Setting pref file so FCP prompts Scratch Disk Reset

I was told by a fellow poster that "you can lock the pref file (or set permisions) so that FCP can't save the selected Scratch Disk location ... this will force FCP to ask you to set the Scratch Disk location everytime it launches."
Does anyone know how to do this?
Please take me through step-by-step.

if a fellow poster told you then why don't you do a search mate?
basically, you can either just lock the file just by locking it in the finder (use Get Info) or you can set the privilledges so that the file is read only.
step by step is here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5167687&#5167687

Similar Messages

Where within CS6 Photoshop will I find the folder and file to clear the scratch disk on my harddrive ???

Where is the folder (and file) to erase the scratch disk ...

There is no such folder.
The scratch file gets erased as soon as you close the file that was using it.
The rule of thumb I follow to figure out scratch space 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 800 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.

Raid card and scratch disk setup for FCP

Hi Guys
Can anybody tell me what is the correct way to set up a raid card and scratch disk for FCP if you have 3 x 2TB internal hard drives, with the OS on HD1 and drives 2 and 3 dedicated for FCP
Also with this i also have all my documents i.e work stuff, invoices, pictures, music ect from my old windows PC and used to have them stored on HD2 with the Windows 7 OS on HD1 - i have been told that it is fine if i put this on the same drives as FCP is this correct...?
i only ask this as i have been told how to do it in different ways by 3 people......

Thanks John, although i'm rather embarrassed to admit that I am a complete newbie when it comes to technical/computer hardware terms (i.e. I have no idea about different types of disks, other than a HDD and a SSD, or even what the difference is between your media cache and a scratch disk).
This means that after reading all the links you so helpfully provided hasn't done much other than making me feel even more stupid!
The best that I can conclude from what I think that i've understood is that I will use:
Intel 530 Series 120GB SSD for O/S, Programs (and Pagefile?? No idea what this is, sorry)
Samsung 840BW 500GB - Scratch Disk (is this the media cache?) and preview
Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD - media, projects, and exports
Please tell me if i've got something around the wrong way....
Thanks again.

SCRATCH DISK HELP...

Don't know if this is possible or not.
I have a project that is stored on an external hard drive. The capture scratch, media files, and project file is stored on this drive. I am using several workstations to work on this project. I am trying to figure out if there is a way to make the worstation default to my external drive once my project is opened on it. Any changes I make to the project that use the capture scratch, ( render files, new footage, ect..) are stored on the systems default capture scratch. I just want to work on the projects without having to change the workstations default scratch disk.

Tom,
The way FCP works is that the Scratch Disk settings are global (apply to all projects the same). While I would love to see FCP work the other way, where each project contains its own settings for this, that isn't the way it is now.
I suspect that each workstation has its own install of FCP. That's where those settings are retained. To get each workstation to recognize your external drive as FCP's scratch disk, you'll need to have the drive mounted, then set it that way for that workstation's copy of FCP. Do that for each workstation and you should be good.
Of course, any other projects will be affected.
-DH

Hardware: SSD drives and scratch disks

Hi,
I am building a new system for Photoshop. Two quick questions:
1. I note in Adobe's system reqs it says Photoshop cannot be installed on flash-based storage devices. Does this include SSDs? Is there a genuine problem here (i.e. if my application drive is an SSD the PS won't work)?
2. I have not previously had a so-called "scratch" disk so I don't really know what it is or whether I need one, or more than one. What's the general advice here? - separate drive to the PS application drive? also separate to the Windows drive? How big? Will an SSD be a good choice for a scratch drive?
Thanks in advance,
Alastair

