Ok this is going too sound stupid,
I have an External HardDrive that I dont use.
Can I put my CS2 on it and run it off of it?
Will it make what ive done hard too pull up that way?
Would it make it run smoother and Faster taking it off the OS Drive, Cause Cs2 does lag for me.



Frogger

To clarify, you have 2 hard drives: C:\ and the external hard drive.

Is that correct?

An easy thing to try would be to:
* Open Photoshop's Preferences dialog
* Specify the drive letter of the external hard drive for the Primary Scratch volume

This may improve things some, but don't get your hopes up too much.

=============

How much RAM do you have on your PC?

De-fragmenting your hard drive could help some, too.

I have 2 gigs or Ram

First is on Startup is that what you want me too change too the external drive?
And what does Scratch disk do?

I would not recommend moving applications from the location that they were installed to especially one as complex as CS2. There are support files that go with the application that are in your User folder that CS2 may not be able to locate if the app is moved. I think you would be asking for trouble.

Now, if you want to create a location for your Scratch disk on the external drive No problem and if you allocate enough space, might make your stuff run faster. A scratch disk holds temporary files while the application is running and, if your computer is set up correctly, these are deleted when you quit the program.

The best way to add more and smoother operation to Photoshop is to add more RAM. Two Gigs is "sufficient", but remember, your Operating System and any other open applications and background applications are using a portion of those 2 GB.

thank you,
Is there a topic that gets into detail on setting up my scratch disk too delete the files when closing and how too determine what too set the scratch disks on?

First is on Startup is that what you want me too change too the external drive?Correct.

First: Startup = C:\
...which means Photoshop and Windows are competing with one another.

re: And what does Scratch disk do?

It's a long story... Good writeup here:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/f/scratchdisk.htm

Ok sorry for asking so much,
So I should change the first too the external and then they wont be competing with each other?
And if doing that then should get better flow or operation with photoshop?

Ok sorry for asking so much

You are not asking too much at all, in fact this is a very good topic.

Posting the link was my way of helping you sooner/faster. There is no way I could have presented the information as thoroughly. And I type very slow.

So I should change the first to the external and then they wont be competing with each other?

Yes.

And if I do that should I get better flow or operation with photoshop?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

You might see "some" improvement, but probably not a lot. More RAM as Swampy suggested will help more.

-----------------

?? How many years have you had your computer?

?? When was the last time you defragmented C:\?

[Don't worry. It's OK to say "Never" if that is the case.]

hi,
well these are my thoughts... now y ou didn't mention what kind of external hard drive... is it a usb ata or is it a sata iwth usb adapter or is it a esata...!!! that is very important...!!
note: usb and firewire data rates aren't really that great!

as a rule your external hard usb hard drives are slower than your avg good (pata) internal hard drive... and if you did put cs on it... cs would probably run slower than if it was on your internall

now your newer sata2 and when they come out sata3 HD ...there fast.... and for external the latest esata are faster than your usb or firwire... ... i have seen some reports about twice fast that usb or firewire.! although not sure how they compare to internal sata's..!

did some searching for you and thhis link has a lot of valuable data that you can compare.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA




Ok this is going too sound stupid,
I have an External HardDrive that I dont use.
Can I put my CS2 on it and run it off of it?
Will it make what ive done hard too pull up that way?
Would it make it run smoother and Faster taking it off the OS Drive, Cause Cs2 does lag for me.



Frogger

Ok
Ive had my computer for about 6 years Now LOL but upgraded it, with Ram and Vid Card.
It is 2.8 Gz but have 2 gigs ram and 5200 Gforce vid card.
The External is a usb setup, but I do have capabilities of putting it in my computer.
But not sure how too partition or if I add it then will it make another G drive on its own?
Also Thanks Danny after I responded too your post I did go too the link and read some and alot of good info there.

Frogger, Runniing CS2 from an external drive (even if you don't have problems as I mentioned above) is probably going to slow you down since a USB is not as fast as an internal drive.

Use your original install disks and install CS2 to your main (C) drive. You set up the scratch disk from the CS2 preferences. Just point the preference to any drive that you want to use as a scratch disk. Deleting the Temp files is automatic no need to worry about that.

Ok
Ive had my computer for about 6 years Now LOL but upgraded it, with Ram and Vid Card.
It is 2.8 Gz but have 2 gigs ram and 5200 Gforce vid card.
The External is a usb setup, but I do have capabilities of putting it in my computer.
But not sure how too partition or if I add it then will it make another G drive on its own?
Also Thanks Danny after I responded too your post I did go too the link and read some and alot of good info there.

"Age of computer" is not important. If you have not defragmented C:\ in 6 years, that could be a problem.

Here is some good information. Note: It could take MANY hours for this process to complete, so a good time to begin would be "before you go to bed."

http://windows.about.com/od/troubleshooting/ss/defrag.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/defrag.mspx

-----------

The External is a usb setup, but I do have capabilities of putting it in my computer.
As Jerry noted there are many options for a disk drive, including rotation speed. If 15,000 Revolutions Per Minute, this is fast. If 7,200 RPM, this is slow.

A 7,200 RPM HDD inside your computer or outside may not help.

Not sure how too partition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000 - would be a good place to start reading.

...or if I add it then will it make another G drive on its own?
I do not know the answer to this question.

Problem with USB external drives is that they suck of nice amount of CPU usage. You may gain little disk speed up by using scratch disk, but also lose some CPU speed.

As for Defrag software i can't recommend enough to use JkDefrag: (It's freeware and much better than many commercial products like bloated Diskeeper)
http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/ You just have to see the difference by yourself.

More detailed info about Defrag softwares (I don't trust any other reviews, as this guy really knows his stuff):
http://donnedwards.openaccess.co.za/

In addition to defragging, I highly recommend a little app called CleanUp for slow-running PCs.

