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Very Slow Save for Web in CS3 Mac

Jan 18, 2008 7:34 AM

I have Photoshop CS3 Extended 10.0.1 running on a 2.16GHz Intel MacBook running 10.4.11 with 2Gb of installed RAM and around 30% free hard disk space.

Regardless of file size or dimension, Save For Web is painfully slow to load and to save out. Optimized previews update quick enough when settings are changed, but everything else about Save For Web feels like wading in treacle.

Anyone else got this problem? It would be good just to know that I'm not the only one with this issue!

Any ideas for fixes?

Jonathan

5263 Views 60 Replies Latest reply: mcclure411, Nov 17, 2011 6:40 AM

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1. Buko.,

Jan 18, 2008 9:48 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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>around 30% free hard disk space

I'd guess this is your problem. your drive is almost full and the system and Photoshop are fighting over the remaining space as well as the read write heads

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2. Nini Tjäder,

Jan 19, 2008 3:36 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Buko - how on earth can around 30 percent free harddisk space be almost full??

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3. (Jonathan_Schofield),

Jan 19, 2008 9:56 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Buko, thanks for your reply though I must say that, like Nini, your answer seems unlikely to be the issue.

1. With 2GB of installed RAM of which 70% is given over to Photoshop , there shouldn't be much need to use scratch disk space to work on files of a few Mb or less.

2. 30% of free disk space equates to 35 Gb on my machine and I always thought that 20% free space or less is usually when things start going pear-shaped.

3. The problem predates me having more like 40% free.

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4. Buko.,

Jan 19, 2008 10:39 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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>Buko - how on earth can around 30 percent free harddisk space be almost full??

well the size of the drive would be a factor and since the OP never included that it was the first thing that came to mind. Also since Photoshop does write scratch for every file no matter how big with one drive its still competing with the OS for the use of the read/write heads. 35GB is not very much and between Photoshop and the OS that can be eaten up pretty fast.

If the problem has been around for some time it could very well be the single drive issue or the drive could be clogged with old logs and stuff.

Jonathan make a new user is save for web faster?

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5. Neil_Keller,

Jan 19, 2008 4:59 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Try a round of maintenance (if you have not done so recently):

Boot off the System disk and run Disk Utility and Repair Disk. Reboot, selecting your startup drive. Replace the System Disk with your DiskWarrior Disk, reboot off that and run repairs. Reboot and run Cocktail or Onyx.

Neil

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6. Ramón G Castañeda,

Jan 19, 2008 5:49 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I agree with Buko. 35 GB is inadequate for both the OS swap file and Photoshop's scratch disk.

Photoshop creates its scratch disk the instant you open or create a new file, basing its size on assumptions it makes about your past workflow (number of layers, History states, etc) and the nature of the file.

My primary scratch disk is a dedicated 160 GB internal drive.

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7. Neil_Keller,

Jan 19, 2008 5:50 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Ramón,

I agree that the free space on that hard drive is skimpy. But there may still be some other issue going on.

Neil

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8. Ramón G Castañeda,

Jan 19, 2008 5:57 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Neil,
>But there may still be some other issue going on.

In the case of a gosh darned laptop, I would not doubt it for a second. :/

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9. Nini Tjäder,

Jan 20, 2008 5:39 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Where do you all get 35 GB from? An Intel MacBook has a larger harddisk than that (depending on model and version of MacBook. Mine has a 160 HB harddisk for instance). or do you mean the 35 GB is the amount of free space? That amount we don't know without knowing the actual size of the actual harddisk.

Discarding a laptop for work in Photoshop, as Ramón does, is as snobbish as always. There is nothing wrong with working in Photoshop (CS2, 3 or extended) on a laptop and/or on a MacBook, if you know the limitations and depending on which size of images you normally handle (most people do not handle multi-hundreds-of-megs images).

All our photographers at the daily newspaper where I work, work on MacBooks and/or MacBook Pros, daily, nightly, all the time. In Tiger though. Pre to MacBooks they used PB G4s for the same tasks. There is no requirement for a MacPro with 8 kernels and maxed out RAM to work in Photoshop. Period.

If somebody has a problem it CAN be lack of space and RAM, but it does not have to be. Particularly not with about 30 percent free harddisk space. There are plenty of other factors that can cause trouble. Leopard is one of them presently. Then the usual suspects like fonts, system-enhancers, bad RAM, other apps run at the same time and so on. And permissions and not installing as an admin user and activating as an admin user.

