64 what?! BITS!

My lovely wife called me the other day because her work computer kept crashing Photoshop CS5. She was working with a freaking huge file, but her computer should have been able to handle it. After doing some research I learned two things:

1. CS5 (and the upcoming CS6) work best in 64 bit mode. In 32 bit mode (all macs prior to mid 2011) CS5 cannot use more than 2.5 gigs of RAM, even if your computer is pimped out with 512,000 gigs.

2. Most macs after 2008 have the ability to switch to 64 bit mode, if they are running snow leopard or later. (if you don’t know what your mac is, go here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3696 )

**DISCLAIMER: I don’t know what you do with your computer, but research the software you use before changing anything. Most everything plays well with 64 bit, but if you have any doubts, look it up. For instance, if you’re a musician, you will most likely have to reinstall your Avid drivers if you switch to 64 bit. (I had to, but it was easy). If you switch to 64 Bit and it’s a problem, you can always switch it back, but do your homework first.

**IF YOU HAVE A PC I can't help you, but you shouldn't be using it for graphics or audio anyway; get on ebay and buy a mac.

If you mac is able to run 64 bit, you can check to see if your computer has 64 bit turned on by clicking on “About this Mac” then hit “more info”. Scroll down and click on “Software” (left hand column). In the right column you will see a line that says:

64 Bit Kernel and Extensions: (Yes or No)

If it says yes, congrats! You can stop reading. You’re already a cool kid. If it says no, keep going!

Switching to 64 bit mode isn’t hard. There are three ways to do it.

1. Shut down your computer, and reboot it while holding the “6” and the “4” keys. This will put your computer into 64 bit mode until you shut it down again. I recommend testing it out this way, and if you like it make it permanent by doing one of the steps below.

2. I haven’t tries this, but you can open terminal and type:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture x86_64

To revert back to 32 Bit type:

sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture i386

3. Go to MacHD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

Open the file and read through the the text until you find:

Change it to look like this: (add arch=x86_64 to the string phrase)

Then save (this will require authentication) and reboot. When I did this I had to save the file to my desktop, rename it with the .plist extension and place it into the folder. (OSX wouldn’t let me modify the document in the folder, but I could replace it)

So there you go! You can now join the 2010+ crowd and rock it like a Nintendo 64.