Why is photoshop running so slow? 30+ minutes for saving?? [M2 Mac with 32Gb RAM]

[Katelin5C81]

HELP! I'm attaching a screen shot of my mac info, my storage numbers as I'm working in photoshop, and the file info. I realize it's a huge file, BUT with this new computer I'd think it should handle it better than it is. It takes FOREVER to save. I'm talking over an hour. I've tried clearing all my cache folders, allocating tons of RAM to photoshop. I'm not a computer techie person, so I'm all out of ideas. This just doesn't seem right for it to be lagging as much as it is. Nothing else is open or running while I'm editing. I shut down and reboot every day. I'm working in PS 23.0.0
What is going on here??

[Trevor.Dennis]

I am a Windows user, so not the best person to answer your post, and I am definitely not up on what yout system specas are likely to be.

Things I would look at are the size of the Photoshop Temp file on your primary Scratch drive?  I have just increased a single layer image to 10k x 10k pixels, and have a 9Gb temp file.

On Windows I'd use the Task Manager Performance tab to check disk, CPU, and memory usage to try and isolate the bottleneck.  This could be an issue if you only have one drive that is shared between scratch and file storage, but nothing remotely close to the times you are seeing.

If the CPU is maxing out, then try disabling compression in Preferences.  I think most of this forums regular posters do that as storage is cheap, and it speeds up disk writes.

But having said all that, I think there has to be something fundamentally wrong with your set up.  Open Photoshop and go Help > System Info > Copy and paste to this thread. That will give us a better idea what we are dealling with.  Can you also tell us exactly what modle your Mac is?

[Trevor.Dennis]

I'm looking at your screen shots again, and while am no Mac expert, I think that an M2 CPU with 32Gb RAM and that is only six months old, should have more than enough to run Photoshop properly.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I've also updated your subject line to show what you are using.  That usually attracts the right people to the thread.

[rudo123]

Could it be an insufficiently large scratch disk? How big is the stored PSB? Info about the size in pixels is not enough - multiple layers and large smart objects can drastically increase the stored size. For example, if I have an 8 GB PSB with a lot of artboards and large smart objects, it will take up 100 GB on the scratch disk just after opening (without further editing and remembering data for undo/history). You probably need more then 256 GB free space on your only drive (system and scratch), or (better) use another bigger drive for scratch.

[Brian S. Rasmussen]

Hi,
Maybe this will help:
1. Goto your Mac System settings...
2. Select Privacy & Security > Full Disc Access > Activate Full Disc Access for Photoshop and Bridge

This helped in my case of a simular problem.

[Trevor.Dennis]

By @Brian S. Rasmussen

I mentioned that I am not a Mac user, but this part of Katelin's screen shots seems to be saying there is just 263Gb left of a 1Tb drive.  If that's the only drive then it seems likely that could be the cause of the problem. 

@Katelin5C81 if you do have just that one drive, and if there is no provision for a second internal drive, you could maybe look at moving some of the data to an external drive.  Does a Mac Book really use 485Gb for System Data?  

[lukesilver]

seems like plenty of space to me

[Earth Oliver]

how many layers do you have? When it finishes saving, how large is the file?

[lukesilver]

Photoshop is just CRAP software. It's been for years now. I experienced this lagginess and slow running for years now on PC. Just bought a Mac Studio M2, thinking it would change my life. Oh how naive I was. It's not the computer that's the problem. It's the crappy software. Used to run like a charm. Nowadays every single simplest task takes it few seconds to process. Simple marquee select and copy (5 seconds thinking) then paste to a different project. Another 5 seconds. This is pathetic and we should not pay for this software as professionals in the state that it's in. People have been asking for months.. years now. STOP adding new features. Make the damn software RUN as it should.

[Earth Oliver]

i've been making my living using Ps for the past few decades and the new M1 and M2 machines are the best i've ever used. If you're having issues in Ps with a M2 studio, then it's definitely user error. Ps runs like a dream on these machines. There are loads of issues with Ps, but general speed is not one of those.

[lukesilver]

Please enlighten me where is the user error when I bought a new computer. Instaled nothing but Adobe Creative cloud. Everything latest, greatest, updated.. and yet simple tasks require it to think. I know, you're going to tell me I shouldn't use external HDD and pay $4000 for a bigger internal storage (which by the way will cause me to loose all of my work if the computer dies on me). Plus the external HDD these days are quite fast and capable, so can't imagine this should be the bottleneck. Again, due to the facts mentioned earlier (mac wanting me to pay extra) everything is possible.

[D Fosse]

Are you saving directly to an external drive? That's something you should never do. Save locally, then copy. How is it formatted?

As a contributing factor, you should also disable PSD/PSB compression (if you are using those formats). Compression can increase open/save times by 3x or 4x!

pay $4000 for a bigger internal storage (which by the way will cause me to loose all of my work if the computer dies on me).

By @lukesilver

I have two extra internal drives, 20 TB, in my Windows desktop, which I can take out and put into another machine anytime. I wouldn't have it out dangling at the end of flimsy cables. Sounds very risky to me. Worn and loose cables and connectors is a very common cause for corrupted files.

[Earth Oliver]

i don't what your exact issue might be since i don't have all the details about your specific workflow. But this isn't your thread, so you're welcome to make a new post and we can figure out what the user error is.