Using an Xserve AFP Share as a 'Scratch Disk'

Many thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me.
I run a 100 client network at a media college where i work, and all of our students login to clients with Open Directory and their User Shared folder is shared via AFP.
Our students currently each have a portable firewire hard drive to store 'Final Cut Express' projects on. Long story short, they have to go, and we need a networked solution, effectively setting the Final Cut scratch disk settings to an AFP sharepoint.
Now on paper this SHOULD be possible. In Final Cut Express they only work with DV-PAL, which is around 30-35mbit/sec, we have a 1gbit/sec CAT6 network, and only a maximum of 12 students will be working on video at any one time. Our main storage XServe Intel server (2008 model) has 2 link aggregated 1gbit/sec ports effectively giving us 2gbit/sec. Our switches are not cheap unmanaged switches but proper rack mounted managed switches costing £4000/$6000 each.
Now as i said on paper this should be possible, but would it work in practice? I've tried a few tests with some test setups, and everything seems nice and fast so far, but of course reality is very different.
A lot of people will say that we need fibre networking and massive RAID arrays, but we simply cannot afford it. We're stuck with what we've got.
The best we could probably afford is an 'Xserve RAID Card' and then setup RAID 0 across our 3 SATA Apple Drive modules in our XServe, would that improve performance that much for FCE compared to the software RAID we currently have setup?
Is the whole idea ridiculous?
Thanks again for any help you can give me.

Going back to CS, I tested this on a Toshiba laptop. It worked, with about a 20% slowdown, IIRC. Could not find my benchmarks (probably still on that old Toshiba).
I agree with Chris - way too slow, and with rapid reads/writes, USB 2.0 devices are prone to errors, especially the dreaded Delayed Write Error. That can be death with image, or video editing.
Using eSATA is a much, much better solution, and I find that FW-800 works OK (though I have never needed to put the PS Scratch Disks on it), even doing intensive video editing.
Good luck,
hunt

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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

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?

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Using a RAID as a CS3 beta scratch disk

I recently set up a RAID in my Mac Pro, creating it with the OSX Disk Utility. It functions fine as a faster, larger storage space. But when I try to select it in CS3 beta as my Photoshop scratch disk, it does not appear in the list of drives available.
CS2 does use it as a scratch disk, but the beta appears stuck in using the system disk.

I don't know of any reason wh the CS3 besta won't select your RAID set as a scratch drive so, I would suggest you contact Adobe through their bug reporting system and see what happens.
FWIW, given my boot drive is a RAID set CS3 beta does seem to work with it without issue.

*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.

Anyone know how to reset the lens correction filter? (it's using the wrong scratch disk)

OK, to back up a little, I recently discovered that photoshop was using the wrong drive for it's scratch disk (it wasn't obeying the preferences I'd set). So, I reset the photoshop preferences file (ctrl-alt-shift & open photoshop).
Trouble is, the lens correction filter is still using drive "F:" (my only scratch disks are C, D and I). It access it at a root level and creates some temporary files while the filter is in use.
Does anyone know how I can get photoshop to behave?
Thanks

See my reply to this question in your original thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11675339#11675339
Please try to keep all your responses in the thread that you started there. It makes it much easier for the folks who are trying to help you, keep track of what has already been suggested. Thank you.

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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
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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

SCRATCH DISK MYSTERY

Hi Gang
I've got several external drives - I always use at least one of them for Scratch Disk, (since my 2nd internal is filled). I was capturing to an external drive designated 'OWC 6'. I checked system settings several times to make sure. However at the time I didn't realize that there was no sub-folder called 'FC Pro Documents'.
Please see the Screen Shot;
http://www.locationstudio.net/NoSubFolder.jpg
I started to get the Beach Ball and couldn't understand why? Had to do several 'Force Quits'
Finally I trashed preferences, and that's when I saw the Sub Folder. Please see the Screen Shot;
http://www.locationstudio.net/SubFolder.jpg
Things seem 'ok' now, but I see that the captured video wound up on the system drive.
Anyone have any insight into this puzzle?
Thanx
Mike
http://www.vimeo.com/7340608

