LaserSoft Imaging

SilverFast Ai crashes my system when working with large (500kb) 48-bit files on a PC with 512kb of RAM. Both the Photoshop plug-in and the TWAIN versions cause the same problem. Photoshop, Polaroid Insight, and SilverFast HDR do not have the problem. I would like to see the memory management of SilverFast AI improved so that it can better work with large files. In my case, I found (after 606 hours of troubleshooting) that I can work around the problem by using Insight to create the 48-bit raw file and then use HDR to process it. Others may not be as lucky to have something like Insight that can create the 48-bit files or they may not have bought HDR, so a fix in Ai would be welcome. And, yes, processing a 500 mb file on a 512 kb RAM machine is slow, but it's tolerable and things speed up when the file is converted to a 24-bit file. By the way, this problem was eveidently not known to Lasersoft as I was give a number of dead-end suggestions. Users of medium format scanners that generate these large files should be aware of the problem.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RogerMillerPhoto on 2001-09-03 22:05 ]</font>

Roger,

I'm not sure if you have a second hard drive or a second partition, but setting the scratch disk to another (not your main) drive or partition can solve that problem. It's under Options>General>Scratch Disk. I was having the same problems, especially when I was making 6400 DPI, 4-pass scans of medium format film. Yes, it's still a little slow, but it worked fine on my P3-500mhz with 512MB machine when I used to scan on it. And most importantly, it didn't crash anymore. Let me know if that works for you,

Ian

Ian, I tried everything, including buying a second 80 gb drive. I partitioned 20 gb of it for the exclusive use of Photoshop. That didn't help. Someone suggested I assign SilverFast scratch to the same partition, but it didn't help either. If I remember right, the larges file I could work with was around 300 mb. Much bigger than than, Photoshop crashed. I'm using Me and maybe that makes things worse too. The Lasersoft folks are the experts on this sort of thing, so I imagine now that they have an idea that there's a memory management problem, they'll be able to fix it. Most important of all, the next guy who has my problem can be guided in the right direction, find a workaround, and won't suffer the agony I went through. I hate being a trail blazer. By the way, if SilverFast Ai will create 500 mb files for you on 512k machine, you might try scanning 6x9 or 6x17 film (an empty film carrier would work) and see if you can induce a crash. There's probably some upper limit, and you might be just under it right now.

edit: Hmmm, I just did the math on your file size and you're well over 500 mb. So maybe it's not a memory management problem after all. Oh, well, it's something Lasersoft is going to have to figure out. If they don't know of a fix, at least they can help their customers find a workaround. I posted a note on the Adobe forum asking if anyone had had similar SilverFast/Photoshop crashes, but I didn't get a response. There are so many different combinations of hardware and software that its hard to see a patern. It's like the IT8 calibration problem: most people had no problem and a couple of us did. When you're the only guy with the world's biggest headache, it feels pretty lonesome. Misery loves company, and the problem gets fixed faster if a lot of people are miserable with it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RogerMillerPhoto on 2001-09-04 08:25 ]</font>

Roger,

Also, forgot to mention two things:

1. Windows ME is based on 95/98 architecture, so it does have memory issues. Try downloading Cacheman from http://www.outertech.com - it's free, and it works great with win95-winME to get every last ounce of memory available.

2. Try scanning to File. That was my workaround for a while. It's another step, but it might help.

Also, tried to max out Silverfast, and it said that the Application (PhotoShop 6) could not handle the file. The file size would've been 1.46GB! I'll fool with it later to see what maxes it out.

-Ian

WinMe (like any other OS) has it's own file system limit for file size. When your file is still ~500MB, the scratch one may be well 2x, 3x, 4x or more of that size. As far as I know (must check), WinMe has a limit of 2GB for one file. This is only my _guess_, but it may be the cause of your crash.

Liudas

Thanks for the tips, guys. If Windows Me is an issue, then hopefully Lasersoft knows about it, or can figure out the details, and can offer proper advice when the problems pops up with other customers. I think more and more people are going to be using medium format scanners as they become available and cheaper and the file sizes are going to get very large. I actually looked for a new computer that would take more than 512k of RAM and there aren't very many to choose from now. Besides, my PC is less than a year old and I'd hate to be forced to buy a new one so soon. As long as I have a workaround to my problem, I can live with 512k of RAM. I did notice though, that after I've used HDR/Photoshop with some large files, I get a "windows protection error" when I shutdown the computer. So long as it doesn't do any damage and my system doesn't crash, I can live with that. But it does certainly imply that there's an Me memory issue.

Roger,
in your case I would really try Win2000 on your computer (the same, no upgrades). I'm so glad with my W2K that will never try 98/Me again

Liudas

I've heard other people say they like W2K. I didn't know any better when I bought my PC less than a year ago. And I didn't know I'd be scanning medium format film, so I bought a computer that can't be expanded past 512k of RAM. Within the next year or two, I want to try to improve the situation by buying a new computer (for more RAM), replacing mother board (for more RAM), installing W2K, trying Cacheman, etc. For the time being, I have a workaround and at least can get some work done. The lesson here is that large (500mb) files need 1 to 2 gb of RAM. Even if it's not needed to prevent crashes, it takes a lot less time if there isn't so much disk activity. Once again, thanks for your help. And thanks to Paul at Lasersoft who's investigating my problem with the memory crash and giving me other suggestions for another problem I'm working on. I feel like I'm making probress now.