yes, another Photoshop memory issue

[Mike W]

Hi Everyone,

I'm working on a mac pro with 16gb of RAM.

I"m designing a small site (the file is aprox. 10mb) and Photoshop is incredibly slow. I have to wait a full minute in order to see an inputed character appear on my screen.
When I look in the preferences >performance panel, I see Photoshop only "recognises" 3 of my 16 gb of RAM.

Photoshop is allowed to use 70 - 80% of available memory. Should suffice.

I've googled and found many issues and solutions, but none for this issue.

Does anyone else have this problem, or even better, a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Les Sparks]

As I recall the Mac version of CS4 is 32bit (64 bit was Windows only). So you're getting all the memory that 32 bit Photoshop can see.
Only cure is wait for CS5 and hope that it supports 64 bit.
Les

[Wayne Fox]

As I recall the Mac version of CS4 is 32bit (64 bit was Windows only). So you're getting all the memory that 32 bit Photoshop can see.
Only cure is wait for CS5 and hope that it supports 64 bit.
Les

Assuming the only cure is using PS in 64bit, which is completely false.  He's working on a 10mb file. I don't think it's a memory issue.

I work on multiple layer P65 files all the time with my "32bit" OS, no problems.

Question to the OP, how much free space is on your hard drive?  This sounds like something you might see if the operating system doesn't have enough disk space for virtual memory.  This is especially true if you only have 1 hard drive, and so Photoshop is also trying to claim hard drive space for it's scratch disk.

You probably need around 30gb's of free hard drive space.

Also it sounds like you are trying to enter text ... perhaps the font file is corrupted?  You have tried other fonts and same problem?

Just some thoughts.

[Mike W]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

A few answers:

Photoshop works fine at startup, when using it a while it starts to drag it's feet. Should have mentioned this before, my mistake.

Like wayne said, I don't think it's a 32bit vs 64bit problem. I'm no expert but it seems unlikely. My homesystem is similar, and there are no issues. I installed PS CS4 on another computer with a different OS version and the problems persist.

Wayne: I have more than enough available space: 800gb+. Al that storage is one 1 terrabyte drive, though.
The font isn't the problem (I wish it were that easy).....

Any and all advice will be apreciated!

thanks in advance,

Mike

[jerryrock]

The first step to troubleshooting Photoshop is to reset the preferences.  If you hold down the three modifier keys Ctrl-Alt-Shift in Windows (Command-Option-Shift in the Mac) while starting up Photoshop, then Photoshop will give you a option to delete your preference file. Click "Yes" and this bring all settings back to factory default settings.

I would also check for font corruption using Font Book or a similar font management program.