ENIGMACODE wrote:
Hello Rienk
... I'm capturing Mini DV Tapes at 720x480, 29.97 and I checked the Film Log for confirmation of this.
Well, shouldn't give a problem whatsoever
I've been working on this project for 5 years - never any Beach Ball problems until I installed a new reliably proven WD 640GB system drive - any problems with drive? - I seriously doubt it.
Proven Reliable? Who says? Some disk reviews? Or that you had 10 of those before? Doesn't say anything about THIS disk. But I get your point.
I first got the Beach Ball, after I inadvertently/accidentally captured some video into my system drive.
It is unclear to me if you changed the media that you captured to the internal system HD to the extaernal HD AND reconnected the masterclips in the project to that media on the external disk...Did you do so?
Ever since then, I haven't been able to get of it, even after I double check the Scratch assignment. When does it occur? It's indescrimate - can't pin it down.
Did you import a lot of stills in the project? Do you see this behaviour on other projects? Does this behaviour stop when the OWC 6 is detached?
Tell us what you did to descriminate the problem.
I also originally asked about and posted these screen shoots;
http://www.locationstudio.net/NoSubFolder.jpg
I saw those. Sorry not answered that one. Well actually it shouldn't really matter. As lomg as FCP is finding the clips, it can play them. The folderstructure has nothing to do with the performance of FCP. As long as you don't try to play back footage from the internal system HD.
Finally I trashed preferences, and that's when I saw the Sub Folder. Please see the Screen Shot; http://www.locationstudio.net/SubFolder.jpg
Same.
Does the Sub-Folder make any difference?
No. Not for the performance. It does bring your newly captured footage in another folder. that's all.
When I get time, I'll try David Kuhnen's suggestion.
How are the disks attached? FireWire 800?
Other footage than DV? Stills, JPEGS, etc?
Tried reinstalling FCP? Asking this, because you had a new internal system HD.
Installed everything fresh? Or updated from the old HD. Could cause all kind of performance issues.

One scratch disk - 2 macs - can't open projects

I cut a bunch if projects on my macbook using a g-raid 500 gig HD as my scratch disk. Firewire.
Now, I've transfered all the files/info off my macbook to my iMac. The mac-to-mac firewire transfer. I've been over seas in Afghanistan on deployment...now I want to work on my home computer.
I digress. Hooked up the g-raid to my iMac, tried to open a project and got this: "File error: Access denied"
I thought everything should work being that all the settings, everything, was transfered off my macbook to the iMac. I want to use that g-raid HD as a scratch disk on both computers.
All help is welcomed. Thank you.

When I hit the drop down arrow to "sharing permissions," it gives me 3 options -- (1) my name, "read and write, or, read only...(2) "no access" and the same options...(3) "everyone" the same options, plus "no access."
So frustrating. Seems like I should just be able to plug and chug with the hard drive. All the settings on my macbook and imac should be identicle. The project loads on my macbook. I'm pulling my fricking hair out here.
For what it's worth, it's a shoot of a memorial ceremony I shot in Afghanistan. One of my closest friends was killed in action. I'm responsible for cutting the package and personally delivering it to his family, and I can't even get the frickin' thing to jive with my imac.

What's the optimum Scratch disk setup for a Macbook Pro?

Hello Everyone,
I'm starting to edit video on my Macbook Pro. I'm going to need a scratch disk. Should I get a dedicated 3.5" scratch disk or should I spend the same money on a new HD for my Macbook pro and just use the stock 200gb drive as the scratch disk? It's a mutiuse system... If you were in my shoes, would you put the newer, faster HD inside my computer or use it as a scratch disk?

