WorkFlow Photoshop
Scratch Disk Hard Dives
by ©2003 www.gballard.net
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My basic client Photoshop configuration CS3 CS2 CS1 PS10 9 8 7:

Max out RAM.
Two monitors recommended.
Minimum: Two hard drives, partitioned into four volumes.

Hard Drive One:

• Volume #1 (80–250 GB): OSX System and applications.
  Remember, the size of the boot volume also determines the size of the desktop, and how much data we can keep on the volume, so keep it on the larger side, especially if you keep iTunes music and video files in your user folders.
• Volume #2 : BackUp Volume #4 data.
  Mirroring #4 data to a separate hard drive simply makes good sense.

Hard Drive Two:

• Volume #3 (20–100 GB): Dedicate to Photoshop ScratchDisk.
  Keep this volume EMPTY . See "EMPTY = Versatile."
• Volume #4: Keep all data — documents, photos, music, ect. — on this volume #4.
  BackUp all data up to Volume #2.

Note: Moving documents, photos, music, ect. out of their Apple Default locations is a custom workflow for advanced users only.

Keeping all our data on #4 has these benefits:

1. The boot volume runs only the OS and applications.
   This makes BACKUP and Restore the boot volume much "cleaner" and smaller.
2. It keeps our data on a seperate hard drive, in case of failure, the boot drive is usually the first to go, and mirroring the data on another hard drive is good insurance.

Further, giving Photoshop a dedicated EMPTY ScratchDisk — on a second hard drive — takes substantial load off the boot hard drive and makes the Mac faster, more efficient. This empty volume is versatile for TroubleShooting.

+++++

OPTIONAL:

Hard Drive Three:
I recommend an external FireWire hard drive.

• Volume #5 (15-50 GB): Install OS and Utilities.
  This serves as a boot system to maintain the workstation(s), including a boot system to run Disk Warrior and Retrospect.
• Volume #6: Keep EMPTY for video capture or BackUp.
  

This removable HardDisk can be taken off site and used to maintain, troubleshoot and BackUp several Macs....