Laptop users: Any recommendations for a scratch disk for Illustrator CC?

Hello everyone.
I have been reading into scratch disks and their use with Illustrator, Photoshop, etc. It seems most of the discussions have been about desktop systems though. I am currently using just a 13" late 2013 Macbook Pro w/retina. 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM.
I actually have a new 1 TB external USB 3.0 WD drive, but I believe it's a 5400rpm and might not be fast enough to be used as a scratch disk? If not, I was thinking of either getting a 7200rpm USB 3.0 external drive, or a USB 3.0 external SSD. Perhaps something like these?
Amazon.com: U32 Shadow™ 240GB External USB 3.0 Portable Solid State Hard Drive SSD: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: HGST Touro Mobile Pro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive, Black (0S03559): Computers &
Illustrator CC is currently just set to use my startup disk as the scratch disk. I don't believe I have run into any problems yet, that might have involved Illustrator needing more than my 8GB ram, and needing to use the scratch disk, but I am not totally sure, and I just want to get one setup anyways, for future use. I am also looking into using this with some light Photoshop use in the future also.
Those of you who use a laptop for Illustrator and other Adobe programs, what do you use for your scratch disk?
Also, where does Illustrator store these scratch disk temp files on a Mac? I have not been able to find any useful information through Google searching so far. Mostly just stuff related to Photoshop scratch disks. I would like to check the location these files are supposed to be stored to see if there's anything taking up HD space that I could take back, and also as a guide to see how much scratch disk space I should look into getting.
Thanks!!!

Yes, you could do it. Remember to follow licensing restrictions. Here's an article on how to import after installing the operating system:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25773
Keep around locked in your office an external Firewire hard drive with partitions formatted for both Intel and PowerPC Macs containing all the applications and the operating systems and default user documents you want to keep. These can serve as the basis for the migration assistent import.

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Partitioning the Harddrive for a scratch disk for CS1 & CS2

Hello all...
I need to see if there is a way to partition the harddrive on the work macs for the use of a scratch disk. We have a dual 2.0 G5 and a Quad.
The only thing is the fact that there are tons of materials on these macs as we are a advertising agency and are in the process of migrating all workable files to a new mac server that was ordered this week.
Can this be done without wiping the HD first?
Our apps mainly CS1 on some machines and CS2 on the Quad seem to run a tad bit slow. Could this be to not having a scratch disk for these adobe programs.
Or should we wait until the server has arrived and then just reformat the machines at that time?
Please help guys.
Dual 2GHz Power PC G5 & 4 x2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Never partition the boot drive. Even if it is used for scratch (and even if you set another drive for primary scratch the boot drive will still be used some). Keep your boot drive free of everything else except the system and applications.
Order some RAM, order a 2nd drive for each system. And a dedicated scratch disk - meaning you would need a 2 or 4-channel SATA host adapter for PCI-X.
You might want to use WD's 10K 150GB Raptor for boot drive (and yes, it works just fine on the DC/Quad G5s). The 10K 74GB Raptor makes a nice disk also and could also be used for scratch disks in a RAID. Use your original OEM drive just for local data.
Photoshop Acceleration Basics (pdf)
about the PS test
The above article and benchmark test utility can help determine what to expect.
I would speculate that you need a minimum of 4-6GB RAM, and 8-10GB of RAM might be in order; along with a 2-4-8 drive RAID as well.
Crucial PowerMac G5 Quad DDR2
AMUG: Sonnet E4P
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Port Multiplication Guide
G4 MDD 1.25 1.75GB UL3D 15K/10K RAID Mac OS X (10.4.6) SoftRAID 3.5

What to use for a "Scratch Disk"...

Hello All,
Prior to Christmas i lost my primary HD. Stupidly I didn't have a very good backing up procedure in place. I now have my G4 back up and runnung with a fresh HD and I would like to get off on the right foot.
Prior to the afore mentioned incident I had been using my primary for a scratch disk. It was a lack of education (ie, v.stupid) and I have now purchased a Lacie Little BigDisk (200GB) purely for FC media.
What I would like to ask is: Is there any reason to partition the disk? And, bearing in mind that I have not yet installed FC5, would it work better installed on the primary, or the external?
Forgive me if these answers seem uneducated, but to be honest in this area, I am...
If I could, I would like to ask a side question on partitioning.
As I mentioned, I have recently experienced a hard drive failure. Because of this I am now attempting to back-up everything I know, in the proper manner. I have been advised to clone my startup disk and I was thinking that If I bought decent external around 200GB I could partition it in half. My primary is 100GB and that would leave me with another 100 for music etc.
Does this sound like a decent plan?
I travel a LOT so I can only have 2 externals with me and they can't be too big. I thought with one as a scratch disk for Final Cut (my main work) and another for clone backing up and storage of music and movies etc...
I very much value the opinion's and advice from people here in the forum. Thank you for taking the time,
Regards,
Philip

