1 2 3 Previous Next 103 Replies Latest reply: Oct 17, 2011 12:19 AM by km79 Go to original post RSS
      • 80. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
        SamC2 Community Member

        I want to add that I have this problem and it delays PhotoShop work by spinning up a sleeping external USB hard drive.

         

        My workstation is Windows 7, 64 bit, 4Gb Memory.  Drive C is set to the scratch drive, 128Gb free disk there.  External drives are not selected in Preferences>Performance.

         

        I open PhotoShop, and using Windows explorer to view the scratch drive, eight files named *_MVM_N.tmp are created when I open a simple PNG image.  The opening process is slowed perhaps by referencing the external disk.

         

        The temp files are deleted only when PhotoShop exits, not when the image is closed within PhotoShop.

         

        This problem occurs in PhotoShop CS5, 32 bit.

        • 81. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
          Noel Carboni Community Member

          Open a CMD window and type the following command:

           

          SET T

           

          What are the current values of your TEMP and TMP environment variables?

           

          Try this and report back whether it controls the location of the temporary files:

           

          1.  Locate a fast drive that you DO want large temporary files on, with at least 10 GB of free space (ideally hundreds of GB free).

           

          2.  Create a root folder on that drive:  TEMP  (for example, C:\TEMP).

           

          3.  Set permissions so that the Users group or your username specifically has Full Control permissions on that folder.

           

          4.  Edit (or add) user environment variables TEMP and TMP to contain the path to the above folder (e.g., C:\TEMP).

           

          5.  Log off Windows and back on, then re-test.

           

          -Noel

          • 82. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
            SamC2 Community Member

            Here are the results:

             

             

            C:\Users\Sam>set t

            TEMP=C:\Users\Sam\AppData\Local\Temp

            TMP=C:\Users\Sam\AppData\Local\Temp

             

             

            Properties of that target folder show "Full Control", image uploaded for these properties.  I've taken no corrective actions since everything seems to be in order.  Problem persists.

             

            photoshop.png

            • 83. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
              Noel Carboni Community Member

              No, everything is not in order necessarily.

               

              I wanted you to create a very short path name for your TEMP folder, on the hunch that perhaps the path name length is causing MVM problems.

               

              It's a longshot, but it's been implied the path length could be an issue.

               

              Also, can you confirm a large amount of free space on that drive?

               

              -Noel

              • 84. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                ssprengel Community Member

                Is C the hard-drive with the most free space?  Is C:\TEMP the same as C:\Users\Sam\AppData\Local\Temp?  No, so you're not done.

                • 85. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                  SamC2 Community Member

                  I wish I could report test result consistency.  Here are a few more basics:

                   

                  - The C drive is an SSD with 128Gb free, fast, lots of space

                  - Drives E and F are USB and eSATA with 49 and 409Gb free respectively.  E is backup, F is additional storage, images, etc.

                   

                  I hadn't noticed before, but E had some *MVM.tmp files which I just deleted.

                   

                  Before changing the environment variables, I ran PhotoShop tests to confirm the creation of *MVM.tmp files.  Surprisingly, no MVM.tmp files appeared on E or F.  I tried another route by launching Adobe Bridge (nothing), opened an image in Camera Raw and a few *MVM.tmp files appeared on F.  Opening the image from Camera Raw into Photoshop, several more *MVM.tmp files appeared.

                   

                  I now modified the environment variables (and rebooted) so C:\Temp was the temporary folder.  No *MVM.tmp files appeared on E or F.  C:\Temp appears to have the scratch files of PhotoShop, Camera Raw, and Bridge, but no *MVM.tmp files appear

                   

                  I restored the environment variables (and rebooted) to the original user-specific temp path.  This time, I can't reproduce the problem at all.  I tried to delete C:\Temp and found it "In use", even after the reboot. 

                   

                  Rebooted once more, and before running tests, I deleted c:\Temp so no application could attach a file there.  Still, no sequence of Bridge, Camera Raw, Photoshop will create the *MVM.tmp files.