G'day,
In answer to your query SSDs work fine to install cs4 on bar the following I'm having.
I've built a new system using ssds.and is working fine bar one problem
Specs of the system is
I7 920 cpu, Asus P6t se mb, 12gb ram, 128gb ssd, 64gb ssd, 4gb raid 1+0 array onboard, nvidia geforcegtx260. I use the 128gb ssd as the os and programs drive. The raid is the data drive. All works brilliantly except when I set the 64gb ssd as the scratch disk the following happens
"Could not open a scratch file because the file is locked. Use the 'Properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file."
I hit OK and get this error -
"Could not initialize Photoshop because the file is locked. Use the 'Properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file."
Pressing ok then shuts the program and I need to reset cs4 prefernces and then it all works fine. OS is Win7 64 bit.
Now I have just got to try and fix this problem Anyone got suggestions?
Cheers
Onslow
Hmm, seems to have stopped doing this now after resetting the scratch to the ssd and then rebooting. All is now fine and wonderfully quick.

Setting Default File Location

Hi All,
Just installed Premiere Pro CS5 and have found difficulty in locating where to set the global location for the scratch disks. The only place I have located so far is in the project file. If this is only place, to have to set the scratch disk each time is rather onerous. Hopefully someone can point me to the (hidden) location for setting this globally.
Regards
Andrew

Thanks - think our situations are a bit different. I have multiple users on the single system so reminding each to set the scratch drive each time they create a project will be a mission.
We used to have Premiere Elements which had a single scratch location, within which each project had its own subfolder. Hence my expectation that Pro would operate in the same way.
Perhaps Adobe could provide us with the option of working both ways - a global setting which can be overridden within the project.
Andrew

How to use RAM as scratch disk

Hi,
I am very uncertain about this.
I have a PC with RAM 20GB, Win 7 64 bits. Photoshop CS4.
I have set a hard disk partition as a primary scratch disk.
In the Preferences I have available RAM: 18488 MB
I let Photoshop use 13000 MB (70%).
Every time that I do something on a picture in Photoshop the size of the Photoshop temporary file on the hard disk scratch partition grows.
It seems that my Photoshop uses the hard drive as the scratch disk.
I thought that Photoshop automatically should use extra RAM as a scratch disk.
Have I forgotten to do some setting, or is this the normal behaviour?
How can I force the scratch disk to happen in RAM?
Thanks
/LArry

LarryM01 wrote:
…Every time that I do something on a picture in Photoshop the size of the Photoshop temporary file on the hard disk scratch partition grows…
Perfectly normal, expected behavior.
Photoshop always uses a scratch disk, from the very instant you open an image file or create a new document. Always. No exceptions.
LarryM01 wrote:
…I have set a hard disk partition as a primary scratch disk…
If that's a partition of your boot drive, it's futile and you're much better off leaving the boot drive unpartitioned so as to not limit either the Photoshop scratch disk or the OS swap files. There's nothing to gain because the OS swap files and Photoshop's scratch disk are still competing for the use of the one set of read/write heads.
Bad move. You're just potentially limiting either the Photoshop scratch disk or the OS swap files.
Wo Tai Lao Le
我太老了

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media. Any ideas on how to fix this. It only happens in fcp.

By internal, I assume you're referring to your systems (boot) drive. Is it, by chance, a partitioned dive?
Also…although many people successfully use their systems drives as scratch disks, over time you'll have better results using a dedicated drive for your media.
Good luck.
Russ

How to Get XDCAM Transfer files into FCP scratch disk locations

Hi
I'm new to XDCAM transfer. I have XDCAM Browser and Transfer, latest versions. I have successfully imported into FCP, but I was surprised to see the footage stored in a default 'Movies' location. I thought, okay, I'll just change the import location in the XDCAM Transfer preferences to the FCP scratch disk location but then I realized that since I have multiple scratch disk locations I would be defeating the way FCP works, which is to to automatically go to the location with the room for the files.
I didn't have this problem with Panasonic P2.
Is there a way to import XDCAM files into FCP and have it go to the scratch disk locations already established in FCP?
Thank you,
Phil

