshop cs6 under medium to high demands:
16bit .psb layer files, document size 20x40inch, 300dpi, RGB - my average filesize is 10 - 20 GB per .psb layer file.
currently using an external usb3 500GB SSD (crucial m500) as a photoshop cs6 scratch disc,
under 10.9.1, in the moment i am using an imac 27" late 2013 with internal PCI-e SSD (700MB/sec)
and 32GB RAM. my info panel says, that 32GB RAM is not enough and the scratch disc is active, (50GB is needed, 32GB is available)
calculating scratch disc size: 20 x 100 = 200GB as needed to scratch, the 500GB SSD is a lot more than i need, actually?
in mid 2014 i want to buy the new mac pro with 64GB RAM, also would need a dedicated scratch disc,
as i heard that photoshop is constantly using the scratch disc, also, if it doesnt need it.
it writes the whole image onto the disc, when opened.
my concern is:
USB 3.0 is not built as a pure data connection (as thunderbolt is), it has a weak read/write sustained throughput, as i heard.
as conclusion: must i use an external thunderbolt SSD as photoshop scratch disc to prevent lag and performance drops compared to usb 3.0 or is the difference marginally?
thanks!

For optimal performance in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5 (I will soon upgrade to CS6 or CC), how should I distribute my OS, apps, Scratch, Caches, DNGs, and working TIFFs among these drives?:
120 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
960 GB OWC Mercury Accelsior SSD
(connected by Thunderbolt TB1 OWC Helios unit)
Also, probably irrelevant: multiple individual hard drives connected via eSATA and USB3, not RAIDed together
The Accelsior SSD, connected by TB1, is by far the fastest drive. Would partitioning and devoting different parts of it to different functions help?
I'm able to fit the OS, apps, email, etc. on the 120 GB SSD. But I don't assume that I should.
Here's the most relevent info about the rest of my hardware:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:   iMac
Model Identifier:   iMac12,2
Processor Name:   Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:   3.4 GHz
Number of Processors:   1
Total Number of Cores:   4
L2 Cache (per Core):   256 KB
L3 Cache:   8 MB
Memory:   32 GB
Boot ROM Version:   IM121.0047.B1F
SMC Version (system):   1.72f2
Many thanks,
Mark

SSD as Scratch Disc, SLC or MLC SSD?

hello
i am using a external 512 GB SSD (crucial m4 MLC-SSD) as photoshop cs6 and cc scratch disc and it runs well, i guess.
i get round 390/300 MB/sec read/write speeds over usb 3.0 in my imac 27" late 2013.
as i want to buy a second 500 GB SSD, would photoshop team or people who know detailed technical aspects about
MLC and SLC SSDs go for a SLC or MLC SSD?
i heard that SLC SSD´s (enterprise grade) are more suitable for very frequent read/writes regarding the wear level.
purpose: daily work with photoshop cs6 and cc, 8h per day, huge files: 16bit 300dpi 10.000 x 10.000 pixels with 30-50 layers.
i have 32GB RAM but i heard that photoshop cs6 and cc still use the scratch disc permanently even if there is enough ram.
i am constantly watching the read writes on my ssd discs with istatmenus
thanks

i think if i use a thunderbolt ssd scratch disc for photoshop, it has a superior sustained read and write throughput, is that right?
would you use the thunderbolt ssd in my case, or can i go with the usb3 ssd?
in the moment i have a 256GB thunderbolt ssd and a 500GB usb3 SSD (externals) to choose from.
i think my workflow would benefit from choosing the thunderbolt as scratch disc, but how can i find out
if the difference from using the usb3 ssd is just 5 or 10%?

Capture to HD move to Scratch Disc?

Hello,
I have a Canon DV camcorder and a 250 GB HD on my iMac G5 that is filling up. I usually have enough HD space to capture video without problem, but I run into some sluggish performance as I move through the editing process.
Realizing the FW bus issues with capturing from my Canon camera directly to my 250 GB external LaCie HD, is it feasible to capture to my internal HD and move the captured video to my external HD and edit from there? Are there specific steps I should take so FCE will recognize the new location of the files?
Many thanks,
B.

is it feasible to capture to my internal HD and move the captured video to my external HD and edit from there? Are there specific steps I should take so FCE will recognize the new location of the files?
1. Yes. But you may be able to capture direct to the External. Try a few configurations. No guarantees.
2. Copy the Scratch Disc files over and reconnect. Usually if you reconnect one, the rest follow.
Al

How do I stop my macbook telling me scratch discs are full

I have reduced applications photos email etc from my laptop but I am being told 1. Start up discs are full and 2. Scratch discs are full what exactly does this mean. Would more memory help if so what type. The macbook is 2008 2.4 core 2 Duo, 2GB 667 MHz DDR SDRAM. Thanks I know this is a daft question for most people.

Yeah, same problem here, same sentiment! it sure feels like harassment. no solution works (even the absurd ones). makes me regret the update :s

Can I use my iMac Install Disc on Macbook Pro?

