There are tons of editing software in the market, but Photoshop has always been the most appealing to professionals.
Graphics designers and photographers just love Photoshop. But what they don’t love are the lags and delays that occur while using Photoshop.
Photoshop and similar applications like Lightroom are resource-hungry software. It is common for photoshop to consume a large space in your ram and put a significant load on your storage drive.
Delays and lags would be normal when you don’t have either enough RAM in your system or a good storage drive.
For optimal photoshop experience, having a system with large RAM and Good SSD is a must. Having more RAM makes sense as it increases the processing power of a computer system. But you might be wondering why an SSD?
My own experience with Adobe Photoshop and SSD
I have used Adobe Photoshop CS6 a lot.
Actually, I use it until now on my old laptop. The laptop has an Intel i3 processor with 4 GB of RAM along with 1TB of Storage.
Before writing this article, I just checked how much time does it takes to load Adobe Photoshop. The time was 2 Minutes and 42 Seconds.
But, when I open it from my new system with the same configurations but having a 500 GB SSD, it takes only 35 seconds to open up properly.
Also, I have seen a lot of difference when it comes to applying effects and using any other tool. SSD helps this software to process requests faster and apply changes within milliseconds.
Why SSD is good for Photoshop?
If you go to the official page of Photoshop, you will see that 4 GB HDD is enough to properly run this software inside a computer.
But, they haven’t discussed any specific thing about the SSD. However, they have told me that SSD will help in the fast installation of the app.
That’s true but SSD is going to help you a lot more than this. Unfortunately, you can see the impacts only when you have an SSD in your system.
SSD is the ideal type of storage drive to use for Photoshop or other heavy software. Hard disk drives are slower when compared to SSDs.
SSD uses flash memory for storage and HDDs use the rotating disk. It is fast and easy to access data on the flash memory in SSD than accessing data on a rotating disk. Therefore, SSDs significantly reduce boot and load time for any computer program.
As photo-editing on photoshop also demand fast boot and load time, all these factors combined make Solid-state drives an ideal choice for photo-editing.
It is clear that if you are a photo editing professional then going with SSD makes sense. But you might be wondering– an SSD of what storage capacity is ideal for Photoshop? Let’s see how much SSD is ideal for Photoshop.
How much SSD will be enough for Adobe Photoshop?
1. 256 GB SSD
Most entry-level SSDs in the market offer a storage capacity of at least 256 GB.
A 256 GB can do the job pretty well when coupled with powerful hardware or large RAM. However, if you run multiple programs at a time and do a lot of power-hungry tasks during your workflow, you might be able to notice delays.
Another thing to note is– if you have a 256 GB SSD then you should not fill it up completely. Consider keeping your photos and other data on another hard disk drive or an external drive. Still, 256 GB might fall short.
So, is 256 GB ideal for photoshop?
Surely, not. 256 GB can get the job done most of the time when you have powerful RAM and you keep free space in your SSD. But there is no guarantee that 256 GB is a good fit for all. For heavy users, it is always good to go with an SSD with a larger storage capacity.
2. 500 GB SSD
500 GB SSDs are fast and offer a storage capacity that is enough for most. It may seem like going with 500 GB is the best option for everyone but it depends on you.
500 GB is a decent storage capacity if you do a lot of heavy work but you don’t fill up your SSD completely and you have a powerful RAM.
In case, you use tons of editing software for a variety of chores like 3D modeling, etc, then going with 1 TB is ideal.
3. 1 TB SSD
1 TB SSD is a great choice for professional that use Photoshop and Lightroom.
1 TB SSD offers four times more storage than 256 GB SSD.
Using a 1 TB storage drive will eliminate the need to use a larger HDD on the side. And you may not even need a secondary drive at all.
You can use a 1 TB HDD for running OS, photoshop, and other software. You can also store significant data without worrying much about available space.
An SSD with a 1 TB storage capacity will speed up your workflow and will lessen your worries regarding available storage space.
Also Read: Do SSDs Fit all laptops?
Conclusion
Using photoshop is fun when you don’t have to wait for loading images, rendering, output, etc.
Using an SSD for software like Photoshop is a smart move. And using an SSD with significant storage capacity is just great.
In my opinion, if you only use your system for photo editing with Photoshop, a 256 GB SSD will be enough to get the most out of your software and system. But, if you have more space, you can use other software with great performance.
However, even when you have the best SSD installed on your system, delays may still occur. Apart from SSD, more RAM can also speed up Photoshop performance.
One thing you could do once you have enough RAM is– let Photoshop use more RAM. Simply put– you can set Photoshop to use more of the available RAM. This could be done from The Memory Usage area of the Performance preferences dialog in Photoshop.
Caching is yet another aspect that could speed up Photoshop. Consider increasing cache levels in Photoshop by increasing cache tile size.
A good GPU could also help in improving the Photoshop experience.
All in all, having decent hardware in your computer system is great for Photoshop.
Thanks for reading and hope it helps.