64 bit win7 and photo editing

[Avotius]

I have been royally confused about this subject so I hope one of our resident computer guru's can answer this question once and for all.

I have a core 2 quad CPU @ 2.4 ghz and I have 4 gb of ram installed.

I am using 32 bit windows 7 so I am only using 3.25 gb of ram.

Sure the extra 750 (or so) mb of ram would be a welcome addition to my photoshop efforts and what not but my question is:

Using 64 bit windows, can I or can I not use 32 bit programs?

The confusion comes from this....I look online and microsoft's own website says no I can not.

However at my workplace we have a bunch of HP computers with AMD II whatever processesors running 64 bit windows. I have installed and used 32 bit programs on the computer, they install in a programs file that has a extra thing in the name that says something like program files(x86) or similar.


So....for my home computer, it says I can install a 64bit windows 7 on it, but...will my programs and maybe my games work? Dont really care about the games, they go untouched until I get a spot of nostalgia, but I have hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of imaging software (imagine that in China)

 

[doolittle]

Not an expert, so hope I am getting this right:

Yes, you can use 32bit programs. However you will need 64bit drivers for your devices, so make sure they exist for all the equipment you use.

 

[Avotius]

devices should not be a problem, I am not using anything fancy, just the standard usb mouse and keyboard with a mess of USB keys, hard drives and so on. Also thinking of getting one of those wacom bamboo things but seems like they would have that covered too. Thanks.

 

[segedi]

I have Win7 64bit and I can install and run 32 bit programs. They get installed into a different programs folder than the 64bit programs. I've run Photoshop CS3 in 32bit, but an older version of Sony Vegas didn't work at all. You can always try installing but keeping both OSes via dual boot and see what happens.

 

[Mark Wood]

I'm trying to learn to use Windows after 25 years of using Macs (I thought I ought to!) and am interested in exactly the same question. With Apple about to drop Rosetta support (thanks Apple!) in a month's time, has anyone managed to use a Nikon scanner and run Nikonscan with a Windows 7, 64-bit machine? (I know Vuescan, Silverfast...etc should work.)

 

[Darshan]

Why don't you expand the RAM to 8 gb?

Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question as I use 64-bit on 8 gb RAM.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Why don't you expand the RAM to 8 gb?

Impossible to address more than 4GB from the motherboard with a 32-bit OS.


And, like others have said: yes, you can run 32-bit programs in the 64-bit version of Windoze 7, although there are some high-end hardware device issues, which may get resolved if you use compatibility mode; but not *all* software (specially the very very old) will run.

Good luck.

 

[Glenn2]

Mark, I'm running Windows7 64 bit and have been able to get my Nikon CS-5000 to work with Nikon scan. This link should help get you on the right path. --> http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Ryck

I did go for the professional version of Windows7 as it apparently offers more compatibility to old programs. Running 32 bit software doesn't seem to be a problem. Am also using a Windows XP-Pro machine that's able to run old DOS programs that I can't get to work on Windows 7.

Glenn

With Apple about to drop Rosetta support (thanks Apple!) in a month's time, has anyone managed to use a Nikon scanner and run Nikonscan with a Windows 7, 64-bit machine? (I know Vuescan, Silverfast...etc should work.)

 

[Mark Wood]

Mark, I'm running Windows7 64 bit and have been able to get my Nikon CS-5000 to work with Nikon scan. This link should help get you on the right path. --> http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00Ryck

I did go for the professional version of Windows7 as it apparently offers more compatibility to old programs. Running 32 bit software doesn't seem to be a problem. Am also using a Windows XP-Pro machine that's able to run old DOS programs that I can't get to work on Windows 7.

Glenn

Many thanks Glenn, that's really helpful.

 

[segedi]

... has anyone managed to use a Nikon scanner and run Nikonscan with a Windows 7, 64-bit machine? (I know Vuescan, Silverfast...etc should work.)

I am scanning on Win 7 Ultimate, 64-bit with Nikon Scan on a 9000 and used the same link form above to get it to work. I still can't bring myself to spend a ton of money on the 3rd party apps and I find the Nikon software to be easy to use and work for me!

 

[Mark Wood]

Another promising looking solution for Nikonscan:

http://axelriet.blogspot.com/2009/10/nikon-ls-40-ls-50-ls-5000-scanners-on.html

I haven't tried it but it looks fairly straightforward.

 

[pgeobc]

I run Win 7 64-bit with 12GB of RAM. I run the Ultimate version. when one get to a certain version, there is a 32-bit XP compatibility mode software package that can be downloaded, free, from Microsoft. This allows programs that won't run on 7 to run in an XP virtual machine.

Personally, I have very little trouble getting stuff to run on either 32- or 64-bit Win 7. I run some stuff that really surprises me.

 

[ferider]

You can run 32bit programs on 64bit OS. However, some files created by a 64bit application might not be usable by 32bit programs.

Roland.

 

[charjohncarter]

Some of my plugins don't work, but I only use basic editing so aren't used much. One that does irritate me is a solid border program that works on JPEGs from outside the 64 bit software but it doesn't work on JPEGs (or TIFFs) that are created in PSE.

 

[sevo]

You can run 32bit programs on 64bit OS. However, some files created by a 64bit application might not be usable by 32bit programs.

I am not aware of any case where that seems to happen. Wherever a 64bit application (like CS4 and up) introduced a new file type with some internal 64bit structure, its current 32bit sibling will be able to handle that file type as well, while its predecessors can't. It does not take 64bit software to process files greater than 4GB - back in 286 days we weren't limited to 64kB files in 16bit applications either, but anything bigger than the native number format oft the processor may process very slow indeed.

 

[shadowfox]

64-bit is increasingly making sense for image management.
Almost all heavy duty programs like Lightroom and Photoshop are now 64-bit native on Windows.
Even on Linux, darktable and gimp are compilable using 64-bit libraries.

 

[ferider]

I am not aware of any case where that seems to happen. Wherever a 64bit application (like CS4 and up) introduced a new file type with some internal 64bit structure, its current 32bit sibling will be able to handle that file type as well, while its predecessors can't. It does not take 64bit software to process files greater than 4GB - back in 286 days we weren't limited to 64kB files in 16bit applications either, but anything bigger than the native number format oft the processor may process very slow indeed.

Take the typical 3rd party anti-virus application.

Or, compile and run under 32 and/or 64 bit:

main() {

double i, tmp, sum;
int sz = 1 << 30;
FILE *strm = tmpfile();
for (i=0; i<sz; i++) fwrite(&i, sizeof(double), 1, strm);
rewind(strm);
for (i=0, sum=0; i<sz; i++) { fread(&tmp, sizeof(double), 1, strm); sum += tmp; }
fclose(strm);
printf(">>> %e\n", sum);​

}


You get the idea. Maybe.

Roland.