Scratch disk should be set to another disk or another partition on the same disk?

[Masoud Moghaddam]

Hi,

Yesterday I purchased an SSD with 240 GB space, I'd like to know If it's ok to set"scratch disk" under "Choose Edit > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disk" to another and second partition on SSD (same SSD that Windows and Adobe Illustrator and other software are installed on it) or don't effect for "scratch disk" and the whole partition is enough for AI?

I just have one SSD and another one is HDD. I guess if I partition the SSD to two partitions (150 GB for OS and software and 90 GB rest for the second partition as a scratch disk of AI or it's not necessary and just only partition is enough for AI and doesn't need set scratch disk? 

Another HDD is almost full of data and doesn't have enough space and it's an HDD and doesn't have speed like SSD in my case. I need advice for this situation. My hardware is weak. CPU core2duo, 4GB Ram. Video Card NVidia GTI 8600! Adobe Illustrator CC 2017.

Best

Masoud

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

There's no real reason why not. Of course, in HDD days, it was recommended using a separate disk (if you had it) so the read/write heads wouldn't go bonkers going back and forth on the same drive, but SDDs don't have that issue. Some would say, the pro to partioning is to ensure you don't suck up possibly-needed space on your main partition for the system and apps to work, so what you plan to do sounds good, but may not be necessary on a drive that size. But then there's the situation that SDDs have a finite limit on how many read/writes can happen before the drive "wears out" so using one as a scratch disk might exaggerate that wear.

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Pretty much irrelevant for AI. Unlike Photoshop, AI doesn't even use scratch disks much unless you use large pixel imagery or use features that generate raster data like gradients in a large document. Also the wear on SSDs is much less of an issue these days as it was five years ago. The problem mostly is that your SSD is pretty small and you don't have much reserve cells left once your disks get full. Partitioning would be a pointless exercise since unlike with magnetic platter drive this doesn't create physically separated regions and thus you're not protecting or optimizing anything.

Mylenium

[Masoud Moghaddam]

Hi Mylenium

Almost I haven't used big raster images in AI in these years and mostly work on vector files (usually light jobs, not complex). Currently now; I have 150 GB of free space on the disk for Photoshop, do you think it's still small for light and small projects?

P.S

Also, I apologize for mistyping SSD (not SDD) in my question and the forum didn't allow me to edit it; if a moderator edits them, I'd appreciate it.