                   

                  Seems the problem is fixed for now and for no apparent reason that I can find.  Same environment variables as before, same temp folders.  I'll report back if it returns.

                  • 86. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                    Noel Carboni Community Member

                    There is no reason to return your system to its prior state.  It is best to leave C:\TEMP as your temporary folder and leave the TEMP and TMP environment variables set to point to it.

                     

                    This is long years of experience with Windows talking.

                     

                    -Noel

                    • 87. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                      NNogi Community Member

                      Hi,

                       

                      I still have similar problems (see this thread). As I just posted there, it seems that the assigned drive letters also influence the creation of the .tmp files!

                       

                      In  my case they were created on a small drive D: (1GB left) and not on  scratch (or S:\TEMP = $TEMP/$TMP) which are both huge. However, when I reassign the small  drive to another letter, the files are created in $TEMP. If I assign  another (big) drive to D:, it still uses $TEMP. If I again assign the  first (small) drive to D: the problem reappears!

                      • 88. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                        K.Ichijou Community Member

                        Well, I have 64bit system and two editions of Photoshop CS5 installed (32bit and 64bit)

                        My drives are C: (internal/partition, 7Gb free), D: (internal/partition 65Gb free), G: (external, eSATA, 540Gb free), X: (virtual, points to folder on D:, so 64Gb free)

                        TEMP & TMP variables set to D:\TEMP

                        Opening the same PNG file:

                        With 32bit Photoshop I have 1 MVM file on C:, 2 in TEMP folder, 9 on G:, 2 on X:

                        With 64bit Photoshop I have the same number of files in same locations. Even with same names.

                        After closing PS, they are deleted.

                        I've disconnected G: drive and now have 1 on C:, 2 in TEMP, 2 on X:

                         

                        That's why I have a hunch that these files are used for indexing the free space on drives.

                         

                        To test this I plug another hard drive, I: with 306 Gb free space and should have nearly 5 or 6 MVM files on it (if we assume, that there is one per 60Gb)

                         

                        and... now there is something not right.

                        C: - 0 files, TEMP - 2 files, G: - 9 files, I: 5 files and X: - 0 files

                         

                        It needs 16 *_MVM_*.tmp files and writes it on the drives with most disk space.

                         

                        All the tests were conducted with the same PNG file. We may assume that the amount of files on the drive is ceiling(free_space / 64Gb), where ceiling is the minimal integer value greater than argument.

                        To test this, I'll make a copy of 9Gb folder on drive D: Now it should have 56Gb of free space and 1 _MVM_*.tmp file on it.

                         

                        Yep. 1 on C:, 1 in TEMP, 9 on G, 5 on I, 0 on X:

                        Also, numbers are the following: C: 15; D: 14; G: 0-7, 12; I: 8-11, 13

                         

                        Also, judging from the names of files, I'll say that it takes the disk with the most free space, writes there (free_space % 64) files, then grabs the second disk, writes there files by these rules, and so on.

                         

                        Still, there is nothing I can say about why it wants 64*16 = 1024Gb amount of temporary files.

                         

                        I'll try toying with some Photoshop settings and write what I have found later.

                         

                        UPD: Reassigned drive letter of I: to Z: - now G holds 9 files, TEMP holds 1 file, X: holds 1 file, C: - 1 file.  Z: has 0. What the hell?

                        • 89. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                          SamC2 Community Member

                          I haven't had problems since following the switch of the environment variables to point to C:\Temp mentioned earlier in this thread.

                           

                          Has anyone tried this solution and not had resolution?

                          • 90. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                            King Wardrop Community Member

                            Changing my %tmp% and %temp% environment variables to C:\TEMP doesn't change anything for me. Every time I open a PNG file, no matter how I open it (drag and drop, file -> open, etc). I also renamed my prests and plug-in's directory, including only the Standard MultiPlugin.8BF plug-in required for opening PNG files, and the MVM files still get created.