The basic idea is that you don't want the drive that is playing back your media to be worried about doing anything else. That's why you don't want media on your system drive. It's got enought to do running the OS and FCP itself. Asking it to also playback media (although it can work) is really pushing it.
Of course you can store other files on your media drive, just don't ask it to do other things while playing back media files.
As for partitioning, remember that no matter how many partitions you have it's still physically only one drive. So partitions won't get around any of the above mentioned issues.
Good Luck
rh

Scratch disk for cs3

Hello out there,i am a new person to CS3 and i would like to ask if there is anyone out here which can explain the process to make a scratch disk for Photoshop cs3.
I have a graphics company and bought cs3 it is working well but i am going to add another disk in my computer for this and need info to set this disk up. My e-mail [email protected] thanks Larry

It is best to have the scratch disk a different disk than the OS and program disk. The size needed depends on how big of images you will be using, how many you will have open at one time, how many layers or smart objects you could add, and a few other things. Some do OK with 20 gigs, others have 300+ gigs.

Help: Partitioning a Scratch Disk for CS3

Hello Gang,
I finally got around to installing 2x500GB Western Digital RE SATA RAID Edition hard drives in my new Mac Pro. They are in a RAID 0 striped configuration and will be used as my scratch disk. If I understand things correctly, I need to partition a certain portion of this RAID Scratch disk for CS3. I have no prior experience doing this. Anyone care to walk a newbie through the process? Thank you!
Mike

It is best to have the scratch disk a different disk than the OS and program disk. The size needed depends on how big of images you will be using, how many you will have open at one time, how many layers or smart objects you could add, and a few other things. Some do OK with 20 gigs, others have 300+ gigs.

MULTIPLE SCRATCH DISKS FOR THE SAME PROJECT

Hello... I have a quick scratch disc question:
I have project that is running too low on scratch disk space. Can I use my boot drive (that has FCP on it) as an alternate scratch disk for the same project? Or does one project have to have the same scratch disk?
Thanks!
- TEXASFLOOD

Hi Texasflood,
Having all the media in one place is preferable. Among other things when using multiple scratch disks you always have to make sure and double check that your logging bins are correctly set and that FCP is using the scratch disk you want.
What you could do is use Media manager to move the existing media to the new scratch disk with plenty of space (Media manager will reconnect all the media) and then capture your remaining 24GB in your new scratch disk.
Read about how to use Media Manager in the manual and checkout the paragraph in this linked article titled [Copying And Moving Projects|http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/media_manager_fcp_4balis.html].
If you do use MM choose to copy and not move media, then for the piece of mind check first that everything is in place and working and only then delete the media in your older drive.
G.

Can I use my old g5 tower as a scratch disk for my Macbook Pro for Photoshop?

I just made the laptop jump away from towers and am a little shocked by how much difference a smaller scratch disk makes. Can I use my old tower as a scratch disk to help out my new Macbook Pro?
Any other tweaks I can do to speed up large files in Photoshop? Should I bump up the ram usage by Photoshop above the recommened percentage?

Hm. It sounds like you know what you are talking about, and apparently I don't. I was just going to plug in a firewire cable to both and hoped that magically scratch disk would appear as an option for my tower.
Cant I somehow boot the tower as using as a hardrive only? Or applesharing or something else?

*Noob* Which of these would I use for a scratch disk? How much Ram?

