Adobe Suite & Scratch Disk

[bLiss]

I'm getting back into the Web design game and conveniently need a new Mac. Looking to the iMac, this version or a future update if I can wait long enough.


I'll get right to it:

1. Photoshop scratch disk - how to determine capacity?
2. Scratch disk via USB - OK? Or use FW instead?

I'll probably download a variety of apps from the new Adobe cloud thing hence, I want the system to be up to task.

Cheers


PS: My sig is a music recording/editing workhorse... nothing to do with this

 

[schimmel]

1. Photoshop scratch disk - how to determine capacity?
2. Scratch disk via USB - OK? Or use FW instead?

1. Hard to give any numbers, it will depend on how much RAM you have, how large files you're gonna work with. If you're just gonna do website mockups/gfx for example, you don't need to bother, it's gonna fit in RAM anyhow. If you're gonna work with 16-bit RAW-format and tons of adjustment layers, first get as much RAM as possible, then you can assign maybe 20-30GB for scratch disk, that should be plenty.

2. FW is way better since it has double the transfer speed. A Thunderbolt, or internally connected SSD, would be ideal. A 5400rpm 2.5" USB 2.0 connected HD would be the least ideal.

 

[bLiss]

Thanks schimmel

I was planning 8 GB of ram minimum just because - why not? It's cheap.

Giant RAW files - no. Illustrator vectors and logos/web backgrounds/web graphic creating in PS - yes.

I take it modern web designers don't worry about this kind of thing... the scratch disk that is

 

[Consultant]

Scratch disk is useful for those working with video, large photos, and large files hundreds of MB in size or larger.

Web designer = NO need.

Thanks schimmel

I was planning 8 GB of ram minimum just because - why not? It's cheap.

Giant RAW files - no. Illustrator vectors and logos/web backgrounds/web graphic creating in PS - yes.

I take it modern web designers don't worry about this kind of thing... the scratch disk that is

 

[Silencio]

Thanks schimmel

I was planning 8 GB of ram minimum just because - why not? It's cheap.

Giant RAW files - no. Illustrator vectors and logos/web backgrounds/web graphic creating in PS - yes.

I take it modern web designers don't worry about this kind of thing... the scratch disk that is

I'd just upgrade the machine to 16GB of RAM from a reputable third party reseller and leave it at that.