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10. Buko.,

Jan 20, 2008 9:34 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Nini nobody is saying you can't run Photoshop on a Laptop its just that its not optimal compared to desktop with lots 'O RAM and a second dedicated scratch drive. even on finely tuned Laptop that is well maintained I would expect Photoshop to run a little slow.

Jonathan never answered my question "Does Photoshop work faster in a new user?"

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11. Neil_Keller,

Jan 20, 2008 10:00 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Nini,
>There is no requirement for a MacPro with 8 kernels and maxed out RAM to work in Photoshop.

Within the scope of work required by your laptop users, Photoshop is fine. And a laptop is certainly more portable -- but at a price. And I think you'd agree that if you are working on very large files or if you have many files to process, a nicely tricked-out desktop, Mac or Win, with a large monitor or two is a better choice.

Neil

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12. Ramón G Castañeda,

Jan 20, 2008 10:49 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Nini,
>Discarding a laptop for work in Photoshop, as Ramón does,

I discard a laptop for work in anything, not just Photoshop. I have owned two myself, a Messy-DOS Toshiba some 18 or 20+ years ago, and a G3 Powerbook. I never used them more than one hour total, combined.

My wife has a MacBook, and I never touch it.

The limitations of laptops are just overwhelming to me. If you think that's snobbery, I'm OK with your calling me a snob; but no one can pay me enough to ever touch a laptop again.

> Where do you all get 35 GB from?

From the OP himself in post #3..

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13. Nini Tjäder,

Jan 21, 2008 3:46 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Neil - of course a top of the line machine with maxed out RAM is the "better" choice IF a user is constantly working with large files and heavy workloads. What I object to is that on this forum it most of the time sounds like there is nothing else and everything is worthless, particularly the stupid user that thinks he/she can work in Photoshop in something less than a MacPro with as many kernels as possible and 8 GB of RAM. And that is just not true. It is misleading to the users to constantly repat that.

That Ramón totally discards laptops (and iMacs) stands for him. Apparently he has not even touched one lately so does not know what he is on about. Laptops are for field work in the first place (as I see it), but not only field work these days as most can be attached to a large display as well as a keyboard and mouse and extra discs and whatever else you want attached to it (except for the MacBook Air which even I regard as useless for most things - it is just goodlooking and thin). Harddisks have also grown,like the amount of RAM posible to get into them.

And 35 GB of free space normally is not too little for most things. In most cases you can get by with much less than that.

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14. Neil_Keller,

Jan 21, 2008 6:48 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Nini,
>What I object to is that on this forum it most of the time sounds like there is nothing else and everything is worthless,

There are many reasons I don't use (or even like) laptops either. If I needed a computer for field use, I would reluctantly pick up a Mac laptop, and only do what work had to be done on the laptop.
>but not only field work these days as most can be attached to a large display as well as a keyboard and mouse and extra discs and whatever else you want attached to it

That would be too kludged-together for me to use as my main or only computer. And it still doesn't give me the abilites of a full-size system. If I had to use a laptop while traveling or in the field, files would be transfered from the laptop to my desktop system at the first opportunity. Then I would work on them.
>And 35 GB of free space normally is not too little for most things.

If you work on smaller files that don't require much processing, maybe that's OK.

The point is, a laptop is by definition a compromise. Many of us don't have to work within the constraints of that compromise. For others, a laptop fully meets their needs. If a laptop fully meet your needs, then you're in luck.

Neil

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15. Paul Cutler,

Jan 21, 2008 8:39 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I have a MacBook Pro and it is absolutely fine with anything I throw at it. I wouldn't choose it as my one and only work computer, but if I had to it would work.

As long as you have a FW800 scratch disk (or some other solution), plenty of external data storage and RAM it is a very workable solution.

I have done billboards on my laptop with no problem. I have a laptop at home and a Mac Pro at work - when I need to work at home I have had no problems completing any job.

pbc

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16. Neil_Keller,

Jan 21, 2008 8:54 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Paul,

Certainly a good external drive as you cited helps. But the current display, RAM, internal hard drive, keyboard, and CPU compromises of a laptop won't make it the performance equal to what is possible with desktops.

That said, I'm glad laptops work for you. What I've generally done when needing to take files home is transfer them to a portable drive, then to my desktop at home.

Neil

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17. Paul Cutler,

Jan 21, 2008 10:30 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Funnily enough - I'm lying in my adjustable Tempurpedic working on a full res 18" x 24" poster on my laptop as we speak.

