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Hell, even an older NVIDIA RTX 3070 is $1150. You are not going to get a video card for $800. The 4070 seems to be around the $1500 price-point, but it's sold out. ***SIGH*** As much as I hate to recommend this, since you have an older system, something like a NVIDIA 4060 might be in your budget. It should work, JUST BE SURE TO INSTALL & USE THE NVIDIA STUDIO DRIVERS AND NOT THE ONES THAT COME WITH THE CARD. Even though I recommend at least a 4070 / 4080, in this circumstance and your budget, with an older PC...it will be WAY BETTER than what you currently have. Plus, $564.50 is probably an easier pill to swallow. I also tend to like MSI Video Cards, as Gigabyte's support has really gone down-hill in recent years. I'm buying either a EVGA or MSI product if it were my money.

Yep, that video 4070 video card should work. Hopefully your Power Supply will support it, otherwise you will be upgrading that as well. Besides Amazon, two places that you can buy stuff from: NEWEGG Micro Center Amazon is usually "fine," if it's being sold and shipped from Amazon. It's when you buy stuff from their 3rd-parties is when you can have the most issues. If it's not from Amazon and shipped via Amazon Prime, chances are I'm not buying it. Hell, I never buy stuff from eBay, but that's just me. EDIT!!! It looks like both of those places aren't viable. Newegg seems to be shipping directly from China, and the prices are around the $1500 mark, for just the video card. Micro Center doesn't have any 4070 cards, and they seem to be pushing the 5000 series cards. I would hold off and save up. You are likely going to throw money away as I'm not 100% convinced that a new card will work with your older Motherboard. Downgrade to an older version of Photoshop and hopefully that will work for you. A $3000 budget for a new computer is realistic in 2025. I know, you can't afford it. Why do you think I'm still on PS CC 2023 with my 2017 iMac? PS: The reason you can't click "Buy Now" on NVIDIA's site, is they are linking to Micro Center's Website. Micro Center is flat-out sold out. The $799 price tag is probably from late 2024; it's a new Ballgame with stuff coming from China in 2025. The Tariff's are making things more expensive. ...and people often question me on why I recommend such high-end / expensive stuff...it's to cut down on this very situation. I configure my systems for Photoshop a few years from now, not the current versions of software.

Yep. That is true. In addition, Video Graphics Cards have become "Computers within Computers," and software products like Adobe Photoshop have taken advantage of this fact. It this processing power and dedicated video memory that makes them so fast and ideal for Bitcoin, that drives up the prices. Now add the 10% Tariffs from China, and all of this computer shit is made in China, so there's that. I just tweaked my Buying a Computer in 2025 article, since the Dell XPS Desktop Line that I used to recommend for years, has been replaced. The good news is, the computer I just configured is a little cheaper. The bad news is, it's about $2600. The days of the "999 Special" from a Big Box Store are over. Those computers happened 20 years ago. Everything today is more expensive. Hell, my wife just bought a pound of Beef for Tacos, which will be tonight's dinner. It was $10.24!!! For a fucking pound of Ground Beef!!! I remember when something like that was around $5-ish! I just did a quick CPI Inflation Calculator, to see what "999.99" in 1995 would be in today's money. It works out to be $2122.95. Which if you think about it, is more along the lines of $1199.99-ish back then. So yesterday's $1200 model is the $2600 model that I configured. So what can you do? You will need to un-install / downgrade to an older version of Photoshop CC AND STAY THERE!!! NO UPGRADING FOR YOU!!! NOT YOURS!!! NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE ADOBE MOTHER-SHIP BUGS YOU THAT THERE IS AN UPDATE!! Bottom Line: I'd look to install PS CC 2023 and see how that works for you.

Sorry to bother you. I fixed it! I was just stumped because some worked and some didn't and assumed a setting on the external. It was a "Mac" setting but why some worked and some didn't still doesn't make sense but adding it to privacy & security full access did the trick. I'm not sure I'm going to survive this new hard drive. Small glitches occurring every day!

"Meh," I'd delete that shit

I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this issue

The Apple Studio Display uses a Thunderbolt Cable, there should be one in the box, to hook up to the current Macs. It doesn't have a DisplayPort or HDMI Port.

I like FREE too. I have been saving my points for something good. I ordered it and it will be at my house by Monday. Ok Thanks for the heads up for the calibration question.

OK, first things first. We need to verify how that Sandisk is Partitioned. So attach the drive to your computer and head to Disk Management. (Right Click on the Start Button & you should see it.) From there post a screen shot of the Disk Management Screen, as you did above. I did a Screenshot of mine with my 1TB Sandisk Highlighted. As you can see, my drive is currently set to exFAT, which is what we DO NOT WANT. So post a screenshot so I can see what file system it's on. Note: Don't read too much into my example, as I'm working on a Virtual Machine. Currently my 1TB External Sandisk is configured for a 50GB HD. The steps I'm going to give you are the same, so don't worry.

