Two Memory Saving Operations

Gerald Pasternack

• April 16, 2020 00:06

Now that I've moved the Browse Cache from my PC boot-drive to an external drive I've recovered some valuable C-drive memory and got to wondering if I can do even better. 

A vast amount of memory is allocated to the PhotoSettings Cache within ON1 Photo RAW 2020.  This is a database used to store non-destructive settings like masking and brush strokes on a per image basis.   This info is eventually copied elsewhere and can be deleted from the cache.  The program is supposed to zero this out periodically, but in my case it may not be happening (a program bug?) and my cache now exceeds 20 GB.  

Perhaps ON1 will eventually allow relocation of this cache, but until then I believe the contents of the PhotoSettings Cache can be manually deleted without harm and the program will rebuild information as needed.  Make sense?

Another overlooked area for memory savings is Extras -- particularly Textures.  This is where all of the "free gift" texture photos are stored -- including the ones that I never use.  In my case, Extra occupies almost 2 GB omn my C drive, with Textures taking up 3/4 of this.  Easy to delete the entries not needed -- using the Extras Manager or directly from the Extras folder.

Any thoughts on these memory-saving techniques?  Has anyone attempted to delete the PhotoSettings Cache?  Perhaps I will temporarily re-locate it and see what happens.

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  Brian Lawson Community moderator

  • April 16, 2020 00:15

  I would not recommend deleting the PhotoSettingsCache. As you noted, it stores your edits. However, I don't believe it is ever flushed. If you turned off the option to use sidecar files and the cache was flushed you would loose your only edits for those images that got flushed. You'd keep loosing your oldest edits over time.

  I'm not familiar enough with Windows to know how its equivalent of an alias or link works but I've tried moving some stuff out of the boot drive to an external drive with more space and setting up links to their new locations but I can't get it to work. The OS recognizes everything, but Photo RAW does not. As far as I can tell it ignores links.

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  Rick Sammartino Community moderator

  • April 16, 2020 00:19
  • Edited

  I appreciate your efforts, but please stop referring to this as saving Memory. Memory is RAM (Random Access Memory), not Drive space which is what you're referring to. Your entire post is about saving Drive Space, not Memory.

  One thing I don't see mentioned is that you can move the Program Data Folder, which includes Textures and other Extras to another drive. When you install On1, one of the options is where you want to save that Data. You would only want to delete textures if you're never going to use them, but some like to collect Textures so they will be available when needed, so simply moving them to a drive with more space available solves that problem.

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  Gerald Pasternack

  • April 16, 2020 13:23

  Rick:

  Thanks for the correction.

  My point in removing "extras" was that they build up quickly and occupy lots of drive space -- especially the textures.  It might make sense to cull them periodically and remove the ones that will never get used..

  Thanks for the tip about relocating the Extras folder.  This is a better solution.  Can this be done after installation, or do I need to re-install the program to do this? 

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  Rick Sammartino Community moderator

  • April 16, 2020 14:12
  • Edited

  Gerald, There are no options to change the Program data folder after On1 is installed, so you'll need to do a re-install in order to set that folder. Note that you have to manually set that folder every time there is an update because On1 won't remember from install to install.

  If you have Extras already installed you'd normally have to re-install those to get them into the new location, but you could try copying the entire Program Data folder to its new location before implementing any other changes and maybe On1 will see those automatically once you tell it to use that location. To test that, just rename the original program Data folder and see if On1 is using the new one properly. If the Extras show in On1, you're done and can remove the old folder. If not, you may have to re-install the Extras anyway. If anything goes wrong you can change the folder name back and keep using it as before.

  Of course, all of this copying and renaming needs to be done while On1 is NOT running so that it can detect changes when it starts up.

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