Photoshop and fresh O/S install?

Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux M Aspherical MF - Black

03/09/2007 11:49:36 AM · #1

So I'm getting a new drive to reinstall my O/S (XP Pro). I currently have 2 slave drives for storage. I have lots of plug-ins in Photoshop (CS1) etc, that to reinstall everything would be a major pain, and I don't even know where I put the old disk since 3 or so years ago.

My question is this: would I be able to run Photoshop.exe from the old drive if I set it as a slave? Also, the Adobe Gamma Loader loads on sytem starup which obviously won't from a slave drive. Is there any chance of merging that onto the new hard drive/OS? Just being lazy and seeing if there are any shortcuts. :-) I hope that makes sense, thanks for any input.

scarbrd

Leica M10

03/09/2007 11:53:07 AM · #2

You need all the registry entries on your boot drive.

There may be a migration tool, if not you'll need to reinstall your apps.

03/09/2007 11:55:19 AM · #3

The answer is no you will not be able too. you need the registry files that are on your C:/ drive or the drive where the OS is installed. My question to you is why are you reinstalling your OS if all you did was buy another drive?

There are many options you have here. Also many people also assume that a bigger HDD is better but in reality it depends on what youâ��re using it for.

Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital ED

03/09/2007 01:29:47 PM · #4

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think it would be possible, but thought I'd ask the smart folks here. My old HD is only 40 gigs and was only used for the O/S and other programs while I stored everything else on the other slaves. I built this thing (I think) about 3.5 years ago and have installed/uninstalled many programs since, so it's gotten a bit slower and wanted to reformat/reinstall.

I got a good deal on a new WD Caviar 120 gig drive, so I thought I'd upgrade to a new drive instead of just reinstalling on the same old one. Everything else is not really outdated: 2.8 P4, 2 gigs ram, yada yada, it was a monster back then when I built it.

kleffman

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

03/09/2007 01:39:42 PM · #5

If it were me I'd still run the OS off the old drive even if you do reformat it (I'm with you on reformatting, XP just plain needs it once in awhile). The reason I say this is I'd be more concerned about using an old drive for storage of important media. An OS and programs are replaceable, your pictures aren't (although, I assume you back up everything).

03/09/2007 01:48:53 PM · #6

Originally posted by kleffman:

An OS and programs are replaceable, your pictures aren't (although, I assume you back up everything).

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I use an external HD for that plus DVD backups.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

03/09/2007 04:28:45 PM · #7

So what your saying is you bought a 120GB HDD because your 40GB HDD is slow? And you want to install your OS On your new 120GB HDD??? I don't understand why people do this kinda thing. Best Buy, Circuit City and all these other places sell machines like this and it's just plain stupid. Not anything against anyone personally but lets stop and think...

Lets say that I have a 250GB HDD. I have my OS installed on it and that takes up all about 1GB to about 4GB, depending on what OS you have. Now If you install programs on the same drive you will take up more room but now your Drive is searching for programs and moving things around to find them becuase you are storing everything one drive right?
This also means that you will need to do a few things often!!!
1. You will need to make sure that you back your machine at least once a month because every time you use your computer your at risk of it crashing, whatever!
2. You will need to use a damn good virus protection because with one drive you just asking for trouble. Once something gets in your just screwed.
3. Because the one drive is doing all the work your going to need to defragment your computer probably once a month as well.
4. I'm sure other people have reasons too but you get the idea.

If I were me... Oh wait I am me... Okay well, my set up is budgeted and I will explain what I did also but what you want to do is set your machine up with RAID drives. What this does is creates a faster drive and allows your machine to basically run faster. Here is more info on RAID drives.

Now what I have is 1 37.5GB Hard Drive that twirls at 10,000 RPM's. I am thinking about selling what I have now and getting the new 15,000 RPM. Speed is very important but it's not everything. Again it depends on what your doing. If your a gamer then speed is your best friend, If your doing pictures then Graphics is more your friend and memory is a key factor along with a damn good video card.

If you have the money and you want fast, Get 2 37.5GB 15,000 RPM HDD's and run them as a RAID 0. Take your 120GB HDD and install all your programs on to them. Then get you something yummy like a 500GB HDD and use that for storing all your pictures, video, memories, documents etc. That way if something happens to your OS you still have all your programs, and important things. Oh Also save your registry about every 6 month just in case you do need to reload, all you have to do is click your .reg files and boom your good to go.

Oh BTW, I did just about this exact same idea here for BCBSGA for about 2 years before I decided to start my own business. So if you need help buying, setting up, loading, whatever let me know.

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

03/09/2007 05:38:49 PM · #8

the quickest way is to keep your 40GB drive and only use it for programs. Clean everything else off and then reformat. Keep data on the other drives. I don't know the best place to put the swap file, but it probably won't be too bad if its on the 40GB.

I've been thinking recently about adding a removable drive carrier, sort of like this one //www.cru-dataport.com/htmldocs/products/dataports/DP3.html because my Dell only supports a few drives, but I haven't "gotten around to it". Its cheaper than a terra station, and I don't need the data online all the time. (note this is about a $25 dollar item, extra drive carriers are about half that price.)

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

03/09/2007 07:55:08 PM · #9

Originally posted by hankk:

Why don't you just buy a external Hard drive that connects with USB. I have like 4 of them, hahhahaha

fotomann_forever

03/09/2007 08:01:05 PM · #10

Mar, most of your PS filters should be in one directory under your Adobe Photoshop directory. If you can find them, they should all be able to be moved together.

If you can backup your PS folder, transferring filters later should be difficult. As far as running Phooshop.exe off the old drive is concerned, it can be done, but you will need to manually backup all the registry entries pertaining to photoshop and then manually edit them to point to the old drive. It can be done, but it is (an understatement) a royal pain the the a**.

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

03/10/2007 05:30:09 PM · #11

Originally posted by Lowcivicman99:

Originally posted by hankk:
the quickest way is to keep your 40GB drive and only use it for programs. Clean everything else off and then reformat. Keep data on the other drives. I don't know the best place to put the swap file, but it probably won't be too bad if its on the 40GB.

I've been thinking recently about adding a removable drive carrier, sort of like this one //www.cru-dataport.com/htmldocs/products/dataports/DP3.html because my Dell only supports a few drives, but I haven't "gotten around to it". Its cheaper than a terra station, and I don't need the data online all the time. (note this is about a $25 dollar item, extra drive carriers are about half that price.)

Why don't you just buy a external Hard drive that connects with USB. I have like 4 of them, hahhahaha

I've got a couple of external drives I use for backup.

I always thought USB was slower than ATA or SATA. And I think an internal drive is cheaper than an external drive, even considering the $12 cost of the carrier for the removable drive. And the internal ones, even in the carrier, will probably store in less space than the external ones. (and there's no power supply to lose).

03/11/2007 12:12:44 AM · #12

Thanks for all the replies. Lots of good advice from you all. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and reinstall everything. I found my CS disk, so that's good. The reason for going bigger on the OS drive is that I didn't even have enough room to defragment the drive, all filled with programs. The Raid array sounds nice, I have two matching 80 gig drives that would work, but they're almost full as well. My case has 8 internal HD bays so maybe down the road I'll fill those up. My external 250 is almost full too, arghhh!!! I thought about the swappable bays like Karl mentioned, I just don't have a safe place to put them with my kid around. Thanks again everybody, there's a reason why some people call them "com-pukers."