Hi Phil
Although XDCAM Transfer can be launched from within FCP (using the File > Import > Sony XDCAM.. command) the app itself is standalone and works outside of the control of FCP. It has no means of discovering and using the Capture Scratch location defined within FCP (because Apple do not provide any means for a third party app to do so).
The Panasonic P2 format is (can be) transfered directly using FCP's own Log and Transfer interface and so works wholly within FCP hence the target directory for imports honors the defined Capture Scratch location.
If you are working with the XDCAM EX series of camera's then you can use Sony's FCP Log and Transfer plugin (PDZK - LT1) instead of XDCAM Transfer to import your clips, and so achieve the functionality you are looking for. Although you lose some of the flexibility/functionality of the standalone XDCAM Transfer app (PDZK-P1) the benefit of handling everything directly with FCP's own interface might be preferable for you.
Hope it helps
Andy

Where do I set the scratch disk in FCP X?

I'm new to FCP X. How do I set the location of my scratch disk?

Thanks, Tom! Found both options there (see Screen Shot).
Weirdly, though, if I now try and select any of the Events now located in my other hard drive, they do show up in the Film Strip area (to the right of the Event Library), but none of these Events show up in the Time Line window (lower section). The only one that continues to show up in the Time Line window are the Events still located in the startup drive.
Is there a way to get those Events now in the other HD to show up in the Time Line window?

Macbook Pro with Dual hard drives. Scratch Disk, Memory 64bit, Raid, Set Up Questions.

Hello, this is my first post.
I just upgraded from the original 2006 17" Macbook Pro to a refurbished 13" Macbook Pro 2.53GHZ 4GB Ram (2009 model).
I bought the MCE Tech Optibay and installed it (if you dont know anything about it, ask me, its amazing.) So now I have 2x 500GB 7200RPM Seagate hard drives installed.
I am running Snow Leopard, CS3, Lightroom 1.4.
I have the main hard drive set up with Snow Leopard and all the Applications. I keep all my files on external firewire 800 drives, except files I am currently working on.
The second hard drive is set up as a scratch disk for Photoshop CS3 and that is it.
I am looking to upgrade to CS5 and Lightroom 3 here within this month or so. Or if I get anxious, tomorrow, haha.
I want to know the best setup I can do with my current set up with CS3 and for my future setup with CS5.
Any info will appreciated.
-Would some kind of raid set up with my internal drives be better? How does raid work with scratch disks?
-If I upgrade to 8GB memory in my macbook pro, would I even see a difference in performance if I didn't have a scratch disk? Since CS5 and Snow Leopard can use more memory in 64bit.
I think thats all I have on my brain right now. I may have more questions, or I can guarantee I will have more later.
Thanks alot.

First the scratch. Like you said, most everyone has a different take on scratch discs but I'd guess you're wasting one heck of a lot of hard drive space using all 500 GB for Scratch, did I read that right? If I did read it correctly YES, partition it and get some use out of it!!
I've got a unibody MBP 2.93GHz, OS 10.5.8, CS3 & PS 5 (running in 32bit mode), and 8 gigs of ram. I've partitioned the one 300 GB drive so 50GB is scratch, the other partition is for OS, & Apps, and documents (images).
I use LR 2 first than export to PS 5 to finish up. My photos get to be 300MB to 500MB in size and both versions of PS work on this setup just fine. Using PS 5 in 64 bit mode is faster opening files but NON of my plugin's are 64 bit yet, that's why I'm still stuck in 32 bit mode.
Not knowing what size or kind of files you work on makes giving advice a bit tough but try setting the status indicator (don't know the right name for it) in the bottom left corner of any PS open file to "Efficiency" and watch what happens when you process your files. I rarely see mine drop below 90%, I've got the usable RAM in PS Prefs set to it's max suggested, cut way back on History and Cache.
Can't wait for NIK and others to offer their plugin in 64 bit, later this year is what I was told.
There used to be an old "rule of thumb" with old version of PS about Scratch disc size. I don't remember exactly but it may have been 3 to 5 times the size of your biggest file??
Good luck, Alan