Just to jump in on this, and add to the orignal post. I have a Macbook (not pro) and I need to get a external HD. I'll obviously go for Firewire, the only problem I can forsee is importing footage from my DV camera, which is also Firewire. My Macbook only has a single Firewire port. I know most externals have a Firewire Hub built in, enabling you to connect through there, but is that sufficient, will the transfer rates be ok for DV capture, as it seems like the footage would have to go from the camera, to the external Hard Disk, to the Macbook, and back to the Hard Disk, seems like a big effort, which could lead to dropped frames.
I'm sure this has been encountered before, just asking another question to add to the original post, and also to help me decide.
One other thing, if it is ok with DV, would it be ok with Hi Def, as I plan to upgrade the camera some time soon, so I wouldn't like to pick something, that would soon be useless.

Scratch Disk not where it should be

Hi all,
I can't get my Scratch Disk to appear in the place I've selected in System Settings (i.e to my second internal hard drive called Video). Here's what I've done - can someone tell me where I've gone wrong?
1. Chosen the new hard drive using the Set button in System Settings > Scratch Disk for Video Capture, Video Render and Audio Render
2. Chosen the same hard drive using the Set button for Waveform Cache, Thumbnail Cache and Autosave Vault
In the Video hard drive, I now see folders for Autosave Vault, Thumbnail Cache Files and Waveforem Cache Files, but not the others. There is no folder called Final Cut Express Documents.
Thanks heaps,
Andrew

That's how mine is as mentioned. The system drive has the Final Cut Express Documants folder whereas the external does not. It should have one called capture scratch and that's where audio and video render files go as well. Everything else I keep on the system drive.
Al

Importing from camera with iMovie onto computer with home on AFP share ...

I am trying to import a movie from a Sony Handycam into iMovie '08. iMovie can see the camera. The problem is that I cannot choose where to save the movie. I am only offered the choice of one of the two disks in my machine but am not given a chance to choose the actual folder location. Furthermore, the only choices are not write accessible to me.
I am guessing that iMovie doesn't want to import to my home/Movies because it is on an AFP share but why can't I choose the /Users/Shared folder (or any other location)?
Does the user that imports video into iMovie have to be an admin user?
The dialog that opens when I choose to import says "Save To:" but is not a proper (usual) file selection dialog. I only get two choices and they are internal disks not folders.
I know that Apple loves to work from the premise that they know best how I should do what I want to do but in this case I am actually totally prevented from doing what I want to do. I could actually log in as the admin user, import the movie (I'm assuming that would work) and then copy the files to my account. Any other suggestions would be welcome. Is there a way to specify the path for the import dialog?
(I am sitting on a gigabit ethernet network with a recent XServe and XServe RAID serving my home. I find it hard to believe that this couldn't handle a simple video import. It's not even HD.)

I am only offered the choice of one of the two disks in my machine but am not given a chance to choose the actual folder location. Furthermore, the only choices are not write accessible to me.
Other than the start-up drive user's account "Movies" folder, iMovie '08 only allows access to the "root" level of non-start-up drives which are the only areas it scans for "iMovie Events" folders during initialization. In addition, in order to access non-start-up drives, they must be formatted as "Mac Extended OS" drives.
I am guessing that iMovie doesn't want to import to my home/Movies because it is on an AFP share but why can't I choose the /Users/Shared folder (or any other location)?
See above.
Does the user that imports video into iMovie have to be an admin user?
No.
The dialog that opens when I choose to import says "Save To:" but is not a proper (usual) file selection dialog. I only get two choices and they are internal disks not folders.
See first answer.
I know that Apple loves to work from the premise that they know best how I should do what I want to do but in this case I am actually totally prevented from doing what I want to do. I could actually log in as the admin user, import the movie (I'm assuming that would work) and then copy the files to my account. Any other suggestions would be welcome. Is there a way to specify the path for the import dialog?
Finder level file operations performed external to iMovie '08 tend to corrupt pointers/reference paths unless they emulate what iMovie itself does in which case the initialization scan may be able to fix some problems.
I am sitting on a gigabit ethernet network with a recent XServe and XServe RAID serving my home. I find it hard to believe that this couldn't handle a simple video import. It's not even HD.
Not familiar with such use so I don't know if this would automatically limit your access to root level storage area.

