Are you receiving a "Scratch disks are full" error in Photoshop? This can be incredibly frustrating because it can prevent you from completing certain tasks and cause Photoshop to crash or not load at all. The scratch disks are a section of your hard drive that Photoshop uses to store temporary files. This error occurs when there is no scratch disk space or memory space for Photoshop to store temporary files. Luckily, there are several things you can do to fix this error, including freeing up hard drive space, deleting temporary files, allowing Photoshop to use more RAM, and more. This wikiHow article teaches you how to fix Photoshop's "Scratch disks are full" error.
Quick Steps
- Clear up storage space on your computer.
- Change the scratch disk drive in Photoshop.
- Clear Photoshop's cache.
- Increase Photoshop's allotted RAM usage.
- Reduce the number history state saves.
- Disable auto recovery save.
Steps
Clear Photoshop's Cache
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Open Photoshop. It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Each time you make a change to a file in Photoshop, it saves the older version of the file in the cache. Over time, the cache can become too large. Clearing the cache can free up space and possibly fix the "Scratch disks are full" error.
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Click Edit . It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
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Hover over Purge . It's near the bottom of the Edit menu.
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Click All . This clears the cache of all your cache files.
- Alternatively, you can select Histories to delete history state saves, Clipboard to clear data that has been copied, or Video Cache to delete the video cache files.
Increase RAM Usage for Photoshop
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Open Photoshop. It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. You can prevent the "Scratch disks are full" error by increasing the amount of RAM Photoshop is allowed to use.
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Click Edit (Windows) or Photoshop (Mac). It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
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Click Preferences . It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
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Click Performance . It's in the fourth option in the fly-out menu
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Increase the amount of RAM Photoshop is allowed to use. You can do so in the box labeled "Memory Usage." You can use the slider bar at the bottom of the box or enter the amount of RAM Photoshop can use in megabytes (MB) in the space next to "Let Photoshop Use."
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Click Ok . It's to the right of the dialogue box. This applies the changes.
Reduce the Number of History State Saves
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Open Photoshop. It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Each time you make a change to a file in Photoshop, Photoshop saves a history state. That way, you can return to a previous history state if you make a mistake. Reduce the number of history states Photoshop saves to reduce the amount of scratch disk space Photoshop uses. [2] X Research source
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Click Edit (Windows) or Photoshop (Mac). It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
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Click Preferences . It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
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Click Performance . It's in the fourth option in the fly-out menu
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Reduce the number of history states. You can do so in the field labeled "History States." It's in the box labeled "History & Cache."
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Click Ok . This saves the number of history states Photoshop saves.
Set the Correct Unit Sizes
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Check the units you are using when creating or resizing a document. You may get a "Scratch disks are full" error if you select the wrong unit size when creating or resizing a document . For example, if you select "inches" as the height and width when you actually meant "pixels," this will create a really large file that the scratch disk might not be able to handle. [3] X Research source
- If you are working on an image that is meant for a screen, use "pixels" as the unit size. If you are working on a print document, use Inches or Centimeters (Cm).
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Use the correct unit sizes when cropping. Additionally, if you are using the height and width boxes to crop an image while using the crop tool, make sure you use the correct unit sizes in the boxes. If you are not sure what units your document is using, use pixels (px) as the unit size, or do not enter a unit. [4] X Research source
Disable Auto Recovery Save
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Open Photoshop. It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Photoshop automatically saves your work every so often to prevent you from losing your progress if the program crashes. You can disable this feature to save space in the scratch disk.
- The downside is that you will risk losing your work if you don't save your work frequently.
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Click Edit (Windows) or Photoshop (Mac). It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
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Click Preferences . It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
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Click File Handling . It's the third option in the Preferences menu.
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Uncheck the box next to "Automatically Save Recovery Information." It's at the bottom of the box labeled "File Saving Options."
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Click Ok . It's to the right of the dialogue box. This applies the changes.
Defrag Your Hard Drive (Windows Only)
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1Click the Windows Start menu . .It's the icon with the Windows logo in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. If you have a lot of memory or storage space issues on your Windows computer, you may want to try defragging your hard drive . This will allow your computer to use your hard drive more efficiently for Photoshop and other applications.
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2Type Defrag . This will Defragment and Optimize Drives app in the Start menu.
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3Click Defragment and Optimize Drives . This will open the Defragment and Optimize Drives app in the Control Panel.
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4Select the hard drive the Photoshop scratch disk is using. All your hard drives will be listed in the "Status" box below "Drives." Select the hard drive Photoshop uses as the scratch disk.
- You can hold Shift and select multiple hard drives at a time.
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5Click Optimize . This begins defragging your hard drive(s). This process may take a while.
Reset Your Photoshop Preferences
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1Quit Photoshop. If Photoshop is currently open, save a close-out of it. To quit Photoshop, click File on Windows or Photoshop on Mac. Click Quit Photoshop or Exit .
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2Press and hold ⇧ Shift + Ctrl + Alt on PC or ⇧ Shift + ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command on Mac. This is the keyboard shortcut used to delete the Photoshop preferences file. On rare occasions, the Photoshop preferences file may become corrupt if Photoshop or your computer crashes. This can cause a "Scratch disks are full" error. You will need to delete the preferences file to fix the problem. This will completely reset your preferences and settings to their defaults.
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3Open Photoshop. While still holding the keyboard shortcuts, click the Photoshop icon to launch Photoshop. A dialogue box will appear asking if you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file.
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4Click Yes . When you see the dialogue box asking if you want to delete the Photoshop Settings file. Click Yes . This will delete the file and reset your Adobe Photoshop settings and preferences. [5] X Research source
Expert Q&A
Tips
References
- ↑ https://macpaw.com/how-to/delete-temporary-files-mac
- ↑ https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-photoshop-cc-performance.html
- ↑ https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-scratch-disk-is-full.html
- ↑ https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/how-to-fix-the-scratch-disks-are-full-error-in-photoshop/
- ↑ https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html