For important batch scans that are unmonitored, say overnight, I scan using Nikon Scan software & not through Photoshop & I do not have any other programs running.  I have had no software crashing problems during any type or quantity of scanning when using the SF 200 bulk feeder with high res scans & also using several other programs during the scanning, but having as much RAM as possible is always a big help. I use 4 GB's of RAM. The SF 200 will also fit the new ED 5000 model.

One other note regarding the Nikon Scan software. I suggest that you play with its various controls to see what works best for you. For me, my monitor, scanner & system profiles allow me to not use Nikon Scan's Auto Exposure mode. The AE Mode works fine for images of average tones, but with my snow scenes & scenics with heavy shadows I find that I am not getting consistent enough scan exposures in AE mode. This is the same with any Auto Exposure mode of cameras or One Hour Lab print machines & is not a fault of the Nikon Scanner. Experiment with & then set your black & white point settings to suit your tastes in the curves area & save those settings in the Prefs > Advanced Color > Master settings for black & white points. Mine are at 8 & 248.  My scan exposures are extremely consistent now no matter what the subject tonality is on the film. I normally scan my High Res images at the following settings.  Nikon Scan Color Management ON, Adobe 1998 RGB Colour Space (ColorMatch RGB fits a print gamma more closely though & I at times convert from aRGB to cmRGB when printing) ICE on Normal, GEM on 1, ROC OFF, AE OFF, AF ON.  I choose: "Use Custom Monitor Profile" under preferences & choose the location of my system colour profile created with my colour calibration software & sensor. John Shaw also has a very good tutorial on Nikon scanner settings & is well worth having as a reference. See the link below. I normally scan Fujichrome Velvia & Provia slide films as well as some Kodachrome films.  I do not yet have any experience with scanning Black & White films & limited experience with colour neg films. I have often read that ICE does not work with the Black & White film base. ICE does work for me on "some" Kodachrome images & that ROC works pretty well with older film types like Kodachrome.  ICE with "some" Kodachrome emulsions seems to produce a double image along hard edges. Other areas of the image are fine. Not all Kodachromes seem to react the same to the ICE process. For this film type I always use the Kodachrome film type setting with ICE & GEM off & thoroughly clean the slide by hand before scanning, using canned air & a soft brush & remounting the film into a Loresch mount. For 14 bit high res scans, I'll use a Multi-Pass setting 4x, but most often it's very hard to see a difference between 1x or greater. For images that require a LOT of detail in the shadows, then I'll try the highest multi-pass setting which may or may not bring out more detail in the shadows. 4x is often enough & faster Ideally, I'd like to get the ED5000 for even greater scanning speed & higher true bit depth scans, but the ED4000 still works great for me & should have lots of scanning life yet. Please don't email to me any questions about using Macs with Nikon Scan, as I'm not very familiar with using Macs.