The scratch disks are full error in Photoshop usually occurs when there is insufficient memory space on your computer to store Photoshop’s temporary files. When this error occurs, Photoshop either crashes or does not load at all. In this article you will learn how to fix the scratch disks are full error in Photoshop. A complete guide to fix ‘scratch disks are full’ error issue.
You can do a few things to fix the “scratch disks are full” error in Photoshop. This includes allowing Photoshop to use more RAM and deleting temporary files to regain memory space. Also check best website to Learn Photoshop Free Online
Free-Up Memory Space On Your Computer
When the above error occurs, you should first delete all junk files from your computer. This will free up memory space in Photoshop, which can then be used to store temporary files.
Check Your Windows Storage
1. Launch the Settings app.
2. On the following screen, click System.
3. Click Storage to view your computer’s storage information.
4. You’ll see what’s taking up how much memory. This will assist you in deciding what to delete.
Also check the article how to add Fonts to Photoshop.
Check Your Storage On Mac
1. Select About This Mac from the menu that appears after clicking the Apple logo in the upper-left corner.
2. Select Manage from the Storage menu at the top.
3. It will display what content is taking up how much space and recommend ways to free up memory.
Delete Photoshop Temporary Files
Photoshop generates and saves temporary files to your storage’s hard drive. After you’ve closed Photoshop, you can safely delete these files. This allows you to regain some memory space.
1. Press the Windows + R keys simultaneously to open Run, then type the following into it and press Enter. %temp%
2. When the temporary folder opens, look for files with Photoshop or PST names.
3. Select Delete from the context menu when you right-click on those files.
4. Right-click your desktop’s Recycle Bin and select Empty Recycle Bin.
5. On a Mac, use Spotlight to search for and delete temporary files.
Change The Scratch Disk On Startup
If you’ve assigned multiple scratch disks to Photoshop, you can switch between them during Photoshop’s startup.
This solution comes in handy when Photoshop doesn’t open due to the “scratch disks are full” error.
1. Launch Photoshop on Windows and simultaneously press and hold the Ctrl and Alt keys.
2. On a Mac, open Photoshop and simultaneously press and hold the Command and Option keys.
3. From the Startup dropdown menu, select a new scratch disks and click OK.
Change The Scratch Disk Drive In Photoshop
Photoshop, by default, only uses your operating system’s drive as the scratch disks. However, if you have many drives or partitions, you can tell Photoshop to use them instead of the “scratch disks are full” error.
1. Begin by launching Photoshop on your computer.
2. Select Preferences, then Performance from the Photoshop menu at the top.
3. In the Scratch Disks section, enable and disable scratch disks.
Disable The Auto Recovery Feature In Photoshop
Photoshop saves your files automatically as you work on them, but this increases the amount of memory it uses on your computer. If you don’t need auto-recovery saving, you can disable it to save space on your scratch disks.
1. Open Photoshop on your computer.
2. At the top, click Photoshop, Preferences, and File Handling.
3. Uncheck the box labeled “Save Recovery Information Automatically Every.”
Let Photoshop Use More RAM
It is allowing Photoshop to use more RAM to resolve scratch disks issues. This will enable it to store more temporary files on your scratch disks’ RAM space.
1. Begin by launching Photoshop on your computer.
2. Select Photoshop from the top menu, then Preferences, and finally Performance.
3. Check the Let Photoshop Use box on the right-hand side pane.
Enter the amount of RAM you want Photoshop to use in the box next to this option. Then click OK.
Delete The Photoshop Cache Files
When you change an image in Photoshop, an older, unchanged version of the image is saved to your computer as a cache file. Unfortunately, these files eventually grow in size and begin to consume too much of your memory space.
You can clear these cache files to fix the Scratch disks are full error in Photoshop potentially, but you will lose the ability to revert changes to your image.
1. Launch Photoshop on your computer.
2. Select Purge from the Edit menu at the top, then All. This will delete all Photoshop cache files.
Reset The Values For Crop Tool
Photoshop’s crop tool allows you to crop your photos to a specific size. However, if you specify the size in the wrong units, such as centimeters rather than pixels, you will end up with a huge image.
That image takes up an amount of memory space, resulting in the “scratch disks are full” error in Photoshop.
1. In Photoshop, open the crop tool and delete any values from the given boxes.
2. When entering values, use pixels as the unit of measurement whenever possible.
Disk Defragmentation
It’s worthwhile to defrag your scratch disks drive in Windows to free up some continuous memory space for Photoshop to use. In addition, this should help you get rid of the app’s scratch disks error.
1. In the Start Menu, type Defrag and then click Defragment and Optimize Drives.
2. On the following screen, you’ll see a list of your hard drive partitions.
Choose the one you use as your scratch disks and press the Optimize button.
Reset Photoshop Preferences
If you’ve made many changes to your Photoshop preferences, one or more of those changes could be causing the problem. Resetting your Photoshop preferences to their defaults should fix the issue.
1. Turn off Photoshop on your computer.
2. To launch Photoshop, press and hold Shift + Ctrl + Alt (Windows) or Shift + Command + Option (Mac).
3. A prompt will occur asking if you want to delete the Photoshop settings file. To delete the files, click Yes.
How did you fix the “scratch disks are full” error in Photoshop? Please let us and our readers know in the comments section below.