Trying to set up "scratch disk"

[MarieBoyer]

I have a second internal hard drive on my computer. I am trying to speed up the processing within the Editor. I have heard that setting up scratch disks on another hard drive is a nice way to add some speed. One problem though. No idea what I am doing.

In Editor>preferences>plug-ins and scratch disks. From here, there are four options with drop-down boxes (called "first", "second", "third" and "fourth"), each with the choice of the "C" drive or the "D" drive. First has "startup" as the default selected.

What is the answer? Do I keep "startup" in the first one and then use "D" for the other three? Not a clue on this. Any help appreciated.

[Carbone]

Marie,

Startup would be the last choice (second, in your case), because start up also serves as the drive where your pictures are (possibly) and where the application is as well as windows. Use D: as the first scratch disk.

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

So, Ray, when I go to change these, I would
1. change "first" from "startup" to "D"
2. change "second" from "none" to "startup"

I am doing this blind. Literally no clue without you as a seeing-eye dog. You are not a dog though. More like a God.

[Robyn]

Could you please explain to this 'no nothing' person, just what a scratch disk is? :o

[MarieBoyer]

Robyn:
I am not at all sure but I know it is one way to speed things up. It is available to folks who have a second hard drive.

[Carbone]

The scratch disk is where PSE stores *its* stuff when it's serving you :) If you have a second hard drive, you should always set up PSE (and PS and Windows) to use this second hard drive as the storage space for the scratch. Because your data is the first drive and Windows and the applications are most probably too, then it speeds up things when accessing data and using the scratch to store temporary stuff.

Ray

[Carbone]

So, Ray, when I go to change these, I would
1. change "first" from "startup" to "D"
2. change "second" from "none" to "startup"

I am doing this blind. Literally no clue without you as a seeing-eye dog. You are not a dog though. More like a God.

Yep, that is correct!

[Robyn]

Ray .......you are dealing with a dunce here, but......

when you say second hard drive, do you mean physically a second one or a hard drive that is partitioned into two.

[MarieBoyer]

Ray:
One last thing if you would. Before I make this change, can you explain me what "first" is and what "second" is? I am telling Elements not to use my "first" for startup, but instead use my "D" drive?

Sorry to ask you this. I just want to understand it a little more before I click. Hope you do not mind. Maybe it will benefit others wondering the same darn thing?

[Carbone]

First, second and so forth means Elements will use the designated drive as its primary scratch space. If it's filled up, unavailable, or otherwise inaccessible, it will use the second, and the third, and so forth.

Most Windows PC will support 1 or 2 internal hard disk drives. Most Macintosh will support 1 internal hard disk drive (iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, PowerBook), except for PowerMac or Mac Pro which can support up to four hard drives internally installed.

On my Macbook, PSE4 is using the same startup disk as the scratch disk because I only have one hard drive. On my PowerMac, PSE is using the second hard drive as its first scratch disk because I have two hard drives.

It does make launching Elements take a little more time because most of the times, my second hard drive is not spinning (sleeping), but it's faster than using the same startup drive as my scratch drive.

It wouldn't be advisable to use a FireWire or USB 2.0 external hard drive for scratch, because as fast as they are, they're no match for internal hard drive, due to technological differences.

Ray

[Carbone]

Robyn... :D

Second hard drive is really a separate second internal hard drive. Partitioning a hard drive is really like folding a piece of paper in two and trying to write on both sides at the same time, you still need to turn it one way of the other to write on the opposite side ;)

Ray

[Robyn]

Thank you Ray, I understand now.

[MarieBoyer]

Back again Ray.

I went to make the changes, but found that "second" does not have the "startup" option. "Startup" is only available in the "first."

If first is the data and program (as you explain above), why wouldn't I keep first as "startup"? And add a second as "D"?

I will go to bed and hopefully wake up to a clearer head. Thanks Ray!

[Wendy]

Hi Marie ...

Startup simply means the drive that your computer starts up from ...

Elements likes lots of empty space for its scratch disk ... so the idea is that you choose a disk with not a lot on it. The start up disc is going to have lots of things on it so thats why you don't choose that one ... :)

Wendy

[MarieBoyer]

Thanks Wendy.