Hi, all. I was given a friend's old Macbook Pro and I'd like to put Boot Camp on it, but the Boot Camp instructions say I need an OSX Leopard install disc to do it. Naturally, I just recently purged my own software binder and threw away all of my OSX discs except the one that came with iMac I recently purchased. "Why would I need them any more?" said I. Doh.
I have no idea what cat Apple is up to now, but the Macbook is running 10.5.8 and the install disc from my iMac is 10.6.7. My questions:
1) Can I use my iMac install disc on my Macbook Pro, which is about 3-4 years old?
2) Does OS 10.6.7 qualify as Leopard? If not, will it work for what I'm trying to do?
3) Do I need to update the Macbook OS to 10.6.7 to be able to use that disc for the Boot Camp install?
Any information or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

The only thing I'd add to this is that at one point in time you could go to an Apple store and purchase Lion on a USB stick.
If your MBP was compatible and you could find one of those you could boot to it, install from it then setup bootcamp.
Also if you are thinking bootcamp, also consider VMWare Fusion or Parallels which allow you to run Windows while still in OS X.

Using an external hard drive (HD), on a network, as a scratch disc?

I am weighing my options on creating a wireless network around an external HD. My macbook pro is getting full and I am going to do a spring cleaning and get everything in order. I pretty much know how I want to do it but I am wondering if I can use an external hard drive as a scratch disc, wirelessly?
Thanks in advance,
Howi

Nevermind. This answered my question: http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-610667.html
Howi

I have PSE-12 on Mac. Got message "scratch disc full" tried changing drive to backup disc. Now PSE-12 will not open to allow me to go back to original drive. What can I do?

Using PSE-12 on my Mac and got the message 'scratch disc full' I have backup disc attached to computer and tried making this the number 1 disc. I now can't get PSE-12 to open so that I can get back and reverse the order of these discs. What can I do?

Go to your username>library>preferences and delete:
com.adobe.PhotoshopElements.plist
Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 paths
Adobe Photoshop Elemetns 12 settings
and any lockfiles with the same names. That library is hidden in 10.7 and up. To see it, click the Go menu in the finder and hold down the Option key and it will appear below the little house for your user account. While you're in there go to the saved application states folder and delete any for PSE.

What is a Scratch disc?

Hi, My discs (80+120gb) are almost full, I sought (and gained) info on the expanding your Mac forum and noticed a thread that referred to using a disc as a "scratch disc" for Photoshop, I use Photoshop a lot and would like to know what scratch disc means and how one makes a Photoshop scratch disc.
I am about to add a 500gb external FW HD so will have a disc spare to "free up" Would making one of them a scatch disc help Photoshops perfomance?
I can dedicate the 120gb to Photoshop as the 80gb contains the operating sysyem.
I am not the most computer literate person so easy English responses would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Robert

Hi
The following article, courtesy of MacGurus, contains some useful information on improving Photoshop performance, although it's a little techy in places:
http://homepage.mac.com/boots911/.Public/PhotoshopAccelerationBasics2.3.pdf
Just be aware that if both discs (80GB and 120GB) are connected to the same ribbon cable (as master and slave), they have to take turns sharing the ATA bus. Consequently if the Photoshop application is on one and the other is being used as the scratch disc, performance may not be optimal (although may still be better than at present).

How to Reformat the hard drive I use to edit with..."scratch disc"

Today when I turned on my computer I got a strange message on the screen that basically said I need to back up one of my drives and format it asap. It also said the computer couldn't repair it.
This is the HD I use to edit with as my scratch disc with Final Cut Pro.
I am in the process of backing my files up now. One thing I noticed was that some of my files I don't need anymore and wanted to trash them but it won't allow me to trash files! I get an error message when I drag the file to the trash. So I am going to have to back everything up and I guess will have to erase the disc.
I never reformatted a disc before so if anyone knows what I need to do that would be great since this is the drive I used to edit with.
Thanks.
Message was edited by: DVX100Shooter

To reformat a hard drive, launch Disk Utilities (in the Applications->Utilities folder) and click on the Erase tab. Select the drive you want to reformat then choose "Mac OS Extended" ... give the volume a name and click on the Erase button.
Once the drive is reformatted, open FCP and assign it as the scratch disk.
However, the drive may be suffering from other problems that reformatting won't fix.
-DH

Mac OS X - Scratches Discs!

Is anyone else having this problem? My new Mac OS X - desktop - is scratching discs. It is not how I pull the discs out. I am very careful. Apple has already replaced the superdrive twice now! And it is still scratching! The scratches are circular and obviously happen as the disc is spinning in the drive. Multiple scratches happen nearly every time I put a disc in the machine. What is going on?

Hi c2zion: If the main reason for your wanting X11, is to install Open Office, another very good option is Neo Office. It is very similar to Open Office, and doesn't require X11. It is available here: http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php
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IMac scratching discs.

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