Brian

There are a couple of commands that you can run to fix this sort of thing. You just need to be an administrator to do them. Let me know if your profile has administrator rights.

Upgrading to “Pro” is easy. You just purchase the Pro License via the Microsoft Store for $99 plus tax. It will then upgrade the digital license and download the extra features to take it from “Home” to “Pro.” Here is a pretty good article outlining the steps: https://www.lifewire.com/upgrade-windows-10-home-to-pro-4178259

What Operating System are you running? Do you have Administrator Access?

I'd like to add one important thing! Since this computer is being used for "Business" you really want to either get a computer with Windows 10 Pro, or upgrade Windows 10 Home to Pro for $99. VPNs, Remote Desktop Sessions, operating on a Windows Domain, etc. is what Windows 10 Pro is built for. As for the monitor, I agree with Damien. I'm not a fan of large curved displays and I'd rather have two 24" IPS screens or a single 27" display.

Sorry for the delay. Life has intervened these last few days. Right now my current build recommendation, as I type this, that if you are not planning on over-clocking: Intel i7 8700K or i7 8900K - PS is just starting to take advantage of what makes an i7 so fast. So don't stress out on thinking you have to fork out the cash for a i9. Not worth it with Photoshop. The 8700K has hyper-threading, but the 8900K is newer and is faster out of the box. So they are almost a tie when it comes to PS. 1TB SSD or NVME m.2 Drive for your boot drive. I like Samsung Drives and going forward, I'd go with NVME m.2 technology. Since we are trying to keep it under $200, this drive is a good one for the money. A second, larger traditional 7200 RPM HD, I like the Western Digital Caviar BLACK line. At least 4TB. Motherboard: I like Asus Motherboards, Followed by MSI, and Gigabyte. For this, you want to not only match the CPU Chip, but also get the correct board to match the speed of the NVME m.2 Drive. So on Amazon, they will often link a motherboard with the m.2 drive. RAM: Hands down, 16GB at a minimum. 32GB is preferred. Heck, I'm running 64GB in my iMac. Power Supply: Do not cheap out on your power supply. I like EVGA Power Supplies. At least 650W, but you could go smaller, but pay attention to the video card requirements. Personally, I think 750 Watts might be a better fit in the long run. Especially with two displays. Coolng: This is case specific. Don't cheap out on this either. Also, don't forget about the CPU Thermal Paste and not to put too much on, or too little. Video Card: This is a moving target. Adobe really hasn't update their list but I did see this card which caught my eye: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW. It's a bit expensive for just Photoshop use, and kinda over-kill but it's a "Buy it Right-Buy it Once" thing. Also, make sure you have enough Watts on the PS to support it. (See note above.) Oh, going forward, you want a video card that has multiple DisplayPort Ports, at least two. DisplayPort is the most flexible, gives you lots of choices via an inexpensive adapter to convert to HDMI or whatever and is better suited to 4K video if you ever went that route. Case: Personal thing. I like Lian-Li, but there are plenty of cases out there to choose from at all different price points. Monitors: Believe it or not, you don't have to spend a ton on a good quality IPS-Based Monitor. You could get a pair of nice 24" Dell Displays or a large 27" one. I usually recommend people getting a Dell IPS monitor. They average around $300 or less. Sometimes more for the 27" model...like around $500-ish. Operating System: Since you are building your computer, I highly recommend spending the little extra and getting Windows 10 Pro. For me as a computer technician for the past 26 years, I find that the "Pro" versions are just easier to work with; the controls and setup screens just make more sense, and there is less "Layers" of Microsoft getting in the way for you to do things. The "Windows Pro" version just seems to run better overall. With the Home edition, I tend to stumble over the stupid Microsoft setup screens trying to "help" you. I'm like, just get out of my way... Your thoughts?

Unfortunately, Damien's Computer Spec Tool doesn't help me in this case. Since the computer is having issues was built for you, that opens up a whole other set of things, like what video card was installed, what motherboard make and model, drivers for the motherboard and video card, BIOS Updates for the motherboard and how long since they have been upgraded? Are there updates? Etc. Etc. I'm guessing nothing at this point has been upgraded. Anyway, I have done some Googling and it seems that when this problem happens, the Photoshop Preferences Files need to be reset, and that usually takes care of the problem. There are two ways to do this: Manually - Allows you to move your files to a new folder and have a backup; thus giving you a way to undo the reset Automatic - The easier out of the two, but you will blow away all your PS settings. That said, things like brushes and actions will be fine, but you'll more than likely have to configure colorspace things, workspace preference, keyboard shortcuts that you created, etc. It's not as scary as it seems. Basically, in either case, it resets Photoshop to its default setting to when it was first installed, not upgraded...installed on your computer for the first time. Let me know which method you would like to use. Personally, the Automatic way would be the one I'd use.

What is the Make and Model number of the laptop? The one that works and the one you are having issues with?

What’s your budget? I started piecing together / making a list for a Windows Computer and keep going over $3000. LOL.

How many MP is your camera? Have you checked for video driver updates? How much video RAM does your laptop have or is it shared with the RAM? What about the specs with the other laptop that the 5 images merge? The current version of PS CC use the Graphics Processor for things like this now, so if it’s underpowered, you might have to set your preferences to “basic” under the “use graphics processor” section.

