Install Lightroom/Photoshop CC on SSD or HDD Drive

[Andrewjmarino]

Hi

My apologies if this has been asked/discussed before.

I have a new laptop with an SSD and a HDD drive. I plan to install  the latest Lightroom/Photoshop CC version.

Is it better to install on the SSD or the HDD drive? Someone told me that these programs are non -sequential and would run better on the HDD drive if that matters.

My previous laptop was quite slow loading images (5 seconds or so). I'm hoping to speed things up.

My preference is to install all my software programs (Office etc.) on the SSD drive for simplicity and orderliness. All my files, photos, documents on the HDD. But I'm not sure how this affects overall speed and performance.

Thanks

Andrew

[Bani Verma]

Moving to Photoshop Lightroom​

[Sahil.Chawla]

Hi Andrew,

You should install Photoshop on the same drive that contains your operating system because if you install only Photoshop on the SSD, It would only 'run' faster if the data files that Photoshop is reading or writing are also on the SSD. Otherwise, opening/start-up/loading are the only areas that you'd see improvement in speed.

Regards,
Sahil

[alishah83305428]

Can I please have more guidance on this please Sahil?

I purchased an external SSD and transferred Photoshop and Lightroom, and as you explain, no difference in running speed

I want to get everything transferred to the SSD, as my 8GB iMac is struggling and lagging I cant take it anymore

Plus when I opened my Lightroom and Photoshop from the SSD and deleted from my Harddrive, Adobe said I had to instal the programs, so clearly I need to reinstall from the beginning so it knows its now longer located on the main hard drive?

HELP!

Thanks

[Muqqarib Hassan]

Hi,

There is alot difference between SSD and HDD speed.

Take a look in this video.

How to speed up Adobe Photoshop and work faster with memory (RAM) and SSDs - YouTube

[D Fosse]

"I purchased an external SSD and transferred Photoshop and Lightroom"

Never install applications on external drives!! They belong on the system drive.

If your system drive is running low on space, clean it out. There is always a lot of junk that can be removed. Most of it is in your user account, where it accumulates and piles up over time.

On Windows there is a superb little utility called WinDirStat, which shows you in a graphical interface exactly what is filling up your drive, and exactly where it is. There is a Mac equivalent, but I can't remember what it's called.

Keep it simple. The system drive should contain the OS and all your applications. All of them, but nothing else. With a fairly normal configuration of applications (including a range of CC apps), all of this should not take up much more than 90-110 GB. Anything more than that, and you can start cleaning up.

[Mark5DEE]

If I have OS on a 250 GB SSD (PC SN530 NVMe WDC 256GB)

Also Have Internal SSD (Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD)

And HDD 2 TB.

What would be the most efficient recommendation for Lightroom cc and Photoshop installation.

Thanks for your help.

[dj_paige]

“If I have OS on a 250 GB SSD (PC SN530 NVMe WDC 256GB)”

If you have the space, Lightroom Classic (and all software) should go on the system drive (which I assume is the 250 GB SSD, but you did not actually say this). Lightroom Catalog file — put it on the other SSD. Photos should go on the HDD 2 TB.

[ManiacJoe]

Install the programs on your C: drive. That is where Windows wants them, and it is where things work the best.

Where to put the Lightroom catalog and your original image files:

Not the C: drive.

Ideally, the catalog and its cache would be on a separate drive from the original image files, but not everyone has that many internal drives on their computer.

My Windows setup:

C drive -- internal SSD, contains the OS and all the program files, contains no data, contains no images.

D drive -- internal spinning HD, contains the LR catalog and its cache

E drive -- internal spinning HD, contains the original image files

P drive -- external HD, more original files

Q drive -- external HD, contains the backups of E and P.

[Ahmed5D83]

Thanks a lot for this beautiful explanation

[Muqqarib Hassan]

Hi Andrew,

Just install all your adobe related apps on SSD drive. It will load and work so faster than you Imagine. 

So just install your apps on SSD drive.

[D Fosse]

Not if that SSD is an external...