[G4] Additional HDs and Photoshop

[Ralph Garrett]

On Apr 8, 2005, at 7:57 PM, Robert C. Buitron wrote:

> I have a G4 mirrored doors drive, 1.25 GHz, dual processor/ 80 GB 
> ultra ATA HD. It has max RAM - 2GB. I have 2 Maxtor MaxLine II ATA/133 
> IDE 300GB hard drives and an ACard  ATA133 controller/adapter PCI card 
> (AEC-6280M) that can support up to 4 HDs (Master/Slave).
>
> Can I partition the original 80GB HD so that one partition holds the 
> OS and apps and the other partition serves as the scratch disk for 
> Photoshop? The main reason for the two 300GB HDs is storage. I've 
> nearly max-ed on the existing HD and I'd rather have image files on 
> HDs rather than on CDs or DVDs (takes too long and too many disks to 
> transfer stuff). I also would like to use the two HDs as masters in 
> order to maximize bandwidth speed when retrieving and storing files. I 
> do have a portable 40GB HD, however I use it for transporting files as 
> well as for some backup storage. I read somewhere that Photoshop 
> prefers an entire disk for its scratch disk. It seems a 300GB scratch 
> disk is way too much. My image files range from the KBs to the GBs. I 
> mostly have files on the larger size (especially the working files 
> with all the layers and stuff). Any recommendations (and I don't have 
> RAID capability or more money for external HDs), answer to this 
> strategy, or better way to get some increase in rendering/processing 
> in Photoshop with the above hardware and very large files are 
> welcomed.

Actually, partitioning your 80 GB HD the way you mention will slow you 
down since the heads will be jumping back and forth between partitions 
on that single HD.

A better scheme would be to put the OS/Apps on 1 of your larger HDs, 
create a 20 GB partition on the other large HD and use that partition 
as your scratch disk. The 2OGB partition should be the first partition 
you create as that will be at the outside edge of the HD and will be 
the fastest.

Ralph