How to Fix Scratch Disks Are Full Error in Photoshop

I. Causes of Scratch Disks Are Full Error in Photoshop

Understanding Scratch Disk:
Scratch Disk is the hard drive Photoshop uses as virtual memory to store temporary files when there's insufficient RAM for temporary files. When working on large projects in Photoshop, numerous temporary files may be created. When both RAM and Scratch Disk run out of space for Photoshop's temporary files, the Scratch Disks Are Full error occurs.

Some users may still encounter Scratch Disks Are Full Error in Photoshop even when their computer has plenty of free storage space. This is because not all available storage space on your hard drive is assigned as Scratch Disk for Photoshop. Now that we understand the causes of the Photoshop error, let's explore ways to fix Scratch Disks Are Full Error in Photoshop.

II. How to Fix Scratch Disks Are Full Error in Photoshop

1. Free up storage space on your computer

When encountering the Scratch Disks Are Full error in Photoshop, the first thing you need to do is clear all junk files from your computer. This will free up storage space that Photoshop can utilize to store temporary files. Identify which storage drive serves as the Scratch Disk and ensure that drive has at least 40 GB of free space. If not, start deleting unwanted files until you have sufficient storage capacity.

If you haven't set it up yourself, the C:/ drive will automatically be chosen as the Scratch Disk. If unsure, open Photoshop and go to Edit > Preferences > Scratch disk to check.

1.1. Checking Memory on Windows

Step 1: Press Windows + I to open the Settings app and click System.

Step 2: Next, click on Storage option on the left panel of the Settings window. You'll see what's taking up memory. This will help you decide what needs to be deleted.

Read more: How to Free Up Disk Space on Windows 10

1.2. Checking Memory on Mac

Step 1: Click on the Apple icon in the top left corner and select About This Mac.

Step 2: Choose Storage > Manage.

Step 3: You'll see which content is using how much storage, as well as suggestions to free up memory.

2. Deleting Temporary Files in Photoshop

Photoshop creates and stores temporary files on your memory. These files can be safely deleted after you close Photoshop. Here's what you do:

Step 1: Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, type %temp% and press Enter.

Step 2: In the Temporary folder, locate files named Photoshop or PST, right-click on those files, and select Delete.

Step 3: Next, right-click on the Recycle Bin on your computer screen and select Empty Recycle Bin.

- On Mac, use Spotlight to search for temporary files and delete them.

3. Changing Scratch Disk for Photoshop

As the drive used as Photoshop's Scratch Disk is now full, you can change the Scratch Disk to a drive with more free space or select multiple drives as Scratch Disk.

If Photoshop is open, go to Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disk on Windows or Photoshop > Preferences > Scratch Disk on Mac. You'll see all available drives on your computer, choose a different drive with more space or select multiple drives as Scratch Disks. Click OK to save changes.

If Photoshop won't open, start Photoshop and simultaneously press CMD + OPTION on Mac (or CTRL + ALT on Windows), this action will display the Scratch Disks Preference menu. Here, choose a different disk from the Startup menu or add another disk as a second/third/fourth Scratch Disk and press OK.

4. Disable Automatically Save Recovery Information Every in Photoshop

Photoshop automatically saves files as you work on them, but this increases the memory usage on your computer. If you don't frequently use the automatic recovery feature, you can disable it to save space on your Scratch Disk drive.

Step 1: Open Photoshop and click on Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows or Photoshop > Preferences > File Handling on Mac.

Step 2: Uncheck the Automatically Save Recovery Information Every.

5. Increasing RAM for Photoshop

Another way to address the Scratch Disks Are Full issue in Photoshop is to allocate more RAM to Photoshop. This will allow it to store more temporary files in the RAM space instead of the Scratch Disk drive. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Open Photoshop on your computer, click on Edit > Preferences > Performance on Windows or Photoshop > Preferences > Performance on Mac.

Step 2: Under the Memory Usage section in Let Photoshop Use , input the amount of RAM you want Photoshop to utilize. Then, click OK to save changes.

Read more: How to free up computer RAM

6. Clear Photoshop's cache files

You might have added numerous layers to your image or made extensive changes, and you can easily revert to previous editing steps in Photoshop. However, storing these steps consumes a significant amount of space on the Scratch Disk drive, and when working on a large project, these steps can take up gigabytes of space.

Hence, you can delete cache files to fix Scratch Disks Are Full error, but note that undo steps will no longer be available, and you won't be able to revert to previous versions of the image. All you need to do is open Photoshop, click Edit and select Purge > All.

7. Defragment Hard Drive

If Photoshop reports Scratch Disks Are Full while there is still enough free space on your computer, you can defragment the hard drive to obtain contiguous, non-fragmented space for Photoshop. However, you don't need to defragment if your computer is using an SSD.

Step 1: Type Defrag into Windows search and click on Defragment and Optimize Drives from the search results.

Step 2: You'll see the hard drive partitions listed on the screen. Select the drive you use as your Scratch Disk and click the Optimize button.

8. Reset Crop Tool Values

The Crop tool in Photoshop allows you to cut images to desired sizes. If you select the wrong unit when specifying dimensions, such as choosing cm instead of pixels, your image will be extremely large and it will consume a significant amount of memory, leading to the Scratch Disk full error in Photoshop. At this point, access the Crop tool in Photoshop and clear any values from the boxes provided. You should use pixels as the unit whenever possible.

Many users have restarted their computers hoping to resolve the Scratch Disks Are Full error in Photoshop, but to no avail. If you're one of them, apply the measures shared by Mytour in the article and the issue will be completely addressed.

Alternatively, you can download Photoshop CC 2020 version here to use as a replacement for the current version and see if it has any errors.

Read more: Download link for Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 FULL