Changing default locations

[keledole]

Is it possible to change the default locations of the temporary/working files. They currently go to the c: drive but it is getting pretty cramped there. I would like to get them to go to the D: drive if possible.

Thanks in advance

[Steve Grisetti]

By default, the scratch disk files are set to Same as Project -- so they'll be saved to the same drive, and into the same sub-folders, as your project files. You can easily set or change these locations under Edit/Preferences.

The program, however, like most intensive programs, also needs to use a lot of space on your C drive for paging -- so there's no substitute for having at least 15% of your C drive free too.

[George Tyndall]

By default, the scratch disk files are set to Same as Project -- so they'll be saved to the same drive, and into the same sub-folders, as your project files. You can easily set or change these locations under Edit/Preferences.

The program, however, like most intensive programs, also needs to use a lot of space on your C drive for paging -- so there's no substitute for having at least 15% of your C drive free too.

Steve, I recently noted the following:

1) When I changed my Scratch Disk from the Same as Project Drive to my internal SATA D Drive (223Gb of free defragmented space), I would no longer see the program begin to act "buggy" when the amount of RAM being used approached 1.8Gb. Now, I've seen that number go as high as 2.21Gb on the Performance Tab in the Task Manager before PRE7 begins to "act up" while editing.

2) When I changed my Project drive from one with 50Gb of remaining free space (50/931=5% free space) to one with over 600Gb (600/931=64% free space), there was a dramatic decrease in the number of red frames upon importing my HD MPEG2 files into a new Timeline for the purpose of creating a long project from a number of shorter movies. At first, it seemed ALL were gone but, alas, upon closer inspection a few remain. (I put up a number of posts recently regarding my ongoing problem with red frames.)

[roadsideron]

In Windows XP ( I'm not sure how Vista works, but an Internet search should provide the answer ) an OS drive should not be more than 75% full. At more than 85% full XP will not even defrag the drive. A hard drive needs space to move files around as they're being accessed just like a living room full of furnature. You cannot pack a living room full of furnature and expect to be able to move around in it. You need room for living space as you go about your daily business. Hard drives are the same. I try not to have my OS drives more than 60% full so that they operate better and faster.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

A cautionary note. My C: drive is only around 40% full so I was very alarmed, recently, when Windows reported that the drive was full and I couldn't save an MS-Word document to my desktop.

I carried out a search on the drive for all files above 100Mb and was extremely surprised to find a whole stack of .cfa files that had been created there by Encore CS4, despite my having set the workspace to one of my other drives. All other Encore files were in the areas that I had designated.

I now search/scan my C: drive periodically to ensure that the problem doesn't arise again at some point in the future.

Of course, it may be that I am doing something stupid......(quite likely in my case)...... to have the files written to the C: drive....