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=223

It's free, easy and reliable. An IT guy put me onto it ages ago, and I use it regularly.

ok, i'm assuming here you have only the two drives, C: and the external usb. it's probably labeled D: .

windows 'competing' with your other apps wont matter where you put photoshop. windows is always going to hog some ram for its use regardless of where you put it or any other apps. so, that doesnt matter here.

firewire and usb are MUCH slower than internal drive speeds. so, you might put your scratch disk on the external but at the same time LOSE speed due to the slower usb. i honestly dont know the answer to that one, but it is something you can check on your own without too much trouble. just set the scratch disk to one and use it and then change it to the other and use it. that shld tell you the answer to that one.

the ONLY reason you would put photoshop on an external is if you are out of space on the C: drive or another internal. the scratch disk, ok, but not photoshop itself if you can help it. this WILL slow down photoshop, especially when loading it up.

the best solution is to have photoshop and your scratch disk on an internal drive, preferably different internal drives where one drive or partition is dedicated to the scratch disk. this way you get the best performance from Photoshop and the scratch disk.

you might also consider buying another internal drive. they are cheap these days, very cheap. you can get internal drives of 500 gigs (a half a terrabyte) for around $160 or less with a 5 year warranty.

if you really want to beef up the system, get a faster drive, like one of the 10,000 rpm types.

the best use of external drives is backups. get a good backup program and just leave the external off until you want to back up your files. back them up and then turn the drive off again. this will, in most cases, prolong the life of that drive, which is definitely desired in a back-up drive.

check your C: drive for available space. if you're getting down to one gig or below, it's time to get a second internal or clean out some space on C: .

de-fragging is a good idea, but the folks have already covered that one pretty well, so i wont bother with further comments.

setting up a new drive or partitioning a new drive is much easier these days, but it is definitely NOT automatic. windows wont even set an active partition on a new drive. you have to do all this manually and therefore, some study is in order if you're going to do it yourself. if you're running windows XP you can even do it within windows. in the old days it was a DOS only function. so, if you have XP installed you can do it all from windows. this is one i'm NOT going to talk you through, though. get a decent using windows book and it shld show and tell you how. i tend to stay away from microsoft helps and tutorials if i can as they tend to be overly technical. it's actually not a difficult operation and is mostly visual, so not that hard, but you can screw things up pretty badly if you're not careful or just fumbling around going 'i wonder what this does?' :D

if you have vista, i dont know about partitioning on there, since i refuse to run vista yet.

edit: additionally, on XP, having over 2 gigs of ram wont help you much. xp just cant make use of anything over that much efficiently.

ok, i'm assuming here you have only the two drives, C: and the external usb. it's probably labeled D: .

windows 'competing' with your other apps wont matter where you put photoshop. windows is always going to hog some ram for its use regardless of where you put it or any other apps. so, that doesnt matter here.

firewire and usb are MUCH slower than internal drive speeds. so, you might put your scratch disk on the external but at the same time LOSE speed due to the slower usb. i honestly dont know the answer to that one, but it is something you can check on your own without too much trouble. just set the scratch disk to one and use it and then change it to the other and use it. that shld tell you the answer to that one.

the ONLY reason you would put photoshop on an external is if you are out of space on the C: drive or another internal. the scratch disk, ok, but not photoshop itself if you can help it. this WILL slow down photoshop, especially when loading it up.

the best solution is to have photoshop and your scratch disk on an internal drive, preferably different internal drives where one drive or partition is dedicated to the scratch disk. this way you get the best performance from Photoshop and the scratch disk.

you might also consider buying another internal drive. they are cheap these days, very cheap. you can get internal drives of 500 gigs (a half a terrabyte) for around $160 or less with a 5 year warranty.

if you really want to beef up the system, get a faster drive, like one of the 10,000 rpm types.

the best use of external drives is backups. get a good backup program and just leave the external off until you want to back up your files. back them up and then turn the drive off again. this will, in most cases, prolong the life of that drive, which is definitely desired in a back-up drive.

check your C: drive for available space. if you're getting down to one gig or below, it's time to get a second internal or clean out some space on C: .

de-fragging is a good idea, but the folks have already covered that one pretty well, so i wont bother with further comments.

setting up a new drive or partitioning a new drive is much easier these days, but it is definitely NOT automatic. windows wont even set an active partition on a new drive. you have to do all this manually and therefore, some study is in order if you're going to do it yourself. if you're running windows XP you can even do it within windows. in the old days it was a DOS only function. so, if you have XP installed you can do it all from windows. this is one i'm NOT going to talk you through, though. get a decent using windows book and it shld show and tell you how. i tend to stay away from microsoft helps and tutorials if i can as they tend to be overly technical. it's actually not a difficult operation and is mostly visual, so not that hard, but you can screw things up pretty badly if you're not careful or just fumbling around going 'i wonder what this does?' :D

if you have vista, i dont know about partitioning on there, since i refuse to run vista yet.

edit: additionally, on XP, having over 2 gigs of ram wont help you much. xp just cant make use of anything over that much efficiently.

I agree with this. Your best option is to clean out your C:drive if you don't have very much free space left, and then defrag. Go to My Computer>open>right click Local Disk:C>click on Properties...this will show you the amount Free Space left on the Drive...if it is less than 10%, your computer will be slowed down considerably. I would then try to free up space by transferring large files off of C:Drive to your usb drive. Do not move applications or program files...start with large files that have photos that you don't use but are stored on your C:Drive. Move them to CD's, DVD's or to the usb drive.

Then defrag your computer.

I would in future store future finished projects and photos on the usb hard drive thereby saving space on your C:Drive.