New PC?

[robsteve]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've already gone ahead and ordered the hard drive upgrade. Perhaps I'll consider getting a Mac for the future. My current computer is now giving me a message that says "Can't Complete the Command "because the Scratch Disc is Full." So trying to do any post processing has become a real burden. I have to save constantly, close the file, and open it again to keep working. I've removed programs I don't need from the hard drive, but it still gives me a message that I need to free up more space even though it has 300 mgbts of free space.

 

Cheers,

Wilfredo

 

Wilfredo:

 

You may want to look at how many undo levels you have in Photoshop. This will also gobble up memory and then scratch disk. I think 4 undo levels is the suggested amount. It is set under the memory options of Photoshop.

[stunsworth]

Dirk, I picked the cheapest machine offering XP and clicked on the XP customise button. The option offered for the OS were XP media (the default) or XP Pro.

 

Perhaps it is country specific option after all

[wparsonsgisnet]

Wiulfredo, with all the money you've saved, you owe yourself 2 new Leica lenses.

[wda]

David,

 

to my knowledge they don't - XP Pro should always be a "full" version instead of the very useless "recovery" version of XP home. Speaking of that, I just browsed the german variation of the Dell website and it appears to me, that they are "Vista only" now. Maybe you can still get XP, but they don't offer it openly (on first look).

 

Dirk

 

Dirk, thank you. I have put Dell on hold while I explore a local specialist builder of bespoke machines. He seems to be very flexible and understands my needs better than I could convey with an internet order.

 

David

[S. Wong]

XP likes to have ~10% of the disk free to do disk defragments and use for swap file space

1. you should fill some DVDs (or CDs if you don't have a DVD burner) with files, defrag the hard drive, and return the information back to your Dell.

2. run the disk clean utility to clean up junk system files that may have built up over time

that will help the situation in the near term

 

secondly, when that new hard drive shows up, make sure to set the swap file space to 2GB.

 

to run disk cleanup (under XP): start -> programs -> accessories -> system tools -> disk cleanup

 

to defrag your computer (under XP): start -> programs -> accessories -> system tools -> defrag

 

Good luck

-Steven

[Venkman]

Dirk, thank you. I have put Dell on hold while I explore a local specialist builder of bespoke machines. He seems to be very flexible and understands my needs better than I could convey with an internet order.

David

 

David,

the right step IMO. I wouldn't rule out Dell machines at all, after all I had one and was quite satisfied by the money for value - but it was a special deal anyway, but I got back to having a system configured exactly as you said - customized to my needs. One thing, for example, was that I wanted quiet/low noise components wherever possible.

 

Enjoy your new system once it's built

[hankg]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I just got a quote from Puget Systems ( America's Custom Computer Leader - Desktop Computers, Laptops, Servers )

 

2 Intel Dual Core 2.13Ghz processors

2 Gigs ram

A 160 GB 10,000rpm Raptor for the primary disc

3 500 GB 7,000rpm discs configured in a RAID 5 array.

Plextor PX-800A 18x DVD+/-RW

Antec 4U22ATX550EPS 4U Rackmount Case

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooling

$2631.03 (it would be cheaper with a regular tower case)

 

That's a fast rig and RAID 5 backup all in one package. Hard to beat.

[robsteve]

I just got a quote from Puget Systems ( America's Custom Computer Leader - Desktop Computers, Laptops, Servers )

 

2 Intel Dual Core 2.13Ghz processors

2 Gigs ram

A 160 GB 10,000rpm Raptor for the primary disc

3 500 GB 7,000rpm discs configured in a RAID 5 array.

Plextor PX-800A 18x DVD+/-RW

Antec 4U22ATX550EPS 4U Rackmount Case

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooling

$2631.03 (it would be cheaper with a regular tower case)

 

That's a fast rig and RAID 5 backup all in one package. Hard to beat.

 

Hank:

 

I would put another fast drive in for your scratch disk. You may not have enough drive bays though.

[hankg]

Hank:

 

I would put another fast drive in for your scratch disk. You may not have enough drive bays though.

 

I think there is space for 7 internal drives in the 4U rackmount case.

[Venkman]

Yup, 7 slots in that case. Any special reason for the rackmount, other than you have a large rack anyway?

[hankg]

Yup, 7 slots in that case. Any special reason for the rackmount, other than you have a large rack anyway?

 

I already have a rack next to my desk for network, NAS (almost full) and power regulator/backup. There is room for a 4u unit there.

[Venkman]

Ah, makes sense then.

[Guest rubidium]

If you happen to have lots of excess RAM, or want to upgrade one day to a machine that does, there is another solution to the Photoshop "scratch disk" issue that I personally use and like. Since Photoshop is a 32-bit application, it is essentially limited to how much RAM it can access, despite how much you actually have. This limit is about 3GB or so.

 

If you have a 64-bit processor and are running XP-64, the amount of RAM the OS will recognize is as much as your motherboard will support. Although Photoshop as an application will still be limited to how much RAM it can access before spilling over to the scratch disk, one can fool it by setting up a lettered "Ramdrive" and assigning it as the scratch disk. Thus, everything that Photoshop works with is in RAM one way or another, and this is extremely fast.

 

Jim