Adobe Premiere Elements 8 - Manual (Page 45)

40 USING ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS 8 EDITOR
Projects
Last updated 8/12/2010
Audio Previews Folder or disk for audio preview files, which are created when you use the Timeline > Render Work
Area command, use the Clip > Audio Options > Render And Replace command, export to a movie file, or export to a
DV device. If the previewed area includes effects, the effects are rendered at full quality in the preview file.
Media Cache Folder or disk for audio peak files, audio conform files, video index files, and other files
Adobe Premiere Elements creates to improve performance when reading media files.
DVD Encoding Folder or disk for encoded video and audio files that are generated when you create a DVD.
Note: Adobe Premiere Elements places preview files, encoded files, media cache files, and other types within subfolders of
the folders you specify for these types. Each subfolder is named for the type of scratch files it contains.
Set up a scratch disk
You set up scratch disks in the Scratch Disks panel of the Preferences dialog box. Before changing scratch disk settings,
you can verify the amount of free disk space on the selected volume by looking in the box to the right of the path. If
the path is too long to read, position the pointer over the path name, and the full path appears in a tool tip.
1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disks.
2 For each scratch disk type, specify a disk location for Adobe Premiere Elements to store the corresponding files.
Choose one of these options from the pop-up menu:
My Documents Stores scratch files in the My Documents folder.
Same As Project Stores scratch files in the same folder where the project is stored.
Custom Indicates that the current path isn’t in the pop-up menu. The current path isn’t changed until you click
Browse to specify any available disk location.
Maximizing scratch disk performance
• If your computer has only one hard disk, consider leaving all scratch disk options at their default settings.
• If it has more than one, choose large, secondary hard drives for scratch disks and not the main boot drive. In
Adobe Premiere Elements, it’s possible to place each type of scratch file onto its own disk (for example, one disk for
captured video and another for captured audio).
• Defragment scratch disks regularly by using the Disk Defragmenter tool in Windows or a third-party utility. To use
the Disk Defragmenter tool, choose Start > All Programs > Accessories
> System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. For
more instructions, see the documentation provided with Windows or the third-party utility.
• Specify your fastest hard disks for capturing media and storing scratch files. You can use a slower disk for audio
preview files and the project file.
• Specify only disks attached to your computer. The throughput from a hard disk located on a network is usually too
slow. Avoid using removable media as scratch disks because Adobe Premiere Elements always requires access to
scratch disk files. Scratch disk files are preserved for each project, even when you close the project.
Adobe Premiere Elements reuses these files when you reopen the project associated with them. If scratch disk files
are stored on removable media and the media is removed from the drive, the scratch disk won’t be available to
Adobe Premiere Elements.
• Although you can divide a single disk into partitions and set up each partition as a virtual scratch disk, this doesn’t
improve performance because the single drive mechanism becomes a bottleneck. For best results, set up scratch
disk volumes on actual separate drives.