So if you want easy? I'd get the SanDisk 4TB Portable SSD Drive. It also seems to be on sale. Most likely it will come pre-formatted with exFAT, so we will need to clear that first and convert it to NTFS. (Which will give you practice for the WD 2TB Elements Drive.) To convert a drive, it honestly takes like 30 seconds. LOL!! It's not a big deal. Now if money is a problem, you could go lower, say a 2TB Version for $132-ish. I personally would not go any lower in terms of capacity for data storage in 2025. You really want 4TB or larger, IMHO. Let me know when you get your new drive and I will post screenshots telling you what to do. It's really-really-really easy. In fact, you are halfway there, since you now know about Disk Manager!

The file itself won't be affected, but the Metadata that Dropbox adds will be lost. In addition, if the files that you are copying / moving from the local HD to the External HD, and you are getting this message, is likely due to the External HD being Partitioned with the stupid exFAT Partition Type and not NTFS. Personally, I hate-hate-hate exFAT. Why do I not like exFAT? Because unlike NTFS, or macOS Extended (Journaled), exFAT if you have a system failure or some sort of crash, power outage, or bad un-mount (such as your pet accidentally pulling out the cable to the drive), you could lose your entire volume, with no chance of recovery. If the drive that's created with exFAT goes Ka-Plooey, you are screwed. The reason the Manufacturers use it, is due to that the Macintosh and Windows Systems can read/write to it, so it cuts down on support calls. The chances of Data Recovery with NTFS or the Apple macOS Extended (Journaled,) notice the word Journaled...meaning the OS keeps "Tabs" on your files, are much better than exFAT. Using exFAT is fine for advanced users that know the risks, and have complete duplicates of drives at all times, so that if a drive fails, it's more of a nuisance than anything. It's not for the average person who just puts files on a EHD and then doesn't go further with backups. How do you fix this? You will need a blank, preferably larger EHD, and copy ALL of the files from the existing exFAT Drive. Then you delete that exFAT Partition on the original drive and then create a new NTFS Partition with the Windows Disk Manager. Then you copy all your files back from the temporary EHD. It's actually not that hard to do, and there are wizards you use to accomplish this. How do you figure this stuff out? Right Click on the Start Button and select Disk Management. From there you should see all of your Hard Drives. In the middle you should see a column labeled "File System." Then look down to the various drives that are mounted and you should see either NTFS, exFAT or even FAT32. If there are any drives that are labeled exFAT, you are playing with fire when it comes to your data, and we need to get the Partition Type switched over.

You are going to have to turn on "Selective Sync" and not backup the "Dropbox Folder" automatically or create sub-folders in the Dropbox and just backup those. Or manually log into the web interface, and backup each file manually. Can't have your Cake and Eat it too. This is the downside to Cloud Backup, the files in the "Cloud" are synced to ones stored locally. Dropbox and other Cloud Services aren't like having External Hard Drives. Files are in two places at all times. If you delete things locally, MANY Cloud Services will auto-delete the files stored on their servers after a period of 30 days or so. Or you are going to have to replace your internal hard drive with something larger if you want to auto-backup everything. Of course, you will probably need to pay for more Dropbox Storage, since getting a larger hard drive often involves in storing more stuff. (Kinda like Tool Boxes. ) Click the Dropbox icon in your taskbar. Click your avatar (profile picture or initials) in the top-right corner. Click Preferences. Click the Sync tab. Under Selective Sync (Windows), click Modify. Check or uncheck the folders you’d like to save or remove on your hard drive. Click Update. Now if none of this sounds like a good option, I want you to attack that Dropbox Folder and cull-cull-cull. This also includes your online Dropbox Folder.

Actually, the specs needed for Photoshop CC is a Gaming PC. I would not buy a NVIDIA RTX 4060. Get either a 4070 or 4080. As far as the Intel ARC Video Card, never heard of it. Photoshop likes NVIDIA Drivers. In fact, there are drivers that are known as the "NVIDIA Studio Drivers," which are meant for Photoshop usage. From NVIDIA's Website: Basically, the Studio Drivers are meant for Adobe's current products. Give this article a read: Buying a Windows Computer in 2025

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/11/maintain-your-professional-standards.html

No clicking can be a "good" thing, as the clicking noise is the HD heads scrapping against the platters creating dust that contains your data. See this video to demonstrate what I'm talking about. That scenario is the worst thing you can have happen. Now, LaCie uses cheap Seagate HDs, and that's why I stopped really recommending them. I'd contact Gillware and have them give you a quote. It's one thing if you can access the drive; that gives you a chance to use recovery software. It's whole other thing if you can't get to the drive at all. Before you ask, "What EHD do you recommend?" Honestly? None at this point. They are ALL practically garbage, made from the cheapest components, from the lowest bidder for the parts. I seriously am thinking about recommending folks buy and internal high-quality drive, then buy a $20 external case to switch it over to an external. This way you can be sure of what drive you are getting. This is also why you should have your data backed up in multiple places and one even kept off-site. But that's a whole other thread.

I see it. That's cool.

OK @JudyM, I've completed the Tutorial on "How to Make Aliases." Now, for the second part of your issue: Speed. While it's true that having all sorts of crap on a Mac Desktop slows things down, it's not the only culprit. There are two Main Suspects: Lack of RAM and Lack of HD Storage Space. Before we begin, can you do this for me and post the results in this thread? Details About Your Computer's Health.