Hello, I am fairly new to Photoshop as I have used Lightroom ever since I've been a photographer. I recently got into Photoshop with the cloud as well as layering multiple exposures together. I never KNEW anything about scratch disk, until yesterday.
First let me stress, please answer my questions in layman's terms. I search the net before I start a topic on a forum and I read a lot of answers that seem to be responding to people who have a general idea of what is already going on. Remember, I DO NOT. Here are my questions:
A:If the scratch disk acts like RAM, do I need to allow it to use any of my ram at all? If so, how much? I have two Macbook Pro's, they are the highest model Apple makes, both have SSD drives, Quad Core i7's, etc. I unchecked my Macbook hard drive and told it to use an external SSD drive that is plugged in via USB 3.0. Would it be better to use an HDD instead of SDD? I have lots of hard drives to choose from due to being a music producer.
B:When I exit the program does it delete all the data it created? This question is two fold, does it delete it regardless if I saved the project or not? If I save the project does it stay there? What if I delete the original photo, was the photo imported into photoshop upon camera raw?
C: Like question A, how much ram do I choose? I have 16GB of Ram in each of my MacBooks.

OK, I have now copied your hillbilly text and pasted it into a text editor to change the typeface so I can read it.
I'll try to address the lose ends here.
A:…I have two Macbook Pro's, they are the highest model Apple makes…
Please forgive me for not being impressed. I just happen to consider any laptop a sub-optimal choice for Photoshop photography work. My personal opinion. (Please don't ask me why.)
, both have SSD drives,… I unchecked my Macbook hard drive and told it to use an external SSD drive that is plugged in via USB 3.0. Would it be better to use an HDD instead of SDD?…
I assume you are talking about using the external drive as your primary scratch disk, not as your boot disk. That is the appropriate thing to do. HD or SSD will both do the job fine, as long as they're physically separate, dedicated Photoshop scratch disks.
Obviously the internal drive will be your boot disk. Adobe applications really like to reside on the boot disk, the drive where the OS resides.
B:When I exit the program does it delete all the data it created?
This question is two fold, does it delete it regardless if I saved the project or not?
If I save the project does it stay there? What if I delete the original photo, was the photo imported into photoshop upon camera raw?
NOTHING is ever imported into Photoshop, ever. You use Photoshop to open your files exactly where you put them in the Apple Finder. And you save them wherever you wish, in the Finder as well. Your images will always reside in the Finder.
You don't import files into Adobe Camera Raw either. You open them in or with ACR.
Of course you need to save your data, not only when you quit the application, but at frequent intervals while you're working on it. Nothing you saved will be deleted by Photoshop. How can you even conceive and ask such a question? ?? !
If you ever try to close a file or the application when you have open, unsaved files, the application will ask you for confirmation in an unmistakable way.
Your images will always reside in the Finder, wherever you put them.
Photoshop does not have the abominable "Libraries" scheme that made me detest Lightroom when I tried it. Nor does Photoshop hide your image files in "packages" like the even more abominable iPhoto does.
Please forget anything you may be accustomed to in Lightroom and/or iPhoto, and approach Photoshop with a fresh mind, respecting it like the granddaddy of image editors it is.
C: Like question A, how much ram do I choose? I have 16GB of Ram in each of my MacBooks.
Again, you don't "choose RAM", instead you select a percentage of dynamically changing Available Memory (not RAM; see above) to allow Photoshop to use. Leave at around 70%.
Please see the following post for an important tip.

Is it Necessary to create a New Folder on my Scratch disk for new project?

I am using a MACBOOK Pro with a 1tb scratch disk (loud) and am new to FCPS2. Someone told me to make a new folder on the scratch disk and then let the app build the rest of the folders it needs within it..Is there are reason for his? Do I have to build a new folder for every new project? Does media Manger do this?

Is it better to have
A) a file for each project, with all the Audio Render, Autosave Vault, Capture Scratch, Render Files,
Thumbnail Cache and Waveform Cache folders inside each one? For instance, "Ghost Story/Audio
Render, etc etc" "Music Video/Audio Render, etc etc"
Caches sholud go on your system drive. Autosave should go anyplace except your system drive so you can recover a project if the system goes down. Media folders go on your media drives.
B) All of the Audio Render, Capture Scratch, etc folders, with the project-specific folders spread out between all of these?
They aren't spread out, they're contained within.
but just wondering if there was a quick answer for this--
it seems like FCP wants users to do it according to option B,
but to me option A makes more sense
That's the trouble the OP was having. Attempting to impose your desires onto FCP is dangerous without thorough grounding in the FCP Way. I think Apple's organization structure is lame, unnecessarily restrictive, and confusing. But all of my attempts to impose my own thinking patterns upon FCP lead directly to disaster.
bogiesan

Photoshop not using scratch disk for PDF generation

Using Adobe Photoshop CC latest release - Set Scratch disk to S: drive. Photoshop consumes all of my c: drive using C:\users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp for the temporary folder when generating a PDF.
How do I make Photoshop CC point to the S: drive for temp

I created a Junction with MKLINK from C:\users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp to my solid state drive S:\MKLINK_TEMP so I was able to work around this.
It is taking over 30 minutes to generate a PDF from Photoshop
I upgraded to CC 2014 versions on all my applications yesterday as well.

