Optimize FTK 1.x
You may find it helpful to do the following in order to optimize FTK's performance and avoid many types of crashes:

  1. Create two new folders (perhaps on separate physical drives) to be used as "fail-over"
    1. Open FTK
    2. Click "Tools"
    3. Choose "Preferences"
    4. Click the browse button under "Temp Folder Location"
    5. Add the newly created folders to the list. (Note: Open the new folder before you click "SELECT")
    6. You may want the change the order of use to utilize the new folders first.
  2. If possible, configure your Antivirus to not scan any of the Temp folders specified above.  If this is not possible you may want to disable your antivirus while you are running FTK.
  3. Test to see if your system will support a 3 GB per processes memory boot.ini switch (For more information on how to add a /3GB switch to the boot.ini, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspx).   Support for this option is included with FTK vers. 1.81.3 and newer.
  4. Increase the virtual memory (page file) to 4092 MB initial size and a 6140 MB maximum size.
  5. Always strive to run FTK after a clean boot and without a significant amount of competition for CPU or memory resources.
  6. When opening a case, all of the previously run searches must be repopulated.  The time to open a case is roughly proportionate to the number of search results that have not been cleared out of their respective panes.  Clearing out these panes could significantly lessen the time to open the case.
  7. You may want to disable HyperThreading if enabled (HyperThreading is a technology found on certain processors.  You will most likely find the option to disable it in the BIOS). We found that FTK 1.x actually runs faster on some systems when HyperThreading is disabled.
  8. If FTK is running out of memory after implementing the above suggestions, you may want to perform a "Safe Case Creation"