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Rodney28525995eq9d
Participant
August 14, 2026
質問

Lightroom Desktop fills disk with hidden cr_sdk scratch files during AI editing

  • August 14, 2026
  • 返信数 2.
  • 16 ビュー

I am reporting a reproducible Lightroom Desktop / Camera Raw disk-exhaustion bug.

Environment
• Lightroom Desktop 9.5 (build 20260728-0500-db8bf00)
• Camera Raw 18.5x2673
• macOS 26.2, Apple M1 Max, 32 GB unified memory

Steps to reproduce
1. Edit a duplicate RAW photo.
2. Perform several Generative Remove operations and AI masks.
3. Monitor free disk space while Lightroom remains open.

In one reproducible session, Lightroom held 23 deleted-but-open cr_sdk scratch files totaling about 44 GiB. The files are already unlinked, so Finder and du do not show them, but their disk blocks remain allocated until Lightroom exits. Quitting Lightroom immediately restores the free space.

Relevant Camera Raw log:
cr_scratch_file: using multiple files (new method)
Scratch generations in use: 22 old + 1 active (allocated=47240720384 live=1115922432 bytes)

Thus about 47.24 GB was allocated while only about 1.12 GB was live. The old generations grew in roughly 2-GB increments after AI operations. I observed 14 Generative Remove requests in about 22 minutes, plus AI masks. This is reproducible and can fill the startup disk before Lightroom is closed.

This is not normal cache growth or an APFS snapshot: it is retention of unlinked, still-open Camera Raw scratch generations.

A controlled diagnostic comparison using Camera Raw's single-file scratch strategy kept one approximately 1-GB scratch file at idle instead of accumulating old generations. This points to a lifecycle/cleanup defect in the newer multiple-files scratch implementation.

Requested official fix
1. Release old scratch generations as soon as they are no longer live.
2. Add a sane, configurable scratch-disk cap and automatic recovery.
3. Provide a supported fallback to the single-file strategy until the multiple-files implementation is fixed.
4. Expose scratch use and generation count in diagnostics.

Please escalate this to the Camera Raw / Lightroom Desktop engineering team. I can provide redacted System Info and timestamped log excerpts if needed.

    返信数 2

    Claire H.
    Community Manager
    Claire H.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 26, 2026

    Hi ​@Rodney28525995eq9d, I'm just checking in to see if the suggestion helped or if you are still running into this issue? Let us know how things are going. Happy to keep troubleshooting with you if needed. Thanks! ^CH

    Claire H.
    Community Manager
    Claire H.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 14, 2026

    Hi ​@Rodney28525995eq9d, Thanks for reaching out to the Lightroom Community Forum! Let's try a few things and see if we can fix the error you are seeing.

    1. Free Up Disk Space:

      • Ensure you have at least 50 GB of free space on your OS hard drive while working with Photoshop. More space may be needed depending on the file types you are using.

      • Delete unnecessary files from your scratch disk or move files to another storage location.

        • For Windows: If your scratch disk is drive C:, clean up and delete files you no longer need or move them to another drive (e.g., D:).

        • For macOS: If your scratch disk is Macintosh HD, clean up or delete unneeded files. You can also move files to an external drive.

    2. Reset your Lightroom Preferences: https://adobe.ly/4o7JADQ

    If neither of these steps work for you, can you send your system info, a screen recording of your issue, and a numbered list of the exact steps needed to replicate the issue? You can find your system info by going to Help > System Info, copying and pasting it into a text file, and attaching it here. Thanks!
    ^CH

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