For first, I put "D" (which is my other hard drive)?

Do I put anything in second? Or do I leave it at "none."

[Wendy]

Hi Marie ...

For second just put in Startup ... that way if Elements does run out of space on D then it will look over at the startup disk :)

Wendy

[MarieBoyer]

Wendy:
Before your post, I put "D" in all four slots. My "D" drive is huge and lots of available space. I do not have "startup" in any one of the four right now. Do you think that will work?

[Wendy]

Hi Marie ...

Yes course it will work ... its just that if it does run out of space on D then it won't have anywhere else to go :)

If your D drive is hugh and empty then it really won't matter :)

Wendy

[MarieBoyer]

Thanks Wendy.

[Carbone]

If you can't select Startup for the second drive, maybe it's identified as C:

In any case, with D: as the first scratch drive, you will be ok Marie.

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

Ray:
You are right. It is either C or D for the last three options. Startup only available in the first.

I put D in the first, second, third, and fourth. I must say, I already see a difference.

Are there other quick things I can do to speed things up? Like move all my photos and catalog files to the D drive too?

[Carbone]

I am not as good with Windows as I was 3 years ago so I don't know a lot of tricks to help. Well, I do but they're not PSE specifics. Except for this one another user posted here :

Put a ~ at the beginning of the Digimarc folder in the PSE Plugins (I think it's in the plugin). PSE will start much faster.

The other tricks to speed up your computer :

- Disable Windows "candy" look (Config Pannel / Displays / Appearance / Classic Style, then also under Effects, uncheck the Fade effect).
- Use the Classic Start Menu (Start Up Right click for Properties / Choose Classic).
- Disable looking for Network drives and printers if you have only one computer at home (Windows Explorer / Tools / Display / look for "Search for network drives and printers", and disable it)"

Granted, windows XP will look like hell (i.e. Windows 95), but it'll make your computer runs much faster.

http://homepage.mac.com/carbmac/captures/desktop.jpg

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

I have made the changes. I added the squiggly before the digimarc folder, added a scratch disk, made your other recommended changes, and version 5 purrs! Really fast and smooth. Thanks so much.

[Carbone]

Well.. you know all my tricks now :D

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

Your screensaver is beautiful, by the way!

[Carbone]

It's a series of stock images which came with CorelDraw 12 (for Windows). I found nature pictures to be very calming. Especially when I'm looking for something which I can't seem to find in Windows.. hehe! :)

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

I just saw this in PC World, and I wonder if it is something to use whenever working in PSE to speed things up? Anyone know?

In Windows XP, you can allocate more resources to the program by changing its priority in the Task Manager applet. Right-click the taskbar and choose Task Manager. Click the Processes tab and right-click the executable file that corresponds to the poky application. Click Set Priority, and choose a level--for instance, AboveNormal or High. Click Yes when you see the warning. Note that changing the priority of one process can affect the speed of others. The Realtime choice, for instance, gives your application the highest priority of all, but it can bring the rest of your system to a standstill, so it's best to avoid this option. Regardless, if you're having problems burning CDs, for example, you may want to increase the priority of your CD-burning software. And if you have an app doing some low-urgency work in the background, you might consider setting it to a lower priority. The changes you make will apply only to the current session; the priorities will return to their former state the next time you start Windows. To see the priority of all processes currently running on your system without having to right-click each one, choose View, Select Columns in the Task Manager window. Check Base Priority and click OK. You will then see a column that lists each process's priority information.

[Carbone]

I don't know.. I learned to be very delicate in these waters with UNIX, and I suppose the same can be true for Windows.

You may try it, it certainly won't hurt because you're only one user on a one user machine.

Ray

[MarieBoyer]

I will pass for now Ray. Everything seems to be working well! Why tweak it and mess something up, right?

[jray]

Okay, I am running out of room on drive C, where PSE currently resides. For the past couple of days, it won't even open. A partial screen comes up and then it freezes. I still have a good amount of space on my D drive. Is there some way I can transfer PSE to the D drive without messing up everything stored in the Organizer?