Best External Scratch Disk for iMac?

I'm a new Mac user and i'm now using my iMac as my primary computer. I've been looking online to find out which approach is best when using adobe products that require scratch disks. Should i use external USB or Firewire interface? What I've done for my windows system in the past is I purchased a 10,000rpm hard drive and dedicated it as a scratch disk and installed it internally. If I do this with either USB or firewire, my big plan is I would go and get a 10krpm hard drive and by an enclosure with usb and firewire. Anyone know how I should approach this on an iMac and will my plan work?
Thanks!

You could go with an external Firewire 800 disk and a 7200 or faster drive. But that won’t be as fast as your iMac’s internal drive which is SATA II 3Gbps. You could partition the internal drive so that you have one ‘work’ drive to be used for video/graphics scratch files. At least I did that. Bit of work ahead of you though since your internal drive currently is likely just one big partition. Post back your conclusions.

Where is the scratch disk for Garageband ?

Hi there,
1) Can I know when we record vocals in garageband, where does the recorded file copied to ? What is the path of the scratch disk ?
2) If I copy my project files in my macbook pro to my iMac, how does iMac locate all the recordings that I done in the macbook pro ?
Thanks

HangTime wrote:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#recordingsstored
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)
Thanks HangTime,
It says:
+"A. The recordings that you make are stored within the project that you created. It is recommended that you do not mess with the project package (and if you don't know what an OS X package is, or how to open one, it's even MORE strongly recommended that you do not mess with it)"+
what does +stored within project+ means ? so where is the file ?
don't i have to copy them when I want to use a project file from macbook pro to iMac ?
thks

Any recommendations on external hard drives for Air?

The couple of external hard drives I used for time machine etc. are firewire based. (The alternatives for making them usb friendly do not work with the Air.) Any recommendations on a good, self powered external, about 500gb? Thanks.

I only buy 2.5" internal drives and place them in Macally enclosures. I've had store bought all-in-one externals and they have not been reliable, and many are installing all kinds of software on them, via firmware, and you can't do much about it. I've never had one problem over the years going this route, and drives are so cheap now, you can get the enclosure plus a 500GB drive for just over $100.00 at macsales.com
The Macally's have FW/USB interfaces. I have the new MBA, and use USB.
Bryan

Set New Scratch Disk for rendering...

I finished a short film on a HD with no space left at the moment. To render the video, I'll need to set a new disk to render to, but everytime I set the scratch disks to my main drive (plenty of space left, I'm desperate) and checked the render video and audio boxes, and unchecked them on my old HD. It's a pretty messy project with files everywhere, truly unorganized. But I need to set the render folder on my main one and it is still referring to my other drive when I try to render anything, which does not have enough space left to render anything. Any solutions?
So far I've tried restarting FCP and that's it.

When you go back to your System Preferences settings, you can see your main disk as scratch disk or you see your old setting to the external one?
Try trashing your FCP preferences and setting everything again.

Scratch disk for Render Full

I have been trying to print to video with an HDV project that is about 24 minutes long and I get the error message "Print to video failed. Your scatch disk for video render is full." I have emptied out the render file folder, but that did not help. To see if it was the sheer size of the task, I set my in & out to about 30 seconds of the project and I was able to send it to the tape. How can I free up space to do this? How much space do I need? I now have about 36 gb of a 148 gb hard drive free after doing some cleaning up. Thanks for your help.

OK, 24 mins of HDV is going to require 20-25GB to render, plus something for overhead, so figure on about 35-35GB.
You need to methodically go through that drive and remove/delete things you don't need anymore.
Check your Final Cut Express Documents folder first - you may have clips & render files from previous projects taking up space. Ditto for videos you may have exported over time and forgot about, iDVD projects, DVD disk images, etc.
Also, what else do you have on that drive that you don't need to keep anymore?
And, don't forget your system HD. If it's more than about 80% full (minimum 30-40GB free) it's time to clean out that drive, too.
And remember to Empty Trash after you delete files; otherwise they're still hanging around.

Laptop users: Any recommendations for a scratch disk for Illustrator CC?

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