                             

                            I get 2 MVM files under my temporary directory (they're obviously not a problem), 2 in the root of my D drive, and 1 in the root of my E drive. My C drive has 66 GB of free space, D drive 92.9 GB free space, and my E drive 14.8 GB free space.

                             

                            Opening any PNG, GIF or BMP file causes the MVM files to be created in those locations mentioned. JPG's are fine though, and do not create any MVM files. Closing Photoshop deletes the files, but they're still a pain in the ***.

                            • 91. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                              SamC2 Community Member

                              After changing my environment variable to c:/Temp, it was only a matter of time before temporary files began appearing on my external USB drives.

                               

                              There are several negative effects of this problem:

                               

                              1 - C: is an SSD and very fast.  Temp files on an external USB 2.0 slow down PhotoShop

                              2 - It is downright messy to look at my backup drives and find 16 temporary files there

                              3 - It seems like an outright bug that should be fixed in the suite

                               

                              Snapshot of backup drive follows:

                              photoshop.gif

                              • 92. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                Noel Carboni Community Member

                                SamC2 wrote:

                                 

                                After changing my environment variable to c:/Temp

                                 

                                If you literally changed it to c:/Temp and not c:\Temp (noting the different slashes) then you did it wrong.

                                 

                                To this day I only ever see these ...MVM... files in my C:\TEMP folder.  I also have a backup drive like you do and the files have not appeared there.

                                 

                                It would be nice if someone from Adobe would let us know what the real mechanism is, and whether these workarounds (such as C:\TEMP) are really likely to help, or if there's some other factor at play here, such as available free space or something.

                                 

                                -Noel

                                • 93. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                  SamC2 Community Member

                                  Not everyone has this problem, but many do.  My typo above on the temp is out of Internet-surfing habbit.  The environment variable is and was set correctly.  Other applications post MANY temp files there incidently.

                                  photoshop.gif

                                  • 94. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                    Noel Carboni Community Member

                                    Out of curiosity, how much free space do you have on C: (where your TEMP folder is now)?

                                     

                                    Do you have another drive (besides your external) with bunches of free space?  I'm wondering whether making your \TEMP folder there and making the environment variables point there instead might work around this issue...

                                     

                                    -Noel

                                    • 96. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                      SamC2 Community Member

                                      Answering your question about making \Temp point to an external drive, I paid a premium to have a solid-state disk for drive C just to speed things up.  I would like to keep temporary files on drive C just for that purpose.

                                      • 97. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                        Noel Carboni Community Member

                                        I didn't suggest pointing TEMP to an external drive; I was thinking perhaps you had a second internal drive, but you've made it clear that with over 100 GB of free space drive C: isn't running out of room (as many folks with SSDs are).  So the point is resolved - it's likely not as simple as just Photoshop looking for more free space.

                                         

                                        Hopefully we'll hear from Chris or someone on just how this Mondo Virtual Memory system chooses where to drop its files.  Certainly it's not doing it right based on any of the methods of requesting Photoshop use temp or scratch storage.

                                         

                                        -Noel

                                        • 98. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                          Chris Cox Adobe Employee

                                          I'm not sure now.  I think it may be a bug in the file paths chosen - and someone else is looking into it.

                                          • 99. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                            King Wardrop Community Member

                                            It definitely seems to correspond with the amount of free disk space you have. My C drive just dropped below 64GB, and I copied about 30GB of files to my D drive to get it down to 50GB free space. As predicted, the temp directory on my C drive now only has 1 MVM file, as does my D drive; both of which had 2 files when they had over 64GB free space.

                                            • 100. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                              AznGothic Community Member

                                              I've read almost this entire thread (skipping parts about windows indexing) and it seems this hasn't been solved yet?

