Help with some issues regarding scratch files

Question

Hoping to get better insight to how to set up scratch disks.

I’m running PS 2020 on a Dell 7710 with Windows 10. The Dell has a Xeon Quad Core with 32GB RAM and an Nvidia Quadro M5000M w/8GB. The operating system is on an M.2 PCIe SSD (256GB). There is a second internal drive, also M.2 PCIe 256GB.

Given how my work is evolving, I find myself processing files as large as 15-20 GB, with many layers, filters, smart objects, etc. Steps like rasterizing layers, applying layer masks, merging layers, etc. reduce file size but make the work much harder. I sometimes work on specific elements in separate “support files,” then duplicate the results into the “base file,” but there are times when that also is problematic. I need to find a way to optimize my current machine or develop specs for a new machine. (Ouch!)

According to Adobe (https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scratch-disks-preferences.html), “An SSD…performs well as both the primary startup and scratch disk. In fact, using an SSD is probably better than using a separate hard disk as your primary scratch disk.” So, on my startup drive, I have my installed programs, a single “workspace” folder (where I keep only the file I am working on currently), and I assign the remaining ~ 100GB on the startup drive as the first scratch space. The second internal drive is kept empty and is assigned as the second scratch space.

Here are few things that confuse me:

1) If I use one SSD as both the primary startup and a scratch disk, then PS’s first scratch disk is on the same drive as Windows’ Pagefile. I’ve read that’s not good.

2) I keep the file I’m currently editing on the startup drive, where PS is installed. My assumption is that I will get the fastest processing if PS does not have to look on another drive for the current file. However, Adobe states that “Scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing.”

3) While Adobe says “using an SSD is probably better than using a separate hard disk as your primary scratch disk,” they also say, “Scratch disks should be on a different drive than the one your operating system uses for virtual memory.”

Can anyone help me sort this out?

JJMack · Accepted Answer

Your SSD is not very large and is most likely your boot disk and where your applications are install and where user Application data is stored, where temp space is and by default where users library files are stored. Space can be get tight on your SSD. And you need Free space on it so Window can page and allocate temp space. Windows will not run well if your SSD fills up. I have seen Photoshop use over 100GB of Scratch on My Dell 256GB SSD. Some of the things I have done on my machine to have 150GB of free space on my SSD are. I disable windows Hibernation. That alone freed 40GB of space on my SSD because Windows freed the 40GB reserved for hibernation of 40GB of RAM. I also store all my personal user files like pictures and documents on an external 4TB USB 3 drive. I changed Windows default libraries locations to my external disk you know Documents, Pictures, music and video, I use the internals 500GB drive to backup my SSD. I'm loosing ground though for I now have 5 Photoshop versions installed something like 20GB of space for Photoshop on the SSD only 124GB free now. If your second disk is a SSD use it as your primary Photoshop scratch disk.

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D Fosse · Answer

A lot of that is old advice, applicable to spinning HDDs where the read/write head could only be in one place at a time.

Your current setup is the best way to do it. Primary scratch on your system SSD, secondary scratch on the other SSD. Or the other way round. Considering the size of your files, you might want to assign a third drive as well, just to have something to go on.

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