Photoshop CS5 does not want to open after I changed the scratch disks in prefs

I was working on a large document in Photoshop CS5 that ate too much of my main drive (to the point I had to quite and restart a few times to clear it out) when the main drive was set as a scratch disk. I went in to preferences and changed the scratch disk to my secondary internal drive, where I keep all my media. Then quit Photoshop to clear the cache.
When I tried to open Photoshop again I get a message at start up (haven't gotten in to the program yet) saying: "Could not open a scratch file because the disk is not available". Clicked OK. Then another warning message: "Could not initialize Photoshop because the disk is not available."
Both disks are mounted and available. Since Photoshop never actually opens up I cannot go in and reset the scratch disk to my intinital settings.
Anybody got an idea what I can do to solve this?
Thanks,
/Fred

Worst case: trashing prefs by keeping ctrl-alt-shift pressed while starting Photoshop (and then using the dialog) should allow you to open it.

Unable to set scratch disk

I have just upgraded to Lion and have tried to use FCE for the first time with it.
I got an error message upon starting it
"Unable to set scratch disk. The selected directory is on write protected or non writeable media"
Any ideas?
Also and I dont know if it is related, when I try to export to quicktime, there is no video in the exported quicktime file only video. There is video however when I tick make self contained movie.
It is a new problem and hasn't happened before going to Lion.

Most users using Lion have trouble of one kind or another.
Short answer is Lion is not suppoorted for FCE use.
Moving to FCP X is the only supported option at this time or roll back to Snow Leopard.
Al

Workflow and scratch disk setting

To improve the speed on editing and rendering, what would be the best workflow and scratch disk setting for follows?!
1) video files create by Canon 5D mark II on CF card
2) Video files create by JVC HM700 (in HD, .mov format)
Above 2 formats I usually work with FCP on follow hardware ,
iMac 3.4G i7
8G RAM
Primary drive, 256G SSD
Secondary, 1T harddrive
For each project, video material most likely around 120G.
i) What would be the best setting for the scratch disk in order to boot the speed on editing and rendering?!
II) to save up the disk space on SSD, should I set the video storage on the 1T harddrive and the video n audio rending path to the SSD?!
iii) anything setting should I care while transfer both video format to FCP for a better speed for editing n rendering?
Pls advice!

don't put ANY media on your startup drive-- that would include renders. I'm guessing this is an imac with the ssd and a 1TB? what I do is have one drive for media, one for renders and a third for exports. That lightens the load considerably on any one drive at a time and arguably gives marginally faster throughput.
1TB seems like a lot, but these days it really isn't. I've got 10tb hooked up to my machine, with 3 x 1TB ready to drop into a drive dock for archives-- and I'm always out of room.
You've got to pay attention to the codec your cameras shoot in. Dunno about the JVE, but it's likely an h.264 variant of mpeg4-- do NOT try to edit with this. convert all your footage to prores LT or prores. HQ is definitely overkill.

CS4, CS5, Scratch Disk and Prefs

I am on OSX10.6.8 with CS4 and CS5 (some of my actions only run on CS4, so I quit and launch back and forth).
I had my CS 4 and 5 Scratch Prefs set to a specific scratch partition on another local disk where I had a small partition dedicated towards it. I was doing some disk maintanance on that other disk and forget to go into CS and reset the scratch to the start-up disk. Now I cannot open CS4 or CS5 because it is looking for a scratch disk that does not exist.
Is a complete re-install the only fix, or is there a command line or other way other way than a complete re-install?

Resetting Photoshop Preferences will fix this issue. Follow the instructions outlined here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776
If you have larger troubles, hold down Alt, Ctrl, and Shift keys (Mac: Command, Option, Shift) while starting up Photoshop. A dialog box will appear asking if you wish to delete the preferences/settings file.

Setting pref file so FCP prompts Scratch Disk Reset

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