Have you ever noticed apparently random *_MVM_*.tmp files being generated at the root level of your hard drives?
For ages I have been wondering where these files came from and worrying that they may be the result of some sort of file corruption, so finally I decided to find the source of these files.
It would appear that these files are created by Adobe Photoshop CS5, or more accurately by the Mondo Framework that Photoshop uses for certain functionality such as Liquify & Saving to PNG. Whilst these tmp files are supposed to be located in your PC’s TEMP folder (as defined by your systems environment variables) that isn’t always the case.
Now I very rarely use Liquify but as a Web Designer I am constantly saving PNG images so it would appear that this is the cause of my random temporary file problem.
It’s a Big Relief that it’s nothing to do with corrupt files but incredibly annoying that these tmp files are generated by Adobe Photoshop CS5 in but not tidied up. Apparently I’ve got it good as my tmp files are all 0 bytes in size where some people are finding tmp files 100’s of MB in size chewing up all their free disk space …
The other problem this scenario causes is that Photoshop functions can be slowed down considerably if it chooses to create these files on slow drives such as USB drives or older HDD’s completely circumventing that expensive super fast SSD drive you bought for Photoshop caching.
So the good news is that everything is “Working as Intended” and nothing is corrupt. Sadly though there appears to be no fix for this problem until Adobe take it upon themselves do the right thing and sort it out.
If you’re interested in reading more on this matter then here are a few links I found useful
http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=208685
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3257006
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4081007