Working with Projects > Setting up Premiere's scratch disks
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Setting up Premiere's scratch disks


When you edit a project, Premiere processes your changes in RAM. When the available RAM isn't enough, Premiere can use hard disk space as an additional work area. Also, Premiere stores some project information, such as preview files, on your hard disk, using the disk the same way you would use a paper scratch pad. If your system has access to multiple volumes (disks or disk partitions), you can specify which one Premiere uses as a scratch disk for the different temp files it creates when capturing movies, building video previews, and building audio previews. The scratch disk space Premiere uses increases as a program becomes longer or more complex. For maximum performance, follow these tips:
  • Store Premiere and the operating system on one hard disk, and capture video to an additional AV-certified hard disk on which nothing else is stored. Save and store your project on the same hard disk as Premiere (preferably the system disk).
  • Specify your fastest hard disk for video preview files and capturing. You can use a slower disk for audio preview files. Ideally, you want your video and audio preview files on different disks to reduce the amount of activity necessary for playback. Two partitions on the same disk do not improve playback--you must use two physically different disks.
  • Specify only disks attached to your computer--a hard disk located on a network is usually too slow. Removable media may be acceptable if it is fast enough.

    • To specify scratch disks:

    1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disks and Device Control.

    2 For Captured Movies, select or create a new folder where Premiere will store video and audio files when you digitize using Premiere.

    3 For Video Previews, select or create a new folder where Premiere will store files generated when previewing video clips.

    4 For Audio Previews, select or create a new folder where Premiere will store files generated when previewing audio clips.

    5 Click OK.

    When generating preview files, Premiere can warn you when a scratch disk you specified is running out of space. You can specify the point at which the warning appears.

    To specify the warning level for low disk space:

    1 Choose Edit > Preferences > General and Still Image.

    2 For Low Disk Space Warning Level, indicate in kilobytes the amount of unused scratch disk space that will trigger the warning. Click OK.

    Working with Projects > Setting up Premiere's scratch disks