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Cole Slow
Known Participant
April 11, 2021
Question

Faster setup for Photoshop with SSDs?

  • April 11, 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 2389 views

Hi,

I've been working on poster size digital paintings such as 18x24 and 20x30. It makes Photoshop extremley slow, and the file size becomes as big as 1 gig especially in CMYK mode. So, just bought just another SSD to improve the working process. It does seem to have improved the speed of Photoshop when I transfered the working file to a new SSD drive. The below is the current setup.

 

C : OS (Window 10 Pro 64bit) and Photoshop CS6 and other Adobe CS6 Suite programs installed.

D : Scratch Disk only

E: Working files only.

  *All three drives are SSDs ( Samsung EVO 850 and 860)

 

Now I'm thinking to move the installation drive for Photoshop to E drive. Would this make Photoshop even faster?


[ 😧 Changed to "D :" by moderator as per next comment] 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

6 replies

Derek Cross
Community Expert
Derek CrossCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 11, 2021

If you want to learn more you can read Conrad’s wonderful book “Photoshop 2021 Classroom in a Book”.

 

https://www.peachpit.com/store/adobe-photoshop-classroom-in-a-book-2021-release-9780136904731

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 11, 2021

    To add to what the others are saying, why have you converted to CMYK color mode, this won't help the quality of the printing – do you still have the original RGB images?

      C
      Cole SlowAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 11, 2021

      I still have an original file in RGB mode. How can I process colorproof for printing in this case? 

       

      This is what I've learned and been doing it for the printing purposes, but based on the comments here, I've been doing it all wrong. 

      1. work in RGB mode - I could also start working in CMYK

      2. Convert to CMYK in order to colorproof for printing, and then fix colors if the colors are far off when they were in RGB.

      3. Send the image files such as PDF in CMYK to the printers. 

      D Fosse
      Community Expert
      D FosseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 11, 2021

      Have they specified which CMYK profile to use?

       

      There is no such thing as "CMYK". There is only a series of CMYK profiles that correspond to specific press conditions - a press calibrated to a certain standard, printing on certain paper stock, using a certain ink standard.

       

      If you go to Image > Mode > CMYK, you get the Photoshop default, which just happens to be US Web Coated (SWOP) v2, because there has to be some default. But chances are it's not the right one, and if you're outside the Americas it's certainly not the right one.

        davescm
        Community Expert
        davescmCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 11, 2021

        Hi

        Some comments:

         

        1. Putting your scratch disk on a fast drive definitely makes a difference. Here I have it on an very fast M2 NVMe drive

         

        2. Whilst using SSD for storage does improve load and save times (I use SSD drives for storage here) one of the biggest differences is to go into Preferences >File Handling  and check "Disable Compression of PSD and PSB files".  This results in larger files but much faster opening and saving.

         

        3. As stated by others above, as you print larger the resolution requirement in ppi drops. The resolution required is dictated by the viewing distance and a good guide is :

        ppi required = 6878/Viewing distance in inches 

         

        Dave

         

        Edit : D.Fosse covered most of that while I was typing 🙂

         

         

          D Fosse
          Community Expert
          D FosseCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          April 11, 2021

          No, don't do that. Applications work most efficiently when they are on the system drive.

           

          Also, you don't necessarily need huge files just because they're printed large. Think pixels. If your files are much more than, say, 12000-15000 pixels long side, stop. You don't need it. The bigger it is, the farther away it will be seen from.

           

          You should also think twice about CMYK. That is for sending directly to offset print, nothing else. Inkjet printers work with RGB data. Your master files should always be RGB.

           

           

            C
            Cole SlowAuthor
            Known Participant
            April 11, 2021

            Thanks a lot. What image size and resolution would you recommend for 18x24 (3 by 4 ratio) and 20 x 30 (2 by 3 ratio)? 

            Glenn 8675309
            Glenn 8675309
            Legend
            April 11, 2021

            multiply those numbers by 300.  20 x 30 = 6000 x 9000 printed at 300 dpi.  18 x 24 = 5400 x 7200 printed at 300 dpi.   Take into consideratioon the distance from the image to the viewer.... if it' hanging up a room and wil lbe view from , say 6 feet, you could still print it up at 72 dpi and it will look fine.

             

              Glenn 8675309
              Glenn 8675309
              Legend
              April 11, 2021

              No.  Sometimes it really is that simple. 

                C
                Cole SlowAuthor
                Known Participant
                April 11, 2021

                D drive became emoticon because of D and colon. I'd like to fix it but I can't find the edit function.

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