Do I need a 2nd SSD for a Photoshop Scratch File?

[Niege]

I'm considering upgrading to a SSD in my new rig, either a i7-870 or AMD 1055T, w7 64 bit. I will be running CS5 a lot, as well as other photo editing software that uses a separate cache file.

Up to now I've been keeping the PS scratch file on a second hard drive and pagefile on a third physical drive. I'm confused about the need for this with a SSD. Obviously the SSD would be a boot and app drive, all data on a spindle drive (Spinrite F3).

Would I gain anything with a second, smaller, SSD for scratch file or pagefile?

Thanks.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

There is no reason to keep your page file on a separate drive unless you are constantly launching new apps, or you have a program saving lots of data to your boot drive. Your boot drive boots, launches apps, and hosts your page file. None of those things conflict. The only valid motivation for moving the page file to another drive is an obsession with fragmentation. And that is a non-issue with SSDs.

If you're really unsure about this, then I would suggest a mantra from the software development world: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Unless you have a measured (or noticeably perceived) performance problem, then you have nothing to fix and your optimizations could very well be making things worse. Go with your two drive setup, and pick up a new drive for your scratch file in the future if you feel things are running too slowly in CS5. Has the added benefit of saving you money, as you likely won't need that third drive.

 

[Niege]

Many thanks, LokutusofBorg!