Kernel Panic when Remote users disconnects from AFP share

System 1 Macbook System 2 Mac Pro both 10.4.8. On my Macbook I mount an AFP share (Not SMB but a public share) on the Mac Pro. After copying files etc if I disconnect the share the Mac Pro will throw a kernel Panic. Found it odd that the Mac Pro dies even though I'm actually on the Macbook mounting and unmounting the shares. I couldn't find anything online about this. Anybody have an idea how to fix? SMB doesn't cause this problem only MAC to MAC.
Thanks,
dave.
Panic Log:
Sun Feb 11 14:39:28 2007
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x0035BEAC): mfreemlist: m_nextpkt of m_next != NULL
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x25523768 : 0x128d1f (0x3c9540 0x2552378c 0x131df4 0x0)
0x255237a8 : 0x35beac (0x3e9cbc 0x1 0x1 0x1)
0x255237e8 : 0x7164e2 (0x3825d300 0x3825ac00 0x25523848 0xc16324)
0x25523808 : 0xc13e5b (0x3b7d800 0x3825d300 0x1 0x710876)
0x25523848 : 0xc16539 (0x3b7d800 0x0 0x3c03d9a0 0x255238f8)
0x25523918 : 0x71e37e (0x3b7d800 0x38189000 0x0 0x3825b000)
0x25523948 : 0x71e154 (0x3b7b840 0x3aa2720 0x2552396c 0x19d23a)
0x25523988 : 0x71e2b9 (0x3b7b840 0xbd1d4 0x3b3b540 0x21aead)
0x255239b8 : 0x719b77 (0x3b7b840 0x38189000 0x0 0x0)
0x255239f8 : 0x2025fe (0x41b9404 0x38189000 0x1e 0x25523a68)
0x25523a58 : 0x2675ff (0x41b9404 0x1e 0x38189000 0x874a504)
0x25523ab8 : 0x25e21f (0x41b9404 0x41b9404 0x38189000 0x4a1bedc)
0x25523bc8 : 0x239c12 (0x38189000 0x0 0x4a1bed8 0x0)
0x25523cd8 : 0x23837a (0x4a1bf48 0x0 0x0 0x3818905a)
0x25523eb8 : 0x238831 (0x38189000 0x28 0xffffffff 0x80fe)
0x25523ed8 : 0x25a750 (0x25523f60 0x25523f34 0x10 0x25523f60) Backtrace continues...
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet(1.1.4a5)@0xc0b000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.1)@0x70f000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.1)@0x664000
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.1)@0x70f000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.1: Mon Sep 25 19:42:00 PDT 2006; root:xnu-792.13.8.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

DaddyPaycheck
Thanks for helping. I'm green at this! Getting definite experience as you can see, but can you help me with an actual real live make and model of a graphics card that is known to work on the G5 Xserve?
I called ATI re: their Radeon 9200, and was told by tech support that they do not support this card on the G5 Xserve. Yet, Scott Maiden, in his post above, referenced an ATI Radeon card.
What cards are being successfully used? Can I have a list?
Apple Tech Support will not give any such list. Maybe they know of some problem with all? (When I bought the Xserve in September of 2004, Apple Tech Support recommended the VillageTronic card.) The new, yet un-released Quad-core 64-bit Intel Xeon Xserve has "built-in graphics functionality, with mini-DVI output and support for industry-standard VGA displays," according to Apple's web site. Hopefully this will eliminate this type of problem in future releases of Xserve. But for the nasty here and now...
All I need is an inexpensive graphics card to administer this Xserve. Currently I am using a 21” SuperMatch SVGA monitor.
Thank to all who have helped.
James
jamescalvin-
The only cards I have found to work reliably in the
G5 XServe are the cheap-arse PCI models. I do not use
my XServe for serious graphics work so I do not know
how it works with other cards.
Can you swap in a known compatible PCI card for
testing purposes?
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck
DaddyPaycheck
Xserve Mac OS X (10.3.9) Need list of Compatible PCI graphics cards

Using an Xserve AFP Share as a 'Scratch Disk'

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