                                               

                                              I have 3 internal hard drives and 1 external hard drive. My C drive is 320GB SATA I Western Digital 8MB cache, D is 320GB SATA I Western Digital 8MB cache, F is 750GB SATA II Western Digital Green 16MB cache and my external is a 2TB USB2.0 Seagate drive. Photoshop is configured to use F as the scratch drive and Windows is configured to point both TEMP and TMP to C:\Temp. My C drive has 43GB of free space, D has 13GB of free space, F has 358GB of free space and my external has 1TB of free space. My external drive goes to sleep if not being used as with most externals. As long as my external is plugged in, Photoshop writes the MVM files to it. I do not have any plugins installed (that I am aware of) and Photoshop only writes the MVM files if I open an image. First starting PS does nothing. If I open a JPG or BMP file I get MVM files on my external drive. If I disconnect my external drive before opening anything, it will default the MVM files to my F drive (config'd as scratch drive). When it writes the MVM files to my external, I get 16 files. With my external unplugged, I only see 6 MVM files on my F drive and 1 MVM file in my C:\Temp folder.

                                               

                                              Now I don't mind the whole "slow down" with PS while it waits for my external to spin up. What I do mind though is that, as others stated, it looks ugly. But mainly that after PS does this, I can not disconnect my external the "safe" way by having Windows shut it off first. Even after I close PS. When I close PS, it will delete the MVM files off of my external but my external is still marked as "In use by another program." I never have problems disconnecting my external if I don't start up PS. It is only after I start up PS and it writes the MVM files to the drive that I can not disconnect my external.

                                               

                                              Are there any solutions on how to get the MVM files to write to my scratch drive (or any othe drive for that matter) even if my external is plugged in? It seems like PS is looking for the largest drive or most free space to write to.

                                              • 101. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                                SamC2 Community Member

                                                I'd like to chime in that I ran similar experiments (starting PhotoShop without the external drive connected.).  I got the same results.  It is odd that more MVM files get created on the external drive when it is connected than on the internal drive. 

                                                • 102. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                                  Astraion Community Member

                                                  If you have Bridge active, try closing it / exit and watch those files dissapear.

                                                  • 103. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                                    ablichter Community Member

                                                    If you have Bridge active, try closing it / exit and watch those files dissapea

                                                    It has nothing to do with Bridge or Photoshop in particular. This MVM files are generated by some Photoshop filters, in other words by 8BFs files. So Lens Blur and Vanishing Point will create them, but USM not.

                                                     

                                                    MVM.jpg

                                                    I get those files on C:\, D:\ and (in the picture) partition M:\ and N:\ - most files are on M:\  (to the left)

                                                     

                                                    2844_ = PhotoImpact

                                                    4960_ = irfanView

                                                    3380_ = Photoshop

                                                     


                                                    I launched Lens Blur or Vanishing Point, whatever is compatible with the host.

                                                    The first number is the PID (process identifier) of e.g. PS - check taskmanager

                                                     

                                                    They should be removed when the filter ended its work, was canceld or latest when the Host (PS, Irfan view, Photo Impact etc.) was closed, but sometimes they are not.

                                                     

                                                    ps

                                                    by this I believe it is initiated by a method in the 8BF and not to change by settings in the host programm or the OS

                                                    pps

                                                    For those who do not know: you can use some PS Filters in other programs (so called Hosts) like Irfanview, PhotoImpact, etc...

                                                    • 104. Re: 16 temp files from hell.
                                                      km79 Community Member

                                                      I've the same problem:

                                                      If I connect my Backup-USB-HDD, Bridge writes about 20 tmp files directly on it.

                                                      I don't want this. I want Bridge to store its tmp files if it needs them on one definded location (and this should never be the root of any disk).

                                                       

                                                      My settings are:

                                                       

                                                      in edit/preferences/cache:

                                                      C:\Users\Konrad\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Bridge CS5\Cache\

                                                       

                                                      and in edit/camera raw preferences:

                                                      C:\Users\Konrad\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRAW\Cache\

                                                       

                                                      But I find the .tmp-Files also under

                                                      E:\

                                                      F:\

                                                      and on USB-Disks

                                                      1 2 3 Previous Next