Make sure you have the Spyder5 Pro latest version 5.3. There could also be a couple of issues with your Security and Privacy Settings. Head to the Gear Icon on the Dock Bar, and then look at the top row, towards the right for "Security & Privacy," the icon will look like a little house. To make changes, click the Padlock in the lower left corner, and type in your Admin / Account Password. The Padlock should unlock. Things to look for... On the General Tab, towards the bottom, make sure that "App Store and Identified Developers" is selected. The default is "App Store Only." Under the Privacy Tab, in the right section titled, "Allow the apps below to control your computer," you might have to add the Spyder5 Pro software in the list. Click the + button and find the Spyder5 Pro Software then add it to the list.

Is "eodhu" the profile name you log in with? I'm used to "C:\Users\YOUR_PROFILE_NAME_GOES_HERE\desktop. I have no idea why your Desktop items are going into the OneDrive folder. For example, if your login was "TammyH:" C:\Users\TammyH\Desktop

For the record. I’m always at a target of “80” with the ColorMunki and my iMac. 100 is just too bright. The other number I can get to around 82 or 80. After calibration, I make sure my brightness is 2 or 3 ticks from the left, depending on which printer I use; regardless what what the calibration software says. “82” is even too bright, I just use the ColorMunki for color accuracy and experience has shown me that 2 ticks from the left is a safe number. Sometimes I push things to 3 ticks, and which works well for web photos.

Head to your Windows Control Panel and look for "Power" or Power Configuration. I'm thinking Hibernation is messing you up, try turning it off. Also, while there set your computer to "High Performance." It will kill your battery quicker, but your laptop will run faster. You might have to turn off a few things as well, like setting the HD while on AC Power to "Never" Spin down (Or set them to 0 minutes,) and even disable sleep mode while plugged in. If you don't have "Control Panel" on your start menu, that's ok, just click the Start Button, and just start typing...control panel. It should appear and you simply click on it. Then change the view to "Small Icons" (Click the down arrow towards the right.) Then the Control Panel will appear and things are in alphabetical order. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what to try or what setting is guaranteed to work, it's a laptop...all trial and error.

I’d look them up and see comparable prices and listings. Keep in mind, just because something is rare, doesn’t always increase its value. The demand for the rare piece is what drives that. That will be the real trick in getting the gear in someone’s hands that will appreciate it. Good Luck!!

Market? Sure...but it's extremely small, if at all. The F2 was quite popular back-in-the-day, so I'm thinking your lenses might have some better value than the F2 itself...and those lenses need to be extremely rare. Unfortunately, the only places I've seen gear of your era listed is e-bay, or places like KEH.com. Here is a couple of Articles on NikonRumors.com of what I'm talking about: Rare Nikon Multiphoto Macro Lens Set Rare Nikon F Camera with original cloth-type shutter listed on eBay. So, as you can see, there is a small market but in my humble opinion, it's gotta be rare and exotic to get any real money.

Where did the corruption occur? In camera or when you saved them to the HD? Do you still have the images on the cards?

It looks like you have a larger D : Drive meant for storage. That’s where your data files go. You answered your own question; now is a time to come up with some sort of folder hierarchy. You could start with two folders, “Business” and “Personal.” Then create the years then months or project name / session name. Under each of those folders have Raw and PSD folders. Keep things organized. Of course, this is all relative and totally up to you on how to organize things.

It’s only money, right?

It's the age of your computer. Adobe's products really use the graphics processor these days, in addition to the CPU and RAM. Even on my fancy 2017 27" iMac, when I do things similar to what you are doing, I hear the fan kicking on and it just works harder. More so if you have a camera that has lots of MP, 24MP or more. Also, 8GB RAM just isn't enough these days; I recommend a MINIMUM of 16GB with 32GB Recommended. In fact, I just upgraded to 64GB myself. Bottom Line: Start saving for a new computer. Right around the 7-8 year mark is when I replace my computers.

Hopefully the trend will continue with larger SSD Boot Drives. Even though I really recommend a 1TB drive, you could get away with a 500GB model. Fingers crossed.

That's the drive I was looking to purchase!! Buy It!!

It does have all the right specs. The only problem that I have with Acer laptops is that if you move them around a lot, like daily here and there, all the time, they don't hold up well physically. Other than that, they are fine. So if you tend to stay in one spot most of the time, and only move it from time to time, you should be good.

Prices & Models fluctuate so quickly. I'm sure within 4-6 weeks the model that I recommended will change completely or slightly. Though the budget you have in mind, $1200-$1500 will probably stay the same. There is a push for computers being replaced and backorders are common, due to Windows 7 being taken behind the barn and shot dead on January 7, 2020. Microsoft will no longer provide any updates or patches and drop support for that OS. So now is the time to replace that outdated computer. Have fun on your trip and we can revisit things within the next few months. Who knows? Things might be cheaper.

Wow, you have other problems than just a quirky hard drive. Stupid question alert! Are you sure you are using a USB 3.0 port on your computer? Have you tried using another port? Or are you using the eSATA option?

What I would do? Look at purchasing the $1249 model and buy a Samsung EVO 1TB SSD. Have someone clone your Main HD over to the SSD and use the existing 1TB HD for storage. If you don't want to go that route, I'd still buy the $1249 single 1TB HD model without the 256GB m.2 drive 1TB HD combo. Oh, in case if anyone is wondering, why do I recommend Dell? The answer is simple: Availability. Dell, like Apple is a World-Wide company and they are easy to find / configure and purchase. The Dell XPS line is decent for what they are. If you want fancier stuff, feel free to find another brand with similar specs that I recommend.