No problems editing the main graphic (18.25" x 24.25" at 300ppi) in PS at all.

I would never fly with just a laptop - but they are pretty capable these days.

pbc

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18. Neil_Keller,

Jan 21, 2008 11:06 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Well, Paul...you do have one distinct advantage with that laptop. I can't work on my desktop tower lying in bed! <g><br /><br />Neil

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19. Ramón G Castañeda,

Jan 21, 2008 5:28 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Nini,

You are overly presumptuous. I do know what I'm talking about.

Even today, laptops still have a miserable monitor, a lousy keyboard and a useless track pad. Sure you can attach an external monitor, an external keyboard, a tablet or mouse and a FireWire drive; but then you don't have a laptop any more, do you?

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20. Allen Wicks,

Jan 21, 2008 8:32 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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>I have a MacBook Pro and it is absolutely fine with anything I throw at it. I wouldn't choose it as my one and only work computer, but if I had to it would work.

>There is no requirement for a MacPro with 8 kernels and maxed out RAM to work in Photoshop. Period.

My experience is 100% concurrent with Paul's and with Nini's. Although I am a strong proponent of MPs for desktop graphics, the fact is that a C2D Macbook Pro with 3-4 GB RAM will run CS3 extended reasonably although obviously limiting for production work.

Note that older laptops like Ramón mentioned would not run PS to any functional degree. CS3 and the latest MacIntels are a whole new world of performance, screens, etc.

>Photoshop CS3 Extended 10.0.1 running on a 2.16GHz Intel MacBook running 10.4.11 with 2Gb of installed RAM and around 30% free hard disk space. Regardless of file size or dimension, Save For Web is painfully slow to load and to save out.

Jonathan-

My 2.33 GHz MBP, 10.4.10, 3 GB RAM, drive 80% full, performs a SFW in a second or two. IMO anyone with a laptop running graphics should max out the RAM, so you may want to try retrofitting to 3 GB. The MBP has 50% more RAM and far superior graphics but unless a Macbook user pipes up, my guess is that something else is causing your slow speed issue.

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21. Buko.,

Jan 21, 2008 8:48 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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does it save faster in a new user?

I don't believe this has been answered yet.

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22. Ramón G Castañeda,

Jan 22, 2008 12:49 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Damn it, Allen! There you go again :
>Note that older laptops like Ramón mentioned would not run PS

My hatred of laptops has NOTHING to do with Photoshop, and it applies to any current laptop, Mac or Windoze.

Why do you persist in attempting to fart above your own ***?

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23. John Joslin,

Jan 22, 2008 2:08 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Oh dear, the forum grumpy at his best!

> I do know what I'm talking about.

Quite obviously you
b DON'T!

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24. Neil_Keller,

Jan 22, 2008 5:18 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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[stepping in as referee]

Ramón,

I didn't read Allen's post as specifically relating your dislike of laptops to Photoshop usage, merely as identifying the type of laptop. And remember, I'm not a big fan of laptops either.

Neil

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25. Ann Shelbourne,

Jan 22, 2008 10:07 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I too have positively hated every laptop that I have ever had to use.

:(

Re: #21:

I fear that Jonathan may not understand what you mean when you ask:
"does it save faster in a new user?".

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26. Buko.,

Jan 22, 2008 10:16 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Maybe he should say so if he wants help with this issue.

--------

Laptops have their place. I would not want to do magazine design work on them and the new Mac Book Air is totally useless for my needs, but I certainly wouldn't mind having a new MacBook Pro for field work.

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27. Allen Wicks,

Jan 22, 2008 10:56 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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>My hatred of laptops has NOTHING to do with Photoshop

And my commentary had nothing to do with your hatred. The OP is all about Photoshop usage on laptops, and I am quite experienced using PS on laptops. When I said
>Note that older laptops like Ramón mentioned would not run PS...

I was just discussing the OP.

For the record I am not a proponent of using laptops or even the stronger iMacs as desktop tower replacements for heavy graphics users. I have consistently recommended in favor of towers and long life cycles and I will continue to do so.

However for the last six months or so I have frequently been using a C2D Macbook Pro as a desktop replacement and I can report unequivocally that it works, especially power-wise, which is what the OP was about. Also based on that experience and also unequivocally I consider using MBPs or the similarly limited iMacs for production graphics work inadvisable.

Strong laptops are incredible machines. They open mobile computing usages that can be of great benefit to many folks, enough benefits that I for one will always have a laptop as one of my computers. The ability to literally do any computing task (except volume graphics production) anywhere is pretty spectacular.

Photo capture, edits and presentation in the field is of huge benefit. Even with something as mundane as this forum communication the ability to do it sitting in the living room instead of sequestered in an office is IMO a good thing.

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28. (Mads_Bjerre),

Feb 2, 2008 5:04 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I am having problems with slow "Save for web too". Also on a MacBook Pro like yours. Haven't found any fixes though.

Everything else is zipping along. It is only the Save for web feature that is crawling.

Found this thread via Google but became quite disappointed when I saw that it had evolved into a "don't use laptops for PS"-thread. That's not really helpful.

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29. John Joslin,

Feb 2, 2008 5:31 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Under Windows you can reset Save for Web preferences by pressing
i Ctrl + Alt
whilst selecting 'Save For Web' in the File Menu.

Maybe
i Command + Option
would do it for a Mac.

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30. IndianapolisWebDesign,

Feb 6, 2008 6:48 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I was searching for an answer to this problem, but haven't been able to find one. I did come up with a solution that would help, but it is definitely not a fix.

I am usually starting with an image that is 10+ MB, with multiple layers. Usually I crop the image down and turn off several layers, then use "Save for Web" and the pain begins. Not good when you are optimizing over 200 images in one sitting.

The workaround I have been using is in the last step before "Save for Web" I clear my history. This adds an extra step, but it goes much faster.

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31. (Paul_Vlachou),

Feb 25, 2008 2:39 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I have the exact same problem on osx 10.4.11.

Running 2 x 2.66ghz Dual-Core Xeon Mac Pro with 4GB's of Ram and the problem is horrendous. I might have 10 psd's open at a time, but this is still ridiculous. I have 125GB free on my HD and there are times when i'll have to wait up to 5 mins for Photoshop to become active again.

You know how many times this ***** of a problem has stuffed me around right near a deadline... too many. As we speak, i've been waiting about 6 mins...

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32. Buko.,

Feb 25, 2008 4:26 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Is it slow in a new user?

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33. Ann Shelbourne,

Feb 25, 2008 6:32 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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>I have 125GB free on my HD

But do you have a separate second HD for Scratch?
And what percentage of the RAM have you allocated to Photoshop?

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34. (Paul_Vlachou),

Feb 25, 2008 9:56 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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I have 70% of RAM devoted to Photoshop and no, it's not on a secondary HD.

Funny thing is... just a minute ago on my macbook pro with 2Gigs of ram, i tried save to web on the exact same PSDs and it took all in all, 10 seconds max. I didn't have 10 files open, but they were 3 pretty hefty photoshop files.

Something definitely aint right. My work computer is the system i'm having issues with and i've been having them since i got it brand new.

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35. Ann Shelbourne,

Feb 25, 2008 10:08 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Photoshop itself needs to be on the System HD but you would find it hugely advantageous to have a second HD. Partition it and use the first partition for Scratch.

Regarding your work computer: might you have bad or mismatched RAM in it?

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36. IndianapolisWebDesign,

Feb 26, 2008 6:10 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Has anyone opened a Ticket with Adobe regarding this? It sounds like it is time.

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37. Ann Shelbourne,

Feb 26, 2008 11:09 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Probably not, Dan, because many (most, even?) of us have not run into this problem.

What we are not getting clear answers to is whether those who experiencing this problem:
have tried working from a new User's Account;
have a second HD for scratch;
and have trashed their SFW Prefs..

In your case, changing your work-flow (so that you first duplicate your Layered file to a flattened version and then SFW) might improve performance.

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38. (ReinMan),

Mar 1, 2008 11:07 AM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Howdy All,

I do not remember experiencing this problem when I was running CS3 with OS-X Tigger ;) but I certainly notice it in Leopard. Usually it only happens on my first SAVE for WEB of the session, then it runs "normally" which is rather fast. But that first "save for web" takes like a minute or two of the SPINNING BEACHBALL OF DEATH before it does its job. :(

On my PC machine CS3 SAVE FOR WEB doesn't seem to have this problem (running XP on that system).

I hope it is something that gets fixed soon, it is rather annoying to take 2 or more minutes to save a 87kb image! }:(

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39. Buko.,

Mar 1, 2008 12:25 PM in reply to (Jonathan_Schofield)

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